can't brew install node

78
votes

I am trying to upgrade my node via homebrew but ran into a problem because I think I tried to download through the website. I am very new to terminal. I've tried to search for answers but many people say you can just delete the unbrewed header files. I am not sure how to do that. but for some reason when I try to brew install node, it says the brew link step did not complete successfully.

I also tried to brew link node but that doesn't work either. I ran out of options so I came here. 

[SICNARF@WOPR ~]$ brew install node
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/node-0.12.7.yosemite.bottle.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/node-0.12.7.yosemite.bottle.tar.gz
==> Pouring node-0.12.7.yosemite.bottle.tar.gz
==> Caveats
Bash completion has been installed to:
  /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d
Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
Could not symlink include/node/android-ifaddrs.h
/usr/local/include/node is not writable.

You can try again using:
  brew link node
Warning: The post-install step did not complete successfully
You can try again using `brew postinstall node`
==> Summary
????  /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.12.7: 2726 files, 31M

this is what happens when i brew doctor

[SICNARF@WOPR ~]$ brew doctor
Please note that these warnings are just used to help the Homebrew maintainers
with debugging if you file an issue. If everything you use Homebrew for is
working fine: please don't worry and just ignore them. Thanks!

Warning: Unbrewed header files were found in /usr/local/include.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected header files:
    /usr/local/include/node/ares.h
    /usr/local/include/node/ares_version.h
    /usr/local/include/node/libplatform/libplatform.h
    /usr/local/include/node/nameser.h
    /usr/local/include/node/node.h
    /usr/local/include/node/node_buffer.h
    /usr/local/include/node/node_internals.h
    /usr/local/include/node/node_object_wrap.h
    /usr/local/include/node/node_version.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/aes.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/asn1.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/asn1_mac.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/asn1t.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/bio.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/blowfish.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/bn.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/buffer.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/camellia.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/cast.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/cmac.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/cms.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/comp.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/conf.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/conf_api.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/crypto.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/des.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/des_old.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/dh.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/dsa.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/dso.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/dtls1.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/e_os2.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ebcdic.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ec.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ecdh.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ecdsa.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/engine.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/err.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/evp.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/hmac.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/idea.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/krb5_asn.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/kssl.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/lhash.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/md4.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/md5.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/mdc2.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/modes.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/obj_mac.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/objects.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ocsp.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/opensslconf.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/opensslv.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ossl_typ.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/pem.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/pem2.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/pkcs12.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/pkcs7.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/pqueue.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/rand.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/rc2.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/rc4.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ripemd.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/rsa.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/safestack.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/seed.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/sha.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/srp.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/srtp.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ssl.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ssl2.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ssl23.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ssl3.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/stack.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/symhacks.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/tls1.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ts.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/txt_db.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ui.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/ui_compat.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/whrlpool.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/x509.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/x509_vfy.h
    /usr/local/include/node/openssl/x509v3.h
    /usr/local/include/node/pthread-fixes.h
    /usr/local/include/node/smalloc.h
    /usr/local/include/node/stdint-msvc2008.h
    /usr/local/include/node/tree.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-aix.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-bsd.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-darwin.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-errno.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-linux.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-sunos.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-threadpool.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-unix.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-version.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv-win.h
    /usr/local/include/node/uv.h
    /usr/local/include/node/v8-debug.h
    /usr/local/include/node/v8-platform.h
    /usr/local/include/node/v8-profiler.h
    /usr/local/include/node/v8-testing.h
    /usr/local/include/node/v8-util.h
    /usr/local/include/node/v8.h
    /usr/local/include/node/v8config.h
    /usr/local/include/node/v8stdint.h
    /usr/local/include/node/zconf.h
    /usr/local/include/node/zlib.h

Warning: You have unlinked kegs in your Cellar
Leaving kegs unlinked can lead to build-trouble and cause brews that depend on
those kegs to fail to run properly once built. Run `brew link` on these:

    node
[SICNARF@WOPR ~]$ brew link
This command requires a keg argument
[SICNARF@WOPR ~]$ brew link node
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.12.7... 
Error: Could not symlink include/node/android-ifaddrs.h
/usr/local/include/node is not writable.
12
node.jsterminalinstallationhomebrew

12 Answers

159
votes

There are two steps involved.

