Command not found when executing node.js n package on sudo

Question

I'm trying to update my version of node to the latest stable.

Using this resource I was able to:

sudo npm install n -g

But when I try

sudo npm n stable

I get:

sudo: n: command not found

If I run n stable, the command is present:

n stable
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/n’: Permission denied
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/n’: Permission denied
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/n’: Permission denied
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/n’: Permission denied

     install : node-v0.12.2
       mkdir : /usr/local/n/versions/node/0.12.2
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/n’: Permission denied

  Error: sudo required

Answer 1

I have found solution which worked for me:

sudo -E env "PATH=$PATH" n stable

Found it here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/29400598/861615

Answer 2

Surprisingly, your npm installation has the global prefix in a folder called npm on your home directory, this means that any package installed with the -g flag will install on this folder.

You can change this folder to any folder that is on the sudo safe path following these steps:

---

Graphical way:

1. Open a File Manager (a.k.a Nautilus).
2. Navigate to your home folder.
3. Press Ctrl+H to show hidden files.
4. Open a file called .npmrc with your favorite text editor.

5. Find a line on that file with this content:

   prefix=/home/<your_username>/npm
   

6. Replace /home/<your_username>/npm by a safe path (such as /usr/local/bin).

7. Once replaced it will look like this:

   prefix=/usr/local/bin
   

8. Save the file.
9. Run again sudo npm install n -g

---

Terminal way:

Run this command:

sed -i.bak "s%^prefix=.*$%prefix=/usr/local/bin%" ~/.npmrc

Answer 3

I know this is an Ubuntu forum, but I'm sure this will help someone with the same problem on the RHEL flavours who Googled to here like I did. Perhaps it also works in Ubuntu.

This is the approach:

ln -s /usr/local/bin/n /usr/bin/n

Answer 4

This mean you don't have N installed in you system, N is an npm-based node version manager. You can install it by installing first some version of node and then running

sudo npm install -g n

now you can install the version on node using n command

sudo n stable

The above will install the latest stable verion

sudo n lates

this will install the lates version

you can also install the specific version by specifying the version as below

sudo n  10.16.0

Answer 5

To avoid messing up with the .npm-global folder as noted by @Edson Horacio Junior, and based on @pohest's answer, here is how I fixed it:

sudo ln -s /home/<username>/.npm-global/bin/n /usr/local/bin/n
sudo n --version # test it

As a note, this probably will not work if you haven't followed npm's steps for changing the default global directory.

Answer 6

I found a solution that worked for me. Use nvm package to download latest node.

1. Install nvm using below command

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bash

2. Create an environment variable to use nvm

export NVM_DIR="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME/:-$HOME/.}nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm

3. Try nvm -v if it cannot see nvm installed, run the script below

command -v nvm

4. To install node run command below

nvm install node

5. After restarting the terminal, try to check the version of node, it should be updated

node -v

More info here: https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm

Answer 7

None of the answers above worked for me. This however this did:

sudo /usr/local/bin/bin/n stable

Answer 8

I encountered the same problem, this is how you can solve it:

1. Get npm config prefix

   npm config get prefix 
   // get -> ${myhome}/.npm-global
   

2. Add the following lines in .zshrc

   # Specify `n` to put the version of `node` in the `.n` directory.
   export N_PREFIX=${myhome}/.npm-global/.n
   
   # Make `nman` command work
   export PATH=${myhome}/.npm-global/bin:$PATH
   
   # Add this line to use `node -v` command
   export PATH=${myhome}/.npm-global/.n/bin:$PATH
   

Reference: GitHub - tj/n: Node version management

^{Editor's note: This answer was originally written in Chinese and has been translated and edited using online tools. To see the original answer, refer Revision #1}