Why can't I run my node packages from the terminal? - npm

Good evening,
I tried installing sails, yo, gulp & bower via the usual methods of npm i -g yo gulp bower etc but each time I open the terminal to run the command I always get the -bash: sails: command not found error.
I listed all my folders at the root of my folder and found the following:
The contents of the .npm-global/bin/ is actually all the packages I'm trying to use at the command line.
I decided to manual add the bin folder to the .bash_profile so it's contents was the following:
# Setting PATH for Python 3.7
# The original version is saved in su
export PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH="/.npm-global/bin:${PATH}"
but that didn't work either.
Here's where I think the problem first arose - I think that the python install overrode all the previous paths in the file (or moved them somewhere perhaps?) so that all previous terminal commands now don't work.
The usual global install for node packages (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin) contains the following:
What am I misunderstanding here & how can I fix this?

Related

Environment variables (zsh terminal) installed through npm on MacOS 12.4 Monterey - SOLVED

Background:
Dear Stackoverflow community. I recently switched from Windows to MacOS and am at a loss how to configure environment variables. Many of the previous questions asked here are about bash instead of zsh.
Goal:
I am trying to install an npm package globally. For instance:
npm install -g vercel
or any other package, and use it in my Visual Studio Code terminal (also zsh). If I want to deploy code I have to use 'npx vercel deploy' every time. I want to be able to use "vercel deploy" but instead I get:
zsh: command not found: vercel
What I tried so far:
Installing the package in zsh and visual studio code terminals (didn't work)
Setting the path equal on both VS and terminal: export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
I learned that you need to add environment variabels to a .zshrc file. I don't seem to have a zshrc file. When I do:
sudo ~/.zshrc
Password: XXXXXX
sudo: /Users/vincent/.zshrc: command not found
I am getting another error.
I read in the zsh man file that you should use $HOME/.zshrc instead. Again I am getting the same errors:
vincent#Vincents-MacBook-Air-2 ~ % $HOME/.zshrc
zsh: permission denied: /Users/vincent/.zshrc
vincent#Vincents-MacBook-Air-2 ~ % sudo $HOME/.zshrc
sudo: /Users/vincent/.zshrc: command not found
Update 1:
#slebetman Thank you for your explanation. When I open the terminal I go to home via "cd $HOME" which puts me in in the home directory. However there is no way for me to create a .zshrc file in that directory. Neither via touch or vs code. I am getting the following error: "Unable to write file '/home/.zshrc' (Unknown (FileSystemError): Error: ENOTSUP: operation not supported on socket, open '/home/.zshrc')"
Update 2:
I did manage to find the .zshrc file in visual studio code under /etc. I hope this will work. I was able to overwrite the file with Sudo and add environment variables to it.
Add this to the file .zshrc file under /etc and force overwrite it:
export vercel=/Users/vincent/.npm-global/bin/vercel
Screenshots below for those who will try in the future:
Image with .zshrc file layout
Final remarks:
I don't understand how it is so difficult to add environment variables on Mac while everything else is so easy.
I have read many different questions on stackoverflow, and I can't seem to solve it. Also since I am a newbie I am not allowed to comment on there so I post here in the hope that anyone can help me :)
Best,
Vincent
Note that when you do:
npx vercel deploy
Npm will execute vercel for you without installing it. It does that by temporarily downloading vercel. If you want to run vercel directly without using npx then simply don't use npx. Install it instead:
npm install -g vercel
The -g flag installs the module globally and if the module has a CLI it will be available globally as well (note that depending on your setup you may need admin/sudo privileges to use the -g flag). Now you can run vercel by simply typing:
vercel deploy
This works in all operating systems supported by node.js and npm. That means you can even do this in Windows. In fact I use npm to distribute my tools in a simple cross-platform way so I don't have to support multiple package managers like chocolatey (Windows), homebrew (Mac OS), deb (Debian based distros), rpm (Redhat based distros) etc. (npm does not require your software to be written in node.js - I have published packages on npm written in tcl and bash).

