npm throws error without sudo

Question

I just installed node and npm through the package on nodejs.org and whenever I try to search or install something with npm it throws the following error, unless I sudo the c

Answer 1

you could try this, works on ubuntu and mac

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

Answer 2

John Papa points to the history and reasoning behind this issue and gives a solid fix:

John Papa's steps are to:

1. Use brew to install node without npm
2. Update your .bash_profile/.bashrc to let npm and node know where to install and find packages
3. Use brew to update node and npm to update itself

Hope this helps the curious!

Answer 3

What to me seems like the best option is the one suggested in the npm documentation, which is to first check where global node_modules are installed by default by running npm config get prefix. If you get, like I do on Trusty, /usr, you might want to change it to a folder that you can safely own without messing things up the way I did.

To do that, choose or create a new folder in your system. You may want to have it in your home directory or, like me, under /usr/local for consistency because I'm also a Mac user (I prefer not to need to look into different places depending on the machine I happen to be in front of). Another good reason to do that is the fact that the /usr/local folder is probably already in your PATH (unless you like to mess around with your PATH) but chances are your newly-created folder isn't and you'd need to add it to the PATH yourself on your .bash-profile or .bashrc file.

Long story short, I changed the default location of the global modules with npm config set prefix '/usr/local', created the folder /usr/local/lib/node_modules (it will be used by npm) and changed permissions for the folders used by npm with the command:

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

Now you can globally install any module safely. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

This looks like a permissions issue in your home directory. To reclaim ownership of the .npm directory execute:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm

Answer 5

The official documentation on how to fix npm install permissions with an EACCES error is located at https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/fixing-npm-permissions.

I encountered this problem after a fresh install of node using the .pkg installer on OSX. There are some great answers here, but I didn't see a link to npmjs.com yet.

Option 1: Change the permission to npm's default directory

1. Find the path to npm's directory:

   npm config get prefix
   

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

WARNING: If the displayed path is just /usr, switch to Option 2.

2. 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).

Option 2: Change npm's default directory to another directory

There are times when you do not want to change ownership of the default directory that npm uses (i.e. /usr) as this could cause some problems, for example if you are sharing the system with other users.

Instead, you can configure npm to use a different directory altogether. In our case, this will be a hidden directory in our home folder.

1. Make a directory for global installations:

   mkdir ~/.npm-global
   

2. Configure npm to use the new directory path:

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

3. Open or create a ~/.profile file and add this line:

   export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH
   

4. Back on the command line, update your system variables:

   source ~/.profile
   

Answer 6

Watch OUT!!! Watch OUT!!! Watch OUT!!!

chown or chmod is NOT the solution, because of security-risk.

Instead do this, do:

First check, where npm point to, if you call:

npm config get prefix

If /usr is returned, you can do the following:

mkdir ~/.npm-global
export NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX=~/.npm-global
export PATH=$PATH:~/.npm-global/bin

This create a npm-Directory in your Home-Directory and point npm to it.

To got this changes permanent, you have to add the export-command to your .bashrc:

echo -e "export NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX=~/.npm-global\nexport PATH=\$PATH:~/.npm-global/bin" >> ~/.bashrc