Nvm: `npm install -g` responds with "node: Permission denied"

Created on 25 Feb 2017 · 21Comments · Source: nvm-sh/nvm

Operating system and version:
ubuntu 16.04
nvm debug output:

root@ubuntu:~# nvm debug
nvm --version: v0.33.0
$SHELL: /bin/bash
$HOME: /root
$NVM_DIR: '$HOME/.nvm'
$PREFIX: ''
$NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: ''
nvm current: v6.10.0
which node: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v6.10.0/bin/node
which iojs:
which npm: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v6.10.0/bin/npm
npm config get prefix: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v6.10.0
npm root -g: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v6.10.0/lib/node_modules

nvm ls output:

root@ubuntu:~# nvm ls
         v6.9.5
->      v6.10.0
default -> 6 (-> v6.10.0)
node -> stable (-> v6.10.0) (default)
stable -> 6.10 (-> v6.10.0) (default)
iojs -> N/A (default)
lts/* -> lts/boron (-> v6.10.0)
lts/argon -> v4.8.0 (-> N/A)
lts/boron -> v6.10.0

How did you install nvm? (e.g. install script in readme, homebrew):
curl script from readme
What steps did you perform?
npm i -g testcafe
What happened?

root@ubuntu:~# npm i -g testcafe
/root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/bin/testcafe -> /root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/lib/node_modules/testcafe/bin/testcafe.js

> [email protected] postinstall /root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/lib/node_modules/testcafe/node_modules/testcafe-browser-tools
> node ./bin/fix-permissions.js

sh: 1: node: Permission denied
/root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/lib
└── (empty)

npm ERR! Linux 4.9.7-x86_64-linode80
npm ERR! argv "/root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/bin/node" "/root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/bin/npm" "i" "-g" "testcafe"
npm ERR! node v6.10.0
npm ERR! npm  v3.10.10
npm ERR! file sh
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno ENOENT
npm ERR! syscall spawn

npm ERR! [email protected] postinstall: `node ./bin/fix-permissions.js`
npm ERR! spawn ENOENT
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] postinstall script 'node ./bin/fix-permissions.js'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the testcafe-browser-tools package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     node ./bin/fix-permissions.js
npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
npm ERR!     npm bugs testcafe-browser-tools
npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls testcafe-browser-tools
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     /root/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! code 1

What did you expect to happen?
installation of testcafe globally
Is there anything in any of your profile files (.bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, etc) that modifies the PATH?
Not that I see.

If you are having installation issues, or getting "N/A", what does curl -v nodejs.org/dist/ print out?

Source

crazy4groovy

👍1

Most helpful comment

You can run this as root

npm config set user 0
npm config set unsafe-perm true
npm install -g package

source

Josexv1 on 21 Jul 2017

👍104 ❤42 🎉27 😄22 🚀3

All 21 comments

The error is coming from a postinstall script from testcafe-browser-tools (https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/bin/fix-permissions.js)

Looking at the script, it should be working fine - but the implication is that you used sudo at one time to nvm install node v6.10.0.

You'll either need to fix the permissions manually, or, nvm uninstall v6.10 && nvm install v6.10 (you will lose any installed global modules).

ljharb on 25 Feb 2017

Thanks @ljharb. Any tips on how to resolve permissions manually? I gave chmod to /lib folder a shot, but admittedly I'm a bit of a linux n00b and it didn't work. Plus maybe it'd be a good look-up resource for others who have the same issue.

I'll also try your uninstall/install suggestion.

(BTW, I'm logged in as root in the machine.)

crazy4groovy on 2 Mar 2017

Some combination of chmod or chown should do it, but without having an open shell it's hard to tell you from here :-)

(separately, i'd encourage not using root for anything, including nvm; that shouldn't stop it from working, however)

ljharb on 2 Mar 2017

FYI, nvm uninstall v6.10 && nvm install v6.10 didn't work for me, still couldn't install testcafe globally.

(Agreed about not using root, but just trying to get something working at the moment.)

root@ubuntu:~# ls -la /root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/
total 164
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root  4096 Mar  3 20:11 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root  4096 Mar  3 20:11 ..
drwxrwxr-x 2  500  500  4096 Mar  3 20:12 bin
-rw-rw-r-- 1  500  500 55606 Feb 22 00:27 CHANGELOG.md
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 Mar  3 20:11 etc
drwxrwxr-x 3  500  500  4096 Feb 22 00:27 include
drwxrwxr-x 3  500  500  4096 Feb 22 00:27 lib
-rw-rw-r-- 1  500  500 60255 Feb 22 00:27 LICENSE
-rw-rw-r-- 1  500  500 17535 Feb 22 00:27 README.md
drwxrwxr-x 5  500  500  4096 Feb 22 00:27 share

crazy4groovy on 3 Mar 2017

Also tried sudo chmod a+w /root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/lib

Which now shows:

root@ubuntu:~# ls -la /root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/
total 164
drwxrwxrwx 7 root root  4096 Mar  3 20:11 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root  4096 Mar  3 20:11 ..
drwxrwxr-x 2  500  500  4096 Mar  3 20:12 bin
-rw-rw-r-- 1  500  500 55606 Feb 22 00:27 CHANGELOG.md
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 Mar  3 20:11 etc
drwxrwxr-x 3  500  500  4096 Feb 22 00:27 include
drwxrwxrwx 3  500  500  4096 Feb 22 00:27 lib
-rw-rw-r-- 1  500  500 60255 Feb 22 00:27 LICENSE
-rw-rw-r-- 1  500  500 17535 Feb 22 00:27 README.md
drwxrwxr-x 5  500  500  4096 Feb 22 00:27 share

Still no luck with npm i -g testcafe

crazy4groovy on 3 Mar 2017

Just to confirm, is this just a problem with testcafe?

ljharb on 3 Mar 2017

Some things work fine, like http-server and pm2.

