[BUG] After update to npm 7 it seems no global packages are recognized

[charles-dexter-ward]

Upgraded from node 14 to node 15.0.0
Upgraded npm to 7.0.3

Current Behavior:

1. npm --outdated -g
   only shows a DOWNGRADE from npm 7 to 6
   

2. npm list -g --depth= 0
   it does not show the intalled global packages, but only npm
   

Expected Behavior:

the complete list of installed global packages should be listed.

Steps To Reproduce:

Environment:

• OS: Windows 10
• Node: 15.0.0
• npm: 7.0.3

[charles-dexter-ward]

In addition there is also the issue #1962

[WraithKenny]

I had this same problem on my MacOS system, but fixed it with
brew rm node
brew install node
Which doesn't explain why the problem also happens on Windows, but maybe it points to where the problem is.

(It seems on upgrade it loses track of where the global node_modules folder is, but install knows where it is? I dunno.)

Didn't fix the "global requires an add or rm option" tho.

[WraithKenny]

What's also strange is that npm i npm@^6 -g didn't fix the issue, only an uninstall and reinstall of node

[funfunction]

After installing node 15 and npm 7, the npm global modules install into this path...
C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules

instead of....
C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules

Which path should be made the canonical path to use?

[charles-dexter-ward]

#1962 (comment)

could solve the problem for someone (not for me #1962 (comment))

[jonathanmarvens]

#1962 (comment)

[funfunction]

Installing Node 15 fresh (uninstall first) still installs only npm 6 (not npm 7)

Is this the expected behavior or a bug?

[charles-dexter-ward]

@funfunction
Npm 7 is not the latest, I suppose. I think you must explictly require the version 7.

[ljharb]

@funfunction if you have installed node 15 properly, it will always come with npm 7. If it doesn't, your install method is likely broken.

[nickserv]

I think it's more about npm 7's global package linking being broken (since npm itself is an npm package)

[ljharb]

@nickmccurdy on a fresh install of node, npm isn’t linked, and on any node 15, it’s always npm 7.

[funfunction]

I fixed it by cd-ing into AppData\Roaming\npm

then running: npm link npm

After 10 years of using node, this is the first time I had to do this.

[charles-dexter-ward]

Installed npm 7.0.10 (which should fix #1962) :

npm outdated -g

npm list -g --depth=0

npm link npm

`
42 verbose stack Error: ELOOP: too many symbolic links encountered, stat 'C:\Users\XXXXX\node_modules\npm'

42 verbose stack at eloop (C:\Users\XXXXX\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\arborist\lib\realpath.js:57:17)

42 verbose stack at C:\Users\XXXXX\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\arborist\lib\realpath.js:82:15

42 verbose stack at async Arborist.[loadActual] (C:\Users\XXXXX\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\arborist\lib\arborist\load-actual.js:118:13)

`

[charles-dexter-ward]

I had to reinstall all global packages. Now they are listed by npm and executable.
Before reinstalling them, there were no binaries in the node_modules folder even if the packages were previously installed.

[WraithKenny]

So I had
which npm > /usr/local/bin/npm,
npm -v > 7.0.10
npm -g ls --depth=0 shows usr/local/lib
and npm config list showed

; "builtin" config from /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc

prefix = "/usr/local" 

; "cli" config from command line options

omit = [] 
user-agent = "npm/7.0.10 node/v15.2.1 darwin x64" 

; node bin location = /usr/local/Cellar/node/15.2.1/bin/node
[...]

Then I run npm install -g npm@7.0.12
Now...
which npm > /usr/local/bin/npm,
npm -v > 7.0.12
npm -g ls --depth=0 shows /usr/local/Cellar/node/15.2.1/lib
and npm config list shows

; "cli" config from command line options
[...]

...which fails to load the previous (default) prefix. (npm config list -l will show prefix = "/usr/local/Cellar/node/15.2.1")

This still seems like it's off. I've fixed mine by adding a .npmrc (by running npm config set prefix /usr/local) but if a user upgrades without that file, things are weird.

[playpiano]

even last version 7.3.0 not listing globally installed packages: is it a new Arborist tree list bug?

[charles-dexter-ward]

Yes. I had installed 7.2.0 and it has screwed up the packages again. :(
What the hell!