Command not found after installing #vue/cli

I npm installed #vue/cli with npm install -g #vue/cli. but when I try the vue command I get -bash: vue: command not found. I added export PATH="/usr/local/Cellar/node/11.2.0/lib/node_modules/#vue/cli/bin:$PATH" to my bash profile and when I echo path in terminal I get
/usr/local/opt/openssl/bin:/usr/local/Cellar/node/11.2.0/lib/node_modules/#vue/cli/bin:/Users/jimmymona/.node/bin:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:/usr/local:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:/usr/local:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
Which does have the path to the vue cli in it: /usr/local/Cellar/node/11.2.0/lib/node_modules/#vue/cli/bin
I also tried sudo installing it but that didn't work either
Anyone know what the issue is?
The path is wrong. The binary resides in /usr/local/Cellar/node/11.2.0/bin rather than .../lib/....
As you'll notice, the file in the latter directory is named as vue.js, not vue.
NPM creates a symlink without the .js extension to it in the bin directory, and that's the actual binary we typically refer to.
Typically we don't use the full path in .bashrc directly (in case the npm global path changes).
Rather, it's recommended to calculate it by combining the result of npm config get prefix and /bin, i.e.
export PATH="$PATH:$(npm config get prefix)/bin"

Can't run npm after installing

I've seen many similar posts on this here on SO but for some reason those solutions don't seem to work for me. Clearly I'm missing something.
I installed depcheck package globally by running npm install -g depcheck which ran fine without any errors.
If I go into the global directory for npm packages which is:
c:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\npm on my Windows 10 machine, I do see the depcheck.cmd file.
I also see the depcheck folder within c:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm_modules folder.
I think this means I was able to install the depcheck package globally.
When I run npm config get prefix, I get c:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\npm which seems to be the correct path.
Why is it that when I run depcheck inside my project's root folder where the package.json is located, I get:
'depcheck' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file
If I try another standard npm command inside my project's root folder, it works fine. For example, I ran npm -v and got the version number.
What am I doing wrong?
I also had this problem before. After searching on the web I found that reinstalling NPM with Administrator permissions worked for me, as the installer without Administrator permissions doesn't create/write to some specific files. I hope this will help for you.
Pascal.

bower install command issuing EHTTP error

I am struggling with installing bower on my system - although there are a few bower install issue scenarios on here, none are a very good match.
In my scenario, I have an externally acquired folder full of source code for a complex software package - the .bowerrc file is located here, as well as a bower.json. As is the default, my .npmrc file is located C:\Users\USER.
I have appended code strict-ssl=false and registry=http://registry.npmjs.org/ into .npmjs, and left the npm cache and config specs in the user directory. I've also left my PATH user variable as C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\npm.
I have so far run three commands successfully:
npm install -g ember-cli
npm install -g bower
npm install
The created files from these commands seem to get dumped into C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules, and then the final command below is only giving me an EHTTP error.
bower install
I can only think that this issue is only occurring because of the location of the various dependencies. I've been playing around a bit - the last thing I tried was changing the Path user variable so that it instead points to the folder directory with .bowerrc, but the npm installation then has trouble referencing .npmrc. I'd appreciate any ideas, because I might only be chasing my own tail here.
UPDATE
I think I was wasting my time messing about with directory locations. The problem seems to be that there is a legacy proxy inside the .bowerrc file.. now I just need to work out how to get rid of the proxy setting!

Installing Bower globally using npm

I am trying to install Bower globally and it is installed in the directory of
C:\Users\{{user}}\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\bower
I have added the system path of Path and NODE_PATH to that of above, however when running bower, it still cant find the modules.
the prefix of npm-config is:
C:\Users\{{user}}\AppData\Roaming\npm
however later within the the list it states it as
"C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs" (overridden)
Ive run out of ideas of what it could be,
If you using npm, which looks like you are, then use the global flag (run as admin)
npm install -g bower
Sometimes another version or just a wrong path is referenced in the npm config file instead of the installed version.
This may cause node/npm to misplace global modules.
To check and fix:
In cmd line type: npm config list
You should get a list of configuration values, one of them is prefix.
Make sure the path in prefix is the same path (only without node.exe) as the actually installed node.exe path.
(this path is listed further down as node bin location)
If it's not, change it:
Either in the config file (in your user folder, named .npmrc)
Or, via cmd line: npm config set prefix "C:\Program Files\nodejs" (change path if needed)
Reinstall the module/package you tried to install, don't forget -g for global.