  1. Simply run these four commands: 
    sudo chown -R `whoami`:admin /usr/local/include/node
    sudo chown -R `whoami`:admin /usr/local/bin
    sudo chown -R `whoami`:admin /usr/local/share
    sudo chown -R `whoami`:admin /usr/local/lib/dtrace
  1. Finally, run the overwrite command:
    brew link --overwrite node
30
votes

I ran into this same issue under the same circumstances. I was able to get the brew version to install successfully by:

  1. Run brew install node
  2. Make note of the module that is causing the issue and delete it. In your case, this would be /usr/local/include/node
  3. Uninstall - brew uninstall node
  4. Re-install - brew install node

I had to repeat this process a few times for each remaining problematic directory (about 3 different ones in actuality), and the install eventually succeeded without any issues.

22
votes

I ran into this problem on a new MacBook Pro on Mac OS High Sierra. I gleaned brew was trying to use directories named include and lib under /usr/local that was not there. Since root owns /usr I had to do it manually - making sure that whoami owner matches peer directories in /usr/local:

sudo mkdir /usr/local/include
chown `whoami`:admin /usr/local/include 
sudo mkdir /usr/local/lib
chown `whoami`:admin /usr/local/lib

And then to match the other directories in /usr/local I did:

chmod 775 /usr/local/include
chmod 775 /usr/local/lib

then the following worked:

brew uninstall node 
brew install node
13
votes

You need to make /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/share writable. I used this answer to achieve this. Below is the key advice in the answer replicated in case the link breaks:

sudo chown -R `whoami`:admin /usr/local/bin
sudo chown -R `whoami`:admin /usr/local/share
12
votes

I had the same error:

Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/11.10.0...
Error: Could not symlink include/node /usr/local/include is not writable.

Solution: 

$ sudo mkdir /usr/local/include
$ sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/*
$ brew link node

Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/11.10.0... 7 symlinks created

$ node -v => v11.10.0

$ npm -v => 6.7.0

8
votes

For those running high sierra on MacOS:

I tried giving permissions using the chown command and uninstalling then reinstalling node via homebrew but nothing worked.

I just went to this site https://nodejs.org/en/download/ and downloaded the 64 bit macOS .pkg and it worked perfectly. I tested it by just entering the command node in terminal.

image of which version of node to download for mac

7
votes

brew postinstall node or brew link --overwrite node doesn't seem to help.

After several rounds of brew uninstall node and brew install node the following were the offending directories and files:

sudo rm -r /usr/local/include/node
sudo rm -r /usr/local/share/doc/node
sudo rm -r /usr/local/lib/node_modules
sudo rm /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
sudo rm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node.1
sudo rm /usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp

After the offending files are removed brew will do all the proper linking with permissions for you.

Likely permissions were set as root:wheel because of a past install with sudo or perhaps manual installation, etc.

6
votes

I had a very similar problem with linking. I couldn't get it to work. I tried to chmod /usr/local/include/node so I could write the link to it but ran into another error. As a final solution, I just reinstalled node from https://nodejs.org/download/

I have a working node prompt again! I would love to go through brew to update but it saved me a lot of hassle just using the pkg installer from the site. I know this may not be the solution you are looking for but I just wanted to share my experience with the same issue. I hope it helps!

2
votes
brew link --overwrite node

Error: Could not symlink (...)

/usr/xxx

sudo chown -R 'whoami?':admin xxx
brew link --overwrite node

Rinse and repeat

1
votes

For me I had to run brew doctor which showed me that I did not have write access and had to run sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin /usr/local/share /usr/local/share/man to fix the issue.

I suggest running brew doctor to see if it can provide some hints on the issue

1
votes

remove the error folder or file manually and run this command brew uninstall node && brew install node

You have to do this process till all error folder and files are removed.

Then node will be linked.

0
votes

If you try to brew link node and it says something along the lines:

Error: Could not symlink include/node/openssl/archs/aix-gcc/asm/include/openssl/opensslconf.h Target /usr/local/include/node/openssl/archs/aix-gcc/asm/include/openssl/opensslconf.h already exists. You may want to remove it:

Try this:

brew link --overwrite --dry-run node | xargs rm
brew link node