npm uninstalls itself on npm update

Question

I looked for a similar topic in stackoverflow but could not find one, so here it goes.

I've been looking at MEAN stack documentation at http://learn.mean.io/ and just checking some shell commands.

I tried to update npm via

npm update -g npm

but this came out to give errors

npm ERR! Error: EACCES, unlink '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm'
npm ERR!  { [Error: EACCES, unlink '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm']
npm ERR!   errno: 3,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm' }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! System Darwin 14.0.0
npm ERR! command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "update" "-g" "npm"
npm ERR! cwd /Users/cihankoseoglu
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.33
npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.28
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! errno 3
npm ERR! stack Error: EACCES, unlink '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm'
npm ERR! error rolling back Error: EACCES, unlink '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm'
npm ERR! error rolling back  { [Error: EACCES, unlink '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm']
npm ERR! error rolling back   errno: 3,
npm ERR! error rolling back   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR! error rolling back   path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm' }
npm ERR! not ok code 0

so i tried

sudo npm update -g npm

but after this command runs , my zsh shell can't find npm. when i type any npm command it simply returns command not found. I had to reinstall Node. what could be possibly causing this? Is it uninstalling npm or altering its PATH in the background for reasons unbeknowst to me?

Answer 1

This is a tried and proven Node.js install technique, afterwards your npm update command will run OK

Below are the steps to install Node.js from source (OSX/linux) You may/should issue all these cmds as yourself NOT root (sudo)

NOTE - this installs Node.js which gives you both node as well as npm, they come together per release.

to start fresh remove prior node and npm installs as well as these :

sudo mv ~/.npmrc ~/.npmrc_ignore
sudo mv ~/.npm   ~/.npm_ignore
sudo mv ~/tmp    ~/tmp_ignore
sudo mv ~/.npm-init.js ~/.npm-init.js_ignore

download source from : https://nodejs.org/en/download/

cd node-v13.6.0

define environment variable NODE_PATH as the dir for subsequent module installs

export NODE_PARENT=/some/desired/install/path_goes_here

export NODE_PARENT=/usr/local/bin/nodejs # use this if you want to install as root (sudo)
export NODE_PARENT=${HOME}/node-v13.6.0  # use this if you want to install modules as yourself

export PATH=${NODE_PARENT}/bin:${PATH}
export NODE_PATH=${NODE_PARENT}/lib/node_modules

./configure   --prefix=${NODE_PARENT}

make -j8      #  if you have a quad core use -j8 
make install  #  NOTICE not using sudo so install is owned by normal user

which puts it into dir defined by above --prefix

verify its installed OK just issue

node --version

v13.6.0

when you use syntax :

npm install -g some_cool_module

the -g for global installs it into dir $NODE_PATH and not your $PWD

Now put above three export xxx=yyy commands into your ~/.bashrc or some such to persist these environment variable changes

going forward when you want to install some npm package avoid using sudo