Uninstall Node.js and Yeoman on macOsx to start from scratch

Question

I have the following problem when trying to build something with yeoman:

-bash: yo: command not found

What i have done so far:
I installed Node.js and then with npm i installed yeoman (npm install -g yo / with and without sudo)
I edited my .bash_profile and added the Exportpath.
I symlinked a lot (found answers in stackoverflow)
Yo worked but i wasnt able to install more generators than the first i added - and this was not completing the job reporting some errors. Later i discovered that something went wrong installing them global or not because i could see them in the system - but only in the global folder - whatever) so i decided to do all from scratch. So i removed Node.js and did all i could find here to remove node.js, bower, grunt and yo. And the symlinks and the bash-profile etc. Then i reinstalled it all and now... nothing works no more.
my aim is now to get rid of all that and get it working from scratch.
what do u need to help me doing this?

I start by providing the following informations (tell me if you need more!)

echo $NODE_PATH --> returns nothing

sudo npm install -g yo --> returns the following summary:

/Users/myuser/npm/bin/yo -> /Users/myuser/npm/lib/node_modules/yo/cli.js

yo@1.1.2 postinstall /Users/myuser/npm/lib/node_modules/yo
node ./scripts/doctor

`[Yeoman Doctor] Everything looks alright!

yo@1.1.2 /Users/myuser/npm/lib/node_modules/yo
├── open@0.0.4
├── async@0.2.10
├── shelljs@0.2.6
├── lodash@2.4.1
├── chalk@0.4.0 (has-color@0.1.7, ansi-styles@1.0.0, strip-ansi@0.1.1)
├── nopt@2.1.2 (abbrev@1.0.5)
├── findup@0.1.5 (commander@2.1.0, colors@0.6.2)
├── sudo-block@0.3.0 (chalk@0.3.0)
├── update-notifier@0.1.8 (semver@2.1.0, request@2.27.0, configstore@0.2.3)
├── insight@0.3.1 (object-assign@0.1.2, lodash.debounce@2.4.1, inquirer@0.4.1,
configstore@0.2.3, request@2.27.0) └── yeoman-generator@0.16.0 (dargs@0.1.0, diff@1.0.8, debug@0.7.4, class-extend@0.1.1,
rimraf@2.2.6, findup-sync@0.1.3, text-table@0.2.0, mime@1.2.11, mkdirp@0.3.5, isbinaryfile@2.0.1, underscore.string@2.3.3, iconv-lite@0.2.11, glob@3.2.9, file-utils@0.1.5, inquirer@0.4.1, request@2.30.0, cheerio@0.13.1, download@0.1.16) `

npm-debug.log contains this

0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ 'node', '/usr/local/bin/npm', 'link' ]
2 info using npm@1.4.3
3 info using node@v0.10.26
4 verbose node symlink /usr/bin/node
5 verbose linkPkg /Users/myuser
6 error Error: ENOENT, open '/Users/myuser/package.json'
7 error If you need help, you may report this *entire* log,
7 error including the npm and node versions, at:
7 error     <http://github.com/npm/npm/issues>
8 error System Darwin 13.1.0
9 error command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "link"
10 error cwd /Users/myuser
11 error node -v v0.10.26
12 error npm -v 1.4.3
13 error path /Users/myuser/package.json
14 error code ENOENT
15 error errno 34
16 verbose exit [ 34, true ]

/Users/myuser/.npmrc has this in it:

prefix = /Users/myuser/npm/

What else do you need to help me?
Last info: im on MacOsx 10.9 (mavericks)

Answer 1

You have some misconceptions here:

1. As you installed the yo to your local $HOME/npm dir, you have to append $HOME/npm/node_modules/bin directory to your $PATH variable and hash -r

2. You can now install the module with npm install -g yo (i omitted sudo as this isnt neccessary in your $HOME, it already belongs to you)

3. Now you have the yo-binary in $PATH, you can execute it easily

For an even easier installation, I suggest you use nvm (https://github.com/creationix/nvm#install-script). It allows for seamless integration of node to your $HOME dir with all prefixes set correctly.

I hope that helps :)