CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsnpm
Menztrual
Menztrual

Reputation: 41587

NPM global install "cannot find module"

I wrote a module which I published to npm a moment ago (https://npmjs.org/package/wisp)

So it installs fine from the command line:

$ npm i -g wisp

However, when I run it from the command line, I keep getting an error that optimist isn't installed:

$ wisp 
Error: Cannot find module 'optimist'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:338:15)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:280:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:362:17)
    at require (module.js:378:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/wisp/wisp:12:10)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/wisp/wisp:96:4)
    at Module._compile (module.js:449:26)
    at Object.exports.run (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/coffee-script.js:68:25)
    at compileScript (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/command.js:135:29)
    at fs.stat.notSources.(anonymous function) (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/command.js:110:18)

However, I have specified in package.json as a dependancy:

{
  "name": "wisp",
  "author": "Brendan Scarvell <[email protected]>",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "description": "Global nodejs file server",
  "dependencies": {
    "optimist": "~0.3.4"
  },
  "repository": "git://github.com/tehlulz/wisp",
  "bin": {
    "wisp" : "./wisp"
  }
}

Does anyone know what to do to get this running? I know its to do with the bin part adding the executable to bin and the node_modules in that directory being empty. No idea how to resolve this.

Upvotes: 248

Views: 374845

Answers (19)

Evan Carroll
Evan Carroll

Reputation: 1

Alpine / Containerization

As mentioned elsewhere, the solution is to bake into your image,

NODE_PATH=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/

I've also opened up an issue upstream with npm apk so this gets set

Upvotes: 0

user1959076
user1959076

Reputation: 409

$ vim /etc/profile.d/nodejs.sh

export NODE_PATH=/usr/lib/nodejs:/usr/lib/node_modules:/usr/share/javascript

Upvotes: 3

Lavish
Lavish

Reputation: 720

Faced the same issue and got it resolved by adding the below line in my zshrc. Based on your shell you can try adding in your rc file, for bash and zsh - bashrc/zshrc files present in your home location.

export NODE_PATH="/usr/local/lib/node_modules"

To directly add in zshrc file, run this command

echo 'export NODE_PATH="/usr/local/lib/node_modules"' >> ~/.zshrc

Upvotes: 0

Xameer
Xameer

Reputation: 31237

The following generic fix would for any module. For example with request-promise.

Replace 

npm install request-promise --global

With 

npm install request-promise --cli

worked (source) and also for globals and inherits

Also, try setting the environment variable

NODE_PATH=%AppData%\npm\node_modules

Upvotes: 16

Finedy
Finedy

Reputation: 21

I have just met this problem of the axios module. Then I tried this: run rm -rf node_modules and yarn. And it works.

Upvotes: 2

Rainhider
Rainhider

Reputation: 836

I had to add C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Roaming\npm to my env variables and then i could install stuff.

Upvotes: 0

Shivansh Rajpoot
Shivansh Rajpoot

Reputation: 121

For Mac User's It's Best use the manual installation:

To minimize the chance of permissions errors, you can configure npm to use a different directory. In this example, it will be a hidden directory on your home folder.

  1. Back-up your computer before you start.

  2. Make a directory for global installations:

    mkdir ~/.npm-global

  3. Configure npm to use the new directory path:

    npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'

  4. Open or create a ~/.profile file and add this line:

    export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH

  5. Back on the command line, update your system variables:

    source ~/.profile

  6. Test: Download a package globally without using sudo.

    npm install -g jshint

Instead of steps 2-4, you can use the corresponding ENV variable (e.g. if you don't want to modify ~/.profile):

NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX=~/.npm-global

Reference : https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/fixing-npm-permissions

Upvotes: 2

alain.janinm
alain.janinm

Reputation: 20065

I got this error Error: Cannot find module 'number-is-nan' whereas the module actually exists. It was due to a bad/incomplete Node.js installation.

For Windows , as other answers suggest it, you need a clean Node installation :

  • Uninstall Node.js
  • Delete the two folders npm and npm_cache in C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming
  • Restart Windows and install Node.js
  • Run npm initor (npm init --yes for default config)
  • Set the Windows environment variable for NODE_PATH. This path is where your packages are installed. It's probably something likeNODE_PATH = C:\Users\user\node_modules or C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules
  • Start a new cmd console and npm should work fine

Note :

Try the last points before reinstalling Node.js, it could save you some time and avoid to re-install all your packages.

Upvotes: 2

some bits flipped
some bits flipped

Reputation: 3092

I had the same error as the OP, but digging through the logs I could see sh: node: command not found.

