NPM modules won't install globally without sudo

Question

I have just reinstalled Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, and before anything else i did these steps:

1. Installed Node via package manager with the following script

   sudo apt-get update
   
   sudo apt-get install python-software-properties python g++ make
   
   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/node.js
   
   sudo apt-get update
   
   sudo apt-get install nodejs
   

2. Tried to install yeoman, express, n, yeoman's generators globally and all of them returned the same error

   npm ERR! Error: EACCES, symlink '../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n'

   npm ERR! { [Error: EACCES, symlink '../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n'] errno: 3, code: 'EACCES', path: '../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n' }

   npm ERR!

   npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

   npm ERR! System Linux 3.8.0-29-generic

   npm ERR! command "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "install" "-g" "-d" "n"

   npm ERR! cwd /home/heberlz

   npm ERR! node -v v0.10.20

   npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.11

   npm ERR! path ../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n

   npm ERR! code EACCES

   npm ERR! errno 3

   npm ERR! stack Error: EACCES, symlink '../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n'

   npm ERR!

   npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:

   npm ERR! /home/heberlz/npm-debug.log

   npm ERR! not ok code 0

3. Reclaimed ownership of the following folders recursively ~/.npm, /usr/lib/node, /usr/lib/node_modules, and of the following symlinks /usr/bin/node, /usr/bin/nodejs with absolutely no success

I need to install yeoman and its generators without sudo not to be in trouble later on :(

Answer 1

Ubuntu 12.04 and using Chris Lea's PPA for install the following works for me:

npm config set prefix '~/.npm-packages'

and adding $HOME/.npm-packages/bin to $PATH

append to .bashrc

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.npm-packages/bin"

see https://stackoverflow.com/a/18277225 from @passy

Answer 2

If you already have $HOME/bin in your path, a simpler solution is just ...

npm config set prefix ~

• New node commands will now install into your $HOME/bin directory.
• No need to change your path!

Since this discussion is really about reducing the security risks of running sudo, you should also be aware that any node app could potentially be installing an app name that does not match the registered node package name you think you're installing. So there is a security risk that an npm install will replace an existing system command or one you already have in $HOME/bin. If you're concerned, check the bin, and scripts properties in the package.json file of the app you're installing first.

In general, it's safest to:

• (a) Place $HOME/bin last in your path so system commands are not superseded.
• (b) don't include "." or any relative path in your $PATH so you don't accidentally run a command that happens to be in the current directory.

Reference:

• package.json properties
• npm install
• NodeJS security vulnerabilities: nodesecurity.io.

Answer 3

As for October 2014:

Node.js is available from the NodeSource Debian and Ubuntu binary distributions repository.

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup | sudo bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

That's it.

Outdated answer:

The fastest way without using sudo is like described here by isaac

I strongly encourage you not to do package management with sudo! Packages can run arbitrary scripts, which makes sudoing a package manager command as safe as a chainsaw haircut. Sure, it's fast and definitely going to cut through any obstacles, but you might actually want that obstacle to stay there.

I recommend doing this once instead:

sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local

EDIT:

There are certain security concerns and functionality limitations regarding changing the ownership of /usr/local to the current user:

• if there is another user on the machine who could use global npm packages - do not change the ownership of /usr/local
• https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/1393/are-my-permissions-for-usr-local-correct
• https://askubuntu.com/questions/261326/is-it-safe-to-chown-usr-local

Having said that, if you want to install global module without using sudo, I don't see any better solution (from pragmatic point of view) than mentioned. Security vs easy of use is very broad topic, and there is no easy answer for that - it just depends on your requirements.

Answer 4

The issue was i installed node using sudo, to avoid errors when installing npm modules globally one MUST NEVER install node with sudo.

My solution was to reinstall node it this way:

Download latest stable node sources from nodejs.org #in my case node-v0.10.20.tar.gz

tar -zxf node-v0.10.20.tar.gz #uncompress sources

cd node-v0.10.20 #enter uncompressed folder

sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local

./configure --prefix=/usr/local && make && make install

One thing to note is that only taking ownership of the /usr/local folder wouldn't work in my case because node installation itself was made with sudo

Last step to install yeoman: #although at yeoman.io it says that doing "npm install -g yo" already installs bower and grunt, there are some submodules of grunt that fail, so i fixed that by installing it by itself

npm install -g bower

npm install -g grunt

npm install -g yo

npm install -g generator-angular

Answer 5

I solved this problem with environment variable and shell alias:

export NPM_PREFIX=$HOME/node
alias npmg="npm -g --prefix $NPM_PREFIX"

For me npm did not honor the "prefix" config setting in .npmrc.

Answer 6

Find the path to npm's directory:

npm config get prefix

For many systems, this will be /usr/local.

