installing npm modules on ubuntu gives me an error

Question

i got the following error when i tried to install an npm package called sharp.

sudo npm install -g sharp

> sharp@0.21.0 install /usr/local/lib/node_modules/sharp
> (node install/libvips && node install/dll-copy && prebuild-install) || (node-gyp rebuild && node install/dll-copy)

info sharp Downloading https://github.com/lovell/sharp-libvips/releases/download/v8.7.0/libvips-8.7.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
ERR! sharp EACCES: permission denied, open '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/sharp/19229-libvips-8.7.0-linux-x64.tar.gz'
ERR! sharp Please see http://sharp.pixelplumbing.com/page/install
gyp WARN EACCES user "root" does not have permission to access the dev dir "/home/areahints/.node-gyp/8.10.0"
gyp WARN EACCES attempting to reinstall using temporary dev dir "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/sharp/.node-gyp"
gyp WARN install got an error, rolling back install
gyp WARN install got an error, rolling back install
gyp ERR! configure error 
gyp ERR! stack Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/sharp/.node-gyp'
gyp ERR! System Linux 4.15.0-39-lowlatency
gyp ERR! command "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd /usr/local/lib/node_modules/sharp
gyp ERR! node -v v8.10.0
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.8.0
gyp ERR! not ok 
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! sharp@0.21.0 install: `(node install/libvips && node install/dll-copy && prebuild-install) || (node-gyp rebuild && node install/dll-copy)`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the sharp@0.21.0 install script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/areahints/.npm/_logs/2018-11-18T16_14_58_685Z-debug.log

running the same code without sudo throws a different error

npm install -g sharp
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: '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).

I have similar issues with node-expat, iconv and libxmljs. I have tried installing all dependencies and dev-dependencies and retried to no avail.

Answer 1

sudo chown -R $USER ~/.npm worked for me, as it is clearly an access problem for the user to this folder.

Answer 2

sudo npm install --unsafe-perm=true --allow-root

For EXemple: sudo npm install -g cordova-res --unsafe-perm=true --allow-root

Answer 3

I also faced this issue. I was able to resolve it by this command:

sudo npm install --unsafe-perm -g sharp

Reference.

Answer 4

It looks like the issue is you do not have permissions.

sudo chown -R areahints /home/areahints && sudo chmod -R 777 /home/areahints

repeat this step for any directory it says you do not have permissions on ^

sudo apt-get update –fix-missing
sudo dpkg –configure -a
sudo apt-get install -f

This should help repair broken packages and install missing dependencies ^

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get autoremove

this should be done before you install anything and also after ^

did you upgrade to 18.04 from another distro or was this a fresh install? i am asking this because sometimes there are conflicts when upgrading. it's always best to do a fresh OS install when it's a new distro.

this is the root of the issues you are having on your other question