Permission denied when installing npm module

Question

I'm getting a strange permission error when I try to install an npm module. I'm starting it with sudo so I'm sure I do have access, but for some reason it keeps complaining with an error:

stack Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3/build'

I've tried restarting my computer, and creating a directory /usr/lib/node_modules/joplin with chmod 777, but it still doesn't work.

$ sudo npm install -g joplin
/usr/bin/joplin -> /usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/main.js

> [email protected] install /usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3
> node-pre-gyp install --fallback-to-