Change the owner of npm's directories to the name of the current user (your username!):

sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(npm config get prefix)/{lib/node_modules,bin,share}

This changes the permissions of the sub-folders used by npm and some other tools (lib/node_modules, bin, and share).

Here is the link for full details

https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/fixing-npm-permissions

Answer 7

According to this similar SO post: npm throws error without sudo

Looks like you might have an ownership issue with ~/.npm directory.

As with the answer in that one, try:

sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/.npm

Answer 8

If you're on a developping machine, you might be better off considering using nvm.

If not, you simply want to install using your favorite package manager.

Whatever the case may be, I'd recommend checking this answer on stackoverflow

Answer 9

Actually, I just changed the permission of a user folder that was owned by root:

sudo chown -R $USER ~/.config/configstore

Then I could "npm install" and "bower install" without sudo! Worked fine!

Answer 10

using lubuntu 14.04.3, I tried changing ownership of .npm and npm prefix, updated my path, npm installed modules to my home directory without sudo but the path was incorrect so the modules like ember were not found, linuxbew solved the problem, quick setup guide here for node/npm

Answer 11

This issue and other caused by the same reason can be solved installing Node in user space.

You can do it just copying and pasting in your terminal

NODEJS_ROOT=${NODEJS_ROOT:-~/nodejs}
cd /tmp
wget -N http://nodejs.org/dist/node-latest.tar.gz && tar xzf node-latest.tar.gz
NODEJS_CURRENT=$(tar tf node-latest.tar.gz|head -1)
mkdir -p $NODEJS_ROOT/$NODEJS_CURRENT
cd $NODEJS_CURRENT
./configure --prefix=$NODEJS_ROOT/$NODEJS_CURRENT && make install
cd $NODEJS_ROOT
rm current 2> /dev/null # Removes current symbolic link, if any
ln -s $NODEJS_CURRENT current

Same commands can be launched also to get Node updated to latest version.

Don't forget to edit your environment. Only once, do

echo "export NODEJS_ROOT=$NODEJS_ROOT"            >> $HOME/.bash_profile
echo 'export PATH=$NODEJS_ROOT/current/bin:$PATH' >> $HOME/.bash_profile
source $HOME/.bash_profile # reload your env, so you can use node right now

Check out this article as a reabout how to Install Node.js without sudo.

For a more general solution about this topic (i.e., install software locally) see dotsoftware.

Answer 12

just use nvm you will be able to dynamically switch between different node versions and it is installed locally for your user. No sudo needed. Just make sure you have fully cleaned up the old node beforehand.

https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm

Answer 13

In order to install Node.js and npm locally without having to use sudo open the terminal and type:

 echo 'export PATH=$HOME/local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
    . ~/.bashrc
    mkdir ~/local
    mkdir ~/node-latest-install
    cd ~/node-latest-install
    wget -c http://nodejs.org/dist/node-latest.tar.gz | tar xz --strip-components=1
    ./configure --prefix=~/local
    make install 
    wget -c https://www.npmjs.org/install.sh | sh 

Answer 14

The best solution I found was to install Node.js from the tar package on to user home directory & link the lib folder location. Here is what you need to do

This will install Nodejs under ~/.local/ instead of the default /usr/local/

Add this to your ~/.npmrc (create the file if it doesn't exist already):

root =    /home/YOUR-USERNAME/.local/lib/node_modules
binroot = /home/YOUR-USERNAME/.local/bin
manroot = /home/YOUR-USERNAME/.local/share/man
Download the Nodejs source code from nodejs.org and install it under your ~/.local tree:

tar xf node......
cd node........
./configure --prefix=~/.local
make
make install

Create ~/.node_modules symlink. (This directory will be automatically searched when you load modules using require "module" in scripts. I'm not sure why Node doesn't search ~/.local/lib/node_modules by default.)

cd
ln -s .local/lib/node_modules .node_modules
Is ~/.local/bin in your path? Type

which npm
If it says ~/.local/bin/npm, you're done.

Otherwise, do this...

export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH
...and add that line to your ~/.profile file, so it'll run every time you log in.

If you still encounter ownership or permission error while installing packages, then change ownership of ~/.local/ dir by running

chown -R user:user ~/.local/

Now you should be good to install packages via 'npm'

Note: ALL OF THE ABOVE COMMANDS ARE TO BE RUN AS USER. DO NOT USE SUDO OR ROOT LOGIN

NEVER EVER CHANGE THE PERMISSION OF FOLDERS UNDER '/USR/LIB/'. WILL LEAD TO UNSTABLE OS

Answer 15

I find Pawel Grzybek's explanations very convincing: They boil down to 3 simple sudo commands, never having to use sudo again for global npm installs:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/lib/node_modules
sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin
sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/share