NPM not recognizing any command

Question

ok when i run :

npm install nodemon -g

it returns :

/home/ubuntu/.node/bin/nodemon -> /home/ubuntu/.node/lib/node_modules/nodemon/bin/nodemon.js
[email protected] /home/ubuntu/.node/lib/node_modules/nodemon
├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected])
├── [email protected] ([email protected])
└── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

or

npm install forever -g

or any node install i then can't access the command afterwards:

nodemon: command not found

but i can run them if i reference the file directly as is the case of forever:

/home/ubuntu/.node/lib/node_modules/forever/bin/forever  server/app.js &

works just fine.... why? fixes?

profile...

  GNU nano 2.2.6                            File: /home/ubuntu/.profile                                                               

# ~/.profile: executed by the command interpreter for login shells.
# This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login
# exists.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files for examples.
# the files are located in the bash-doc package.

# the default umask is set in /etc/profile; for setting the umask
# for ssh logins, install and configure the libpam-umask package.
#umask 022

# if running bash
if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
    # include .bashrc if it exists
    if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
        . "$HOME/.bashrc"
    fi
fi

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
    export PATH = /home/ubuntu/.node/bin:$PATH

fi

Commands! :

echo $PATH:
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

And

ls -la
drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Dec  6 14:42 .
drwxrwxr-x 4 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Dec  6 12:24 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu   39 Dec  6 14:42 forever -> ../lib/node_modules/forever/bin/forever
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu   42 Dec  6 14:19 nodemon -> ../lib/node_modules/nodemon/bin/nodemon.js

Weird give me this on rersart now:

-bash: export: `=': not a valid identifier
-bash: export: `/home/ubuntu/.node/bin:/home/ubuntu/.node/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games': not a valid identifier

Apparently, the path where npm is installing the binaries to isn’t in your PATH then. — poke
– poke, Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 14:31
yeah and I've been reading that I need to edit the bashrc or something but a little unsure how to go about it.. — vimes1984
– vimes1984, Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 14:34

John Scott Stensland · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-29 21:46:02Z

your node install is whacked

Below are the steps to install Node.js from source (OSX/linux)

NOTE - this installs Node.js which gives you both node as well as npm, they come together per release.

to start fresh remove prior node and npm installs as well as these :

sudo mv ~/.npmrc ~/.npmrc_ignore
sudo mv ~/.npm   ~/.npm_ignore
sudo mv ~/tmp    ~/tmp_ignore
sudo mv ~/.npm-init.js ~/.npm-init.js_ignore

download source from : https://nodejs.org/en/download/stable/
or if you need a particular release https://nodejs.org/download/release

Once you have expanded then cd into the source code dir

cd node-v5.5.0  # or whatever current name is

You may/should issue all following cmds as yourself NOT root (sudo)

Pick one of these NODE_PARENT locations to define where node gets installed into :

export NODE_PARENT=/some/desired/install/path_goes_here
export NODE_PARENT=/usr/local/bin/nodejs   # use this ONLY if you MUST install as root (sudo)
export NODE_PARENT=${HOME}/nodejs-v0.10.33 # Recommended - its owned by you NOT root

export PATH=${NODE_PARENT}/bin:${PATH}      # so executables are found
export NODE_PATH=${NODE_PARENT}/lib/node_modules # so node can find its modules dir

./configure   --prefix=${NODE_PARENT}

make
make install

which puts it into dir defined by above --prefix

when you use syntax : npm install -g some_cool_module the -g for global installs it into dir $NODE_PATH and not your $PWD

IMPORTANT - put above three export xxx=yyy commands into your ~/.bashrc or some such to persist these environment variable changes

Paul · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-06 15:09:57Z

0

Add /home/ubuntu/.node/bin to your PATH.

e.g. in your .profile or .bashrc file, add:

export PATH = /home/ubuntu/.node/bin:$PATH

* EDIT *

I would not put the udpated path inside that if statement, as they're independent facts (whether or not you have a home bin and whether or not you're setting your node module path).

Also, make sure you reloaded your .profile after editing it:

source /home/ubuntu/.profile

edited Dec 6, 2014 at 15:09

answered Dec 6, 2014 at 14:34

Paul

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3 Comments

vimes1984 Over a year ago

this doesn't work... updating answer with my bassrs and profile

Paul Over a year ago

can you echo $PATH on that machine to verify that it's being set there? Also, ls -la /home/ubuntu/.node/bin. Could also be a permission issue; I assume you're logged in as the user 'ubuntu'?

Paul Over a year ago

Good. Looks like your profile changes aren't reflected in the state of your system. See my updated answer for possible fixes.

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