npm WARN checkPermissions Missing write access to /usr/local/lib/node_modules

Question

Note: Due to security concerns, please don't use the marked solution but instead the highest voted one!

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original question:

I am trying to install monaca with this command.

npm install -g monaca

But right after getting these errors:

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' }

Any idea how to solve this problem? Thank you

Solution 1

An inadvisable way to fix the issue would be to use sudo:

sudo npm install -g monaca

However it would be better to find a way around this without using sudo.

npm install -g less does not work

Solution 2

add following lines to ~/.bashrc after installing npm:

npm set prefix ~/.npm
PATH="$HOME/.npm/bin:$PATH"
PATH="./node_modules/.bin:$PATH"

Execute following line after changes:

source ~/.bashrc

and as mentioned by @contemplator avoid using sudo

Solution 3

Note: It is highly recommended to avoid using sudo with npm!

Using sudo is not recommended. It may give you permission issue later. While the above works, use these instructions to fix your issue permanently.

Solution 4

To all the warnings telling not to use sudo above, I'd add the following solution that worked pretty well for me while installing n, node version manager

sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local/lib/node_modules

This was taken from here: https://poopcode.com/missing-write-access-to-usr-local-lib-node-modules/

PS: for my specific use-case I also needed to run this one afterwards

sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local/bin/

Solution 5

This command will change the owner (chown) recursively (-R) for the current user in the specified directory

sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local/lib/node_modules

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