Install NPM into home directory with distribution nodejs package (Ubuntu)

Question

I\'d like to use the distribution Node.js packages (or the chris-lea ppa for more recent releases) but install NPM to my home directory.

This may seem picky, but it

Answer 1

Other answers have outdated solutions: 2020's solution is using NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX environment variable. (See details)

For example,

$ NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX="$HOME/.npm-packages" npm install -g ios-sim
/Users/<name>/.npm-packages/bin/ios-sim -> /Users/<name>/.npm-packages/lib/node_modules/ios-sim/bin/ios-sim
+ ios-sim@9.0.0
added 108 packages from 68 contributors in 3.094s

Answer 2

Because python does already a great job virtualenv, I use nodeenv. Compared to nvm, you can create multiple environments for the same node version (e.g. two environments for node 0.10 but with different sets of packages).

ENVNAME=dev1

#  create an environment
python -m virtualenv ${ENVNAME}

# switch to the newly created env
source ${ENVNAME}/bin/activate

# install nodeenv
pip install nodeenv

# install system's node into virtualenv
nodeenv --node=system --python-virtualenv

The readme is pretty good: https://github.com/ekalinin/nodeenv

Answer 3

NPM will install local packages into your projects already, but I still like to keep the system away from my operating system's files. Here's how I suggest compartmentalizing Nodejs packages:

Install Nodejs and NPM via the chris-lea PPA. Then I set up a package root in my homedir to hold the Node "global" packages:

 $ NPM_PACKAGES="$HOME/.npm-packages"
 $ mkdir -p "$NPM_PACKAGES"

Set NPM to use this directory for its global package installs:

 $ echo "prefix = $NPM_PACKAGES" >> ~/.npmrc

Configure your PATH and MANPATH to see commands in your $NPM_PACKAGES prefix by adding the following to your .zshrc/.bashrc:

# NPM packages in homedir
NPM_PACKAGES="$HOME/.npm-packages"

# Tell our environment about user-installed node tools
PATH="$NPM_PACKAGES/bin:$PATH"
# Unset manpath so we can inherit from /etc/manpath via the `manpath` command
unset MANPATH  # delete if you already modified MANPATH elsewhere in your configuration
MANPATH="$NPM_PACKAGES/share/man:$(manpath)"

# Tell Node about these packages
NODE_PATH="$NPM_PACKAGES/lib/node_modules:$NODE_PATH"

Now when you do an npm install -g, NPM will install the libraries into ~/.npm-packages/lib/node_modules, and link executable tools into ~/.npm-packages/bin, which is in your PATH.

Just use npm install -g as you would normally:

[justjake@marathon:~] $ npm install -g coffee-script
... (npm downloads stuff) ...
/home/justjake/.npm-packages/bin/coffee -> /home/justjake/.npm-packages/lib/node_modules/coffee-script/bin/coffee
/home/justjake/.npm-packages/bin/cake -> /home/justjake/.npm-packages/lib/node_modules/coffee-script/bin/cake
coffee-script@1.3.3 /home/justjake/.npm-packages/lib/node_modules/coffee-script

[justjake@marathon:~] $ which coffee
/home/justjake/.npm-packages/bin/coffee

Answer 4

The solution posted by Just Jake is great. However, due to a bug with npm > 1.4.10, it may not work as expected. (See this and this)

While the bug is solved, you can downgrade to npm 1.4.10 by following this steps:

1. Comment the prefix line in your $HOME/.npmrc
2. Run sudo npm install -g npm@1.4.10
3. Ensure that the right version of npm is installed (npm --version)
4. Uncomment the prefix line in your $HOME/.npmrc
5. Proceed to install your global packages in your home folder!.

Answer 5

As stated already here and here

npm config set prefix ~
echo export PATH=\$PATH:\~/bin >> ~/.bashrc
. ~/.bashrc

Answer 6

Jake's answer was posted in 2012 and while useful it references Chris Lea's Node.js PPAs who are no longer updated since march 2015.

Here's the steps I use to install Node.js and npm in my home directory:

Install Node.js with nvm (no sudo required):

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.2/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm install 7
npm install -g npm  # update npm

Now you can install -g without sudo and everything goes into ~/.nvm/

Or install Node.js without nvm (official instructions):

Install Node.js

• Node.js v6 (current LTS as of May 2017):

  curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_4.x | sudo -E bash -
  sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
  

• Node.js v7:

  curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_7.x | sudo -E bash -
  sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
  

Change npm's default directory to a local one:

mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"  # ← put this line in .bashrc
source ~/.bashrc  # if you only updated .bashrc

Alternatively replace .npm-global by the directory of your choice.

Update npm and check it is installed in your $HOME directory:

$ npm install npm -g
/home/<username>/.npm-global/bin/npm -> /home/<username>/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
/home/<username>/.npm-global/lib
└─┬ npm@3.10.6 
  ├─┬ glob@7.0.5 
  │ └── minimatch@3.0.2 
  ├── npm-user-validate@0.1.5 
  └── rimraf@2.5.3 

Now you can install -g without sudo and without messing with your system files.