Install Node on Ubuntu 14.04 1and1 Virtual Server

Question

I have a Virtual Server from 1and1 running Ubuntu 14.04. After correcting the /etc/apt/sources.list to the official ones I tried to install nodejs and npm (to install bower later). I followed the guide availabe under https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-node-js-on-an-ubuntu-14-04-server .

Everything worked fine until I wanted to install npm. The latest version of nodejs is already installed:

root@somewhere:~# node --version
v0.10.30

When I try to install npm I get the following error:

root@somewhere:~# apt-get install npm
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 npm : Depends: nodejs but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-abbrev (>= 1.0.4) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-ansi but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-archy but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-block-stream but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-fstream (>= 0.1.22) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-fstream-ignore but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-github-url-from-git but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-glob (>= 3.1.21) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-graceful-fs (>= 2.0.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-inherits but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-ini (>= 1.1.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-lockfile but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-lru-cache (>= 2.3.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-minimatch (>= 0.2.11) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-mkdirp (>= 0.3.3) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-gyp (>= 0.10.9) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-nopt (>= 2.1.1) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-npmlog but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-once but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-osenv but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-read but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-read-package-json (>= 1.1.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-request (>= 2.25.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-retry but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-rimraf (>= 2.2.2) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-semver (>= 2.1.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-sha but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-slide but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-tar (>= 0.1.18) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-which but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Yes, I ran apt-get update several times. Does anybody know how to fix this?

root@somewhere:~# lsb_release -rc
Release:    14.04
Codename:   trusty

Answer 1

A quick search yields this highly upvoted answer . In summary, first try:

sudo apt-get clean

This will clear the local cache of .deb files. I that doesn't work, try running:

sudo apt-get -f install

The -f stands for "fix broken", not force like in some other commands. This is what worked for me when I had this problem with another package, but if neither of these commands work, there's plenty of detail in that answer. Even if these fix it for you, it's a pretty interesting read.

Answer 2

Referring to https://askubuntu.com/questions/626383/node-package-manager-got-corrupted-in-some-way-now-it-cannot-be-installed

sudo apt-get remove nodejs npm ## remove existing nodejs and npm packages
sudo apt-get install curl  
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_6.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

You should get the correct package installed. I tried this on Ubuntu 16.04.