How can I completely reverse all changes by npm in Ubuntu

Question

The Question is similar to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11177954/how-do-i-completely-uninstall-node-js-and-reinstall-from-beginning-mac-os-x but for Ubuntu, and mainly concerns the cleanup part.

Installation was done as usual by: sudo apt-get install node, however I later used the npm command to install multiple packages as more than one users.

How do I completely remove npm along with all libraries, packages and any other files installed by npm on my system by e.g. npm install -g @vue/cli? I would probably have to uninstall from apt, but the main question has to do with all the changes npm did.

Notes:

1. I am on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS npm version 7.5.6 if that matters
2. As there seems to be some fights about people uninstalling npm going on currently, please do not downvote just because I want to uninstall, I plan to reinstall :)

Edit-Reminder to future self and others: For reinstalling without sudo , a link with recipes can be found here. It is still unclear to me what's best but https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10081293/install-npm-into-home-directory-with-distribution-nodejs-package-ubuntu on the other hand there is README.md#debinstall so possibly use apt to install node, then use prefix...

Answer 1

This will be messy ...

The simplest solution that I have found to this problem when trying to "fix" a broken development server that couldn't be formatted and rebuilt from scratch due to "management" is this:

1. remove the globally installed packages
2. delete the locally installed packages from the various /home directories and /root
3. remove Node

Here's the basic process:

0. Open Terminal (if it's not already open) or SSH into the machine (if you don't have physical access)
1. List all globally installed packages:

   npm list -g --depth 0
   

2. Uninstall the global packages one by one with:

   sudo npm uninstall -g <package-name>
   

   If you'd like to also do this for locally installed packages from your account, you can do this:

   npm list
   npm uninstall -S <package-name>
   

   The -S flag will also remove the reference in your package.json file
3. Remove the following directories:
   ⇢ /etc/npmrc
   ⇢ /home/youruser/.npmrc
   ⇢ /root/.npmrc
   ⇢ ./.npmrc in any project directory next to package.json (search by using locate .npmrc)
4. Remove the Node package:

   sudo apt remove nodejs --purge  
   sudo apt remove npm --purge  
   

5. Finally, remove the straggling files and directories:

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm \ 
               /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* \
               /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d \
               ~/.npm \
               ~/.node-gyp \
               /opt/local/bin/node \
               /opt/local/include/node \
               /opt/local/lib/node_modules
   

   ... and the modules:

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*
   

   ... and the include modules:

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*
   

   ... and the files in the local /bin:

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node*
   

6. Enjoy a 15-minute break, because you're done

At this point, you can reinstall Node and its package manager if you wish to start over with a clean slate.

Answer 2

The command I use to remove all packages from npm is..

npm ls -gp --depth=0 | awk -F/ '/node_modules/ && !/\/npm$/ {print $NF}' | xargs npm -g rm

Failing that (and sometimes npm can get very clingy)..

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/node_modules
rm -rf ~/.npm*