But vorlon does not either, though it installs fine on my Windows machine.

root@ubuntu:~# npm i -g vorlon
npm WARN deprecated [email protected]: Jade has been renamed to pug, please install the latest version of pug instead of jade
npm WARN deprecated [email protected]: Deprecated, use jstransformer
npm WARN deprecated [email protected]: Please update to minimatch 3.0.2 or higher to avoid a RegExp DoS issue
npm WARN deprecated [email protected]: use uuid module instead
/root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/bin/vorlon -> /root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/lib/node_modules/vorlon/bin/vorlon

> [email protected] install /root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/lib/node_modules/vorlon/node_modules/phantomjs-preb                                                                                                            uilt
> node install.js

sh: 1: node: Permission denied
/root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/lib
└── (empty)

npm ERR! Linux 4.9.7-x86_64-linode80
npm ERR! argv "/root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/bin/node" "/root/.nvm/versions/node/v6.10.0/bin/npm" "i" "-g" "vorlon"
npm ERR! node v6.10.0
npm ERR! npm  v3.10.10
npm ERR! file sh
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno ENOENT
npm ERR! syscall spawn

npm ERR! [email protected] install: `node install.js`
npm ERR! spawn ENOENT
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] install script 'node install.js'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the phantomjs-prebuilt package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     node install.js
npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
npm ERR!     npm bugs phantomjs-prebuilt
npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls phantomjs-prebuilt
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     /root/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! code 1

crazy4groovy on 5 Mar 2017

The common thread seems to be global packages that have postinstall scripts that check/fix permissions. I would still suspect that it's because you're root - npm runs postinstall scripts as nobody for safety.

ljharb on 5 Mar 2017

Let's call this one fixed! :)

I followed the instructions here to create a sudo user (called it worker1): https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-create-a-sudo-user-on-ubuntu-quickstart

Then reinstalled nvm in that account. Then:

worker1@ubuntu:~$ npm install testcafe

> [email protected] postinstall /home/worker1/node_modules/testcafe-browser-tools
> node ./bin/fix-permissions.js

File permissions fixed
/home/worker1
└─┬ [email protected]
. . .

I don't fully understand the ramifications of using a non-root user, but it's enough to nod my head, cheer, and move along :) Thanks for your help working through this; muchly appreciated kind sir! :+1: May others find this useful as well.

crazy4groovy on 6 Mar 2017

🎉2 👍1

Glad you got something working!

ljharb on 6 Mar 2017

You can run this as root

npm config set user 0
npm config set unsafe-perm true
npm install -g package

source

Josexv1 on 21 Jul 2017

👍104 ❤42 🎉27 😄22 🚀3

unsafe-perm is unsafe tho; you shouldn't need sudo or unsafe perms to do anything with node/npm.

ljharb on 21 Jul 2017

👍4 👎2

@ljharb right, if for some reason someone want to use it with root that should work.

Josexv1 on 21 Jul 2017

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

anhbaysgalan1 on 16 Jan 2018

❤2 👍2

Had this issue when trying to set up a Dockerfile to handle my dependencies.

https://github.com/creationix/nvm/issues/1407#issuecomment-316858947 fixed it for me as well. I ended up creating my Dockerfile like this:

Dockerfile:

RUN curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.8/install.sh | bash
ADD setup_nvm.sh setup_nvm.sh
RUN sh ./setup_nvm.sh

setup_nvm.sh

#!/usr/bin/env sh

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
    [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
    [ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"

nvm install node
npm config set user 0
npm config set unsafe-perm true
npm install -g npm
npm install package

drmmr763 on 28 Mar 2018

👍6 ❤1

npm config set user 0
npm config set unsafe-perm true

Woks.

FradSer on 3 Jul 2018

👍5 👎2

Im trying to install Tronbox and Im egtting this error can someone please chat with me to help? https://www.facebook.com/camjacko

Last login: Wed Jun 26 13:04:01 on ttys002
Camerons-iMac:~ Jacko$ git clone https://github.com/ThisIsCodeXpert/CodeXpert-Tron-DApp-Template.git
fatal: destination path 'CodeXpert-Tron-DApp-Template' already exists and is not an empty directory.
Camerons-iMac:~ Jacko$ npm install -g tronbox
npm WARN checkPermissions Missing write access to /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! syscall access
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! { [Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules']
npm ERR! stack:
npm ERR! 'Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'',
npm ERR! errno: -13,
npm ERR! code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR! syscall: 'access',
npm ERR! path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules' }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
npm ERR!
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator (though this is not recommended).

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! /Users/Jacko/.npm/_logs/2019-06-26T09_12_04_096Z-debug.log
Camerons-iMac:~ Jacko$ root/Administrator npm install -g tronbox
-bash: root/Administrator: No such file or directory
Camerons-iMac:~ Jacko$ /Users/Jacko/.npm/_logs/2019-06-26T09_12_04_096Z-debug.log
-bash: /Users/Jacko/.npm/_logs/2019-06-26T09_12_04_096Z-debug.log: Permission denied
Camerons-iMac:~ Jacko$

horseracetron on 26 Jun 2019

@horseracetron you need to use sudo with npm install -g when you’re not using nvm (note that because you’re not using nvm, this repo doesn’t apply to your issue)

ljharb on 26 Jun 2019

TLDR; don't run npm commands as root.

I just wanted to note here in line with @ljharb that it is highly discouraged to run npm commands as root. Essentially this installs global JS modules (that are often updated) across the whole filesystem and can be used by any process, within or out of your control.

EDIT: