[BUG] `npm install -g npm` removes `npm` command

[mshibanami]

What / Why

npm command is removed after running npm install -g npm.

When

• 2019/12/18
• I can't remember exactly when I succeeded in running this command but at least a week ago.

Where

• npm/cli

How

Current Behavior

This is the log:

~
% brew install node
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/node-13.3.0_1.catalina.bottle.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Users/manabu/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/8a482358c0487b3ffeeebf4d1f3b3ca825018f6318ecdd6368fd0a6f45e0bea1--node-13.3.0_1.catalina.bottle.tar.gz
==> Pouring node-13.3.0_1.catalina.bottle.tar.gz
==> Caveats
Bash completion has been installed to:
  /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d
==> Summary
🍺  /usr/local/Cellar/node/13.3.0_1: 4,663 files, 59MB

~
% npm install -g npm
/usr/local/bin/npx -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npx-cli.js
/usr/local/bin/npm -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
npm ERR! code EEXIST
npm ERR! syscall symlink
npm ERR! path ../../../lib/node_modules/npm/man/man1/npm-access.1
npm ERR! dest /usr/local/share/man/man1/npm-access.1
npm ERR! errno -17
npm ERR! EEXIST: file already exists, symlink '../../../lib/node_modules/npm/man/man1/npm-access.1' -> '/usr/local/share/man/man1/npm-access.1'
npm ERR! File exists: /usr/local/share/man/man1/npm-access.1
npm ERR! Remove the existing file and try again, or run npm
npm ERR! with --force to overwrite files recklessly.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/manabu/.npm/_logs/2019-12-18T07_51_00_280Z-debug.log

I confirmed that this happened again when I ran brew reinstall node.

Actually as the output said, I successfully ran it with --force but I think that just showing these logs is better than removing the npm command.

Edit (2020/01/11):

Actually as the output said, I successfully ran it with --force

More specifically, I did these steps:

1. Restore npm command that was removed by npm install -g npm
   • Since I use Homebrew for managing Node.js, I ran brew reinstall node to restore it
2. Run npm install -g --force npm as the output mentioned

Steps to Reproduce

• n/a

Expected Behavior

• Updating npm is successful

Who

• n/a

References

• n/a

[andreineculau]

related to @isaacs' change in 320ac9a npm/bin-links#12 npm/gentle-fs#7 released in npm@6.13.4

surfaced by the bump of npm from 6.13.2 to 6.13.4 in homebrew Homebrew/homebrew-core@6acc21a#diff-d3ef2414308e30df24a517ca9a1324ee (authored/commited by @pepyakin @fxcoudert @bayandin )

AFAICS this is intended behaviour in npm. Unclear for me how this should be handled in a homebrew setup.

[aprilmintacpineda]

#672

I did yarn global add npm and it installed npm@6.13.76 and I did not encounter the error, but now all my previous global packages are gone :((

[aprilmintacpineda]

I opted out from homebrew and simply used https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm

Just do

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.35.2/install.sh | bash

Then somewhere on the end, you'll see

=> Compressing and cleaning up git repository

=> Appending nvm source string to /Users/aprilmintacpineda/.bash_profile
=> Appending bash_completion source string to /Users/aprilmintacpineda/.bash_profile
=> Close and reopen your terminal to start using nvm or run the following to use it now:

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"  # This loads nvm bash_completion

Just do source <name of profile> In my case <name of profile> is ~/.bash_profile so it will be source ~/.bash_profile

then

nvm install node to install the latest version of node, it will also install the latest version of npm, and that worked for me.

[andreineculau]

not sure if it's clear to everyone on this thread that the solution, given that you know what you're doing and why, is simply

npm i -g --force npm (note the --force flag)

[jtsom]

The problem is, after doing the npm -I npm and getting the error, trying any npm command fails with 'zsh: command not found: npm', so I could not do the --force command even if I wanted to. I had to brew reinstall node to get npm back.

[mshibanami]

Sorry guys, I didn't fully describe how I temporarily avoided this issue. I've updated the description, please have a look.

[LeRoyJulian]

not sure if it's clear to everyone on this thread that the solution, given that you know what you're doing and why, is simply

npm i -g --force npm (note the --force flag)

This was the only solution I found to fix this actually.

[AlbertVilaCalvo]

2nd time this happens to me in a few weeks. You can fix it with brew reinstall node.

Here's the output I get running npm install -g npm:

/usr/local/bin/npm -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
/usr/local/bin/npx -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npx-cli.js
npm ERR! code EEXIST
npm ERR! syscall symlink
npm ERR! path ../../../lib/node_modules/npm/man/man1/npm-adduser.1
npm ERR! dest /usr/local/share/man/man1/npm-adduser.1
npm ERR! errno -17
npm ERR! EEXIST: file already exists, symlink '../../../lib/node_modules/npm/man/man1/npm-adduser.1' -> '/usr/local/share/man/man1/npm-adduser.1'
npm ERR! File exists: /usr/local/share/man/man1/npm-adduser.1
npm ERR! Remove the existing file and try again, or run npm
npm ERR! with --force to overwrite files recklessly.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/albertvilacalvo/.npm/_logs/2020-01-13T11_55_47_922Z-debug.log

[yvbeek]

Summarized the solution is:

brew reinstall node
npm i -g --force npm