It turns out that the /usr/bin/node program (symlink) is no longer installed with apt install nodejs. Once symlinked /usr/bin/node' tonodejs,npm install -g @angular/cli` succeeded.

The proper way to install this on debian is apt install nodejs-legacy.

Upvotes: 0

santhosh v
santhosh v

Reputation: 31

I did this in simple way...

  1. Un-Install node from control panel [Windows 7]
  2. Install node again
  3. Install protractor npm install --global --verbose protractor
    Update web driver manager.

works fine for me.

Hope this helps you....

Upvotes: 2

GT.
GT.

Reputation: 91

In my case both node and npm were in same path (/usr/bin). The NODE_PATH was empty, so the npm placed the global modules into /usr/lib/node_modules where require(...) successfully find them. The only exception was the npm module, which came with the nodejs package. Since I'm using 64 bit system, it was placed into /usr/lib64/node_modules. This is not where require(...) searches in case of empty NODE_PATH and node started from /usr/bin. So I had two options:

  • link /usr/lib64/node_modules/npm to /usr/lib/node_modules/npm
  • move modules from /usr/lib/node_modules/* to /usr/lib64/node_modules/ and set NODE_PATH=/usr/lib64/node_modules

Both worked. I'm using OpenSUSE 42.1 and the nodejs package from updates repository. Version is 4.4.5.

Upvotes: 1

P M
P M

Reputation: 33

For Windows, from Nodejs cannot find installed module on Windows? what worked for me is running npm link as in

npm link wisp

Upvotes: 2

Dmitry
Dmitry

Reputation: 1513

On windows if you just did a clean install and you get this you need blow away your npm cache in \AppData\Roaming

Upvotes: 3

Will Silveira
Will Silveira

Reputation: 383

For some (like me) that nothing else worked, try this:

brew cleanup
brew link node
brew uninstall node
brew install node

Hope it helps someone :)

Upvotes: 11

Dmytro
Dmytro

Reputation: 5701

Had the same problem on one of the test servers running Ubuntu under root. Then created a new user using useradd -m myuser and installed everything (nvm, node, packages) as myuser. Now it's working fine.

Upvotes: 1

user2921139
user2921139

Reputation: 1779

I got the "optimist" module error and I just did "npm install" to resolve it. went past that error.

https://github.com/mbloch/mapshaper/issues/12

Upvotes: 8

Dio Chou
Dio Chou

Reputation: 673

add this to beginning of prog(mac):

module.paths.push('/usr/local/lib/node_modules');

Upvotes: 52

randomness
randomness

Reputation: 1447

By default node does not look inside the /usr/local/lib/node_module for loading global modules. Refer the module loading explained in http://nodejs.org/api/modules.html#modules_loading_from_the_global_folders

So either you have to 1)add the /usr/local/lib/node_module to NODE_PATH and export it or 2)copy the installed node modules to /usr/local/lib/node . (As explained in the link for loading module node will search in this path and will work)

Upvotes: 17

Neek
Neek

Reputation: 7461

For anyone else running into this, I had this problem due to my npm installing into a location that's not on my NODE_PATH.

[root@uberneek ~]# which npm
/opt/bin/npm
[root@uberneek ~]# which node
/opt/bin/node
[root@uberneek ~]# echo $NODE_PATH

My NODE_PATH was empty, and running npm install --global --verbose promised-io showed that it was installing into /opt/lib/node_modules/promised-io:

[root@uberneek ~]# npm install --global --verbose promised-io
npm info it worked if it ends with ok
npm verb cli [ '/opt/bin/node',
npm verb cli   '/opt/bin/npm',
npm verb cli   'install',
npm verb cli   '--global',
npm verb cli   '--verbose',
npm verb cli   'promised-io' ]
npm info using [email protected]
npm info using [email protected]
[cut]
npm info build /opt/lib/node_modules/promised-io
npm verb from cache /opt/lib/node_modules/promised-io/package.json
npm verb linkStuff [ true, '/opt/lib/node_modules', true, '/opt/lib/node_modules' ]
[cut]

My script fails on require('promised-io/promise'):

[neek@uberneek project]$ node buildscripts/stringsmerge.js 

module.js:340
    throw err;
          ^
Error: Cannot find module 'promised-io/promise'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:338:15)

I probably installed node and npm from source using configure --prefix=/opt. I've no idea why this has made them incapable of finding installed modules. The fix for now is to point NODE_PATH at the right directory:

export NODE_PATH=/opt/lib/node_modules

My require('promised-io/promise') now succeeds.

Upvotes: 417

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