Error trying to install npm for Node.js

Question

I'm having a stab at learning Node.js and I'm having a few issues when installing NPM (Node Package Manager). I'm pretty sure it's either a permissions thing or folder thing... please note that I've just purchased a Mac (I've used Windows all my life) and I'm pretty unfamiliar with the Mac terminal.

Okay, I went to use the one line install for NPM: curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh and I got an error...

All clean!
! [ -d .git ] || git submodule update --init --recursive
node cli.js rm npm -g -f
node cli.js install -g -f
npm ERR! Could not create /usr/local/lib/node_modules/___npm.npm
npm ERR! error installing npm@1.0.94 Error: EACCESS, Undefined error: 0 '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! Error: EACCESS, Undefined error: 0 '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! Report this *entire* log at:
npm ERR!     <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR!     <npm-@googlegroups.com>
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! System Darwin 11.0.0
npm ERR! command "node" "/private/var/folders/z2/f05c8hx105g79drh6r7hr01w0000gn/T/npm.1219/package/cli.js" "install" "-g" "-f"
npm ERR! cwd /private/var/folders/z2/f05c8hx105g79drh6r7hr01w0000gn/T/npm.1219/package
npm ERR! node -v v0.5.9-pre
npm ERR! npm -v 1.0.94
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! code EACCESS
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /private/var/folders/z2/f05c8hx105g79drh6r7hr01w0000gn/T/npm.1219/package/npm-debug.log
npm not ok
make: *** [install] Error 1
npm ERR! Could not create /usr/local/lib/node_modules/___npm.npm
npm ERR! error installing npm@1.0.94 Error: EACCESS, Undefined error: 0 '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! Error: EACCESS, Undefined error: 0 '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! Report this *entire* log at:
npm ERR!     <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR!     <npm-@googlegroups.com>
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! System Darwin 11.0.0
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/private/var/folders/z2/f05c8hx105g79drh6r7hr01w0000gn/T/npm.1219/package/cli.js" "install" "-gf"
npm ERR! cwd /private/var/folders/z2/f05c8hx105g79drh6r7hr01w0000gn/T/npm.1219/package
npm ERR! node -v v0.5.9-pre
npm ERR! npm -v 1.0.94
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! code EACCESS
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /private/var/folders/z2/f05c8hx105g79drh6r7hr01w0000gn/T/npm.1219/package/npm-debug.log
npm not ok
It failed

there's obviously a folder issue here, perhaps I'm installing in the wrong place, my node folder is at Users/Mike/node, when I try and find out my node path variable using NODE_PATH I get the following error:

Michaels-MacBook-Pro:~ Mike$ node node/NODE_PATH  

node.js:203
        throw e; // process.nextTick error, or 'error' event on first tick
              ^
Error: Cannot find module '/Users/Mike/node/NODE_PATH'
    at Function._resolveFilename (module.js:334:11)
    at Function._load (module.js:279:25)
    at Array.<anonymous> (module.js:470:10)
    at EventEmitter._tickCallback (node.js:195:26)

Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? Do I need to add the node path like such:

$ export PATH=/path/to/node/0.n.y/bin:${PATH}
$ curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh

Or am I confusing myself?

Answer 1

The permissions on /usr/local require you to use sudo to install NPM, or change your permissions. Of these three, I recommend the third option .

Option #1: Use sudo

(Note that the the creator of NPM advises against using this method )

curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sudo sh

Option #2: Change permissions

sudo chmod g+rwx /usr/local
sudo chgrp admin /usr/local

Option #3: Use Homebrew

I recommend installing Homebrew to manage installing *nix tools on OS X (I'd stay away from MacPorts & Fink ). Installing Homebrew will set the permissions for /usr/local so you can write to it without sudo . You can then install Node via Homebrew, and then install NPM normally:

brew install node --without-npm
curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh

Answer 2

if you are using windows , it takes some steps , 1) create a file called package.json

{ "name": "hello" , "version": "0.0.1" , "dependencies": { "express": "*" } } where hello is the name of the package and * means the latest version of your dependency

2) code to you project directory and run the following command

npm install

Answer 3

As update for the method #3 on OSX the correct command now is:

brew install node --without-npm
curl https://www.npmjs.org/install.sh | sh

Answer 4

Option #4:

Install node local to the user that needs it.

I should clarify for my purposes I needed npm to install appium on an OSX server running Bamboo for our integrated testing. I only had macports available and rather than installing homebrew to manage just the one package I decided to build it from source and install it local to the bamboo user. Which allowed us to run appium as the bamboo user and made it possible to run our appium tests on Bamboo as a not very privileged user.

This guide from Tom Novelli goes over how to do it. The basic gist is:

# Make the dir to hold the installation of node
cd
mkdir ./local
mkdir sources
# Tell npm about your new non-default directories
vi .npmrc 
cd sources
# Get node and do the typical source install procedure
wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.29/node-v0.10.29.tar.gz
tar xf node-v0.10.29.tar.gz
cd node-v8.10.29/
# Important part is the --prefix
./configure --prefix=~/.local
make
make install
# Make a link so node doesn't get confused
cd
ln -s .local/lib/node_modules .node_modules
# Edit PATH to include ~/.local
vi .bashrc

.npmrc

root =    /home/YOUR-USERNAME/.local/lib/node_modules
binroot = /home/YOUR-USERNAME/.local/bin
manroot = /home/YOUR-USERNAME/.local/share/man

.bashrc OR .profile OR whereever you like setting your path

export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH

Useful Links

The .npmrc man page useful.

And just in case here's a link to node source .

Answer 5

Use curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sudo sh curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sudo sh .

Edit: You're using node -v v0.5.9-pre, which is very unstable. Use 0.4.12, the latest stable version.