Node already installed, it's just not linked

Question

I tried to fix the error where you have to use sudo when running npm. I blindly followed a link to uninstall node, the code was from this gist

After running the command and I tried to install it back with brew: brew install node. Which gave me the following error:

Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
Could not symlink share/doc/node/gdbinit
/usr/local/share/doc/node is not writable.

You can try again using:
  brew link node

Trying to run brew link node, I got:

Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/5.4.0... 
Error: Could not symlink share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp
/usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset is not writable.

Then when I write brew install npm, I get:

Warning: node-5.4.0 already installed, it's just not linked

When I write npm -v I get:

env: node: No such file or directory

Any ideas on how to solve this?

Solution 1

I managed to fix this by first running sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local and following it with brew link node. Now I have node properly installed.

Solution 2

This solution works! It is a combination of all the combinations.

Fix it using the following code.

1. sudo chmod 776 /usr/local/lib
2. brew link --overwrite node

   Outputs: Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/9.6.1... 49 symlinks created

3. sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/lib

Solution 3

for OSX High Sierra users:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/*

brew link --overwrite node

then check node -v and npm -v

Solution 4

For Mojave || Catalina || Big Sur || Monterey use:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)

brew link --overwrite node

Solution 5

If you are on High Sierra, then sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local won't work. Instead use:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/*

Source: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/3228#issuecomment-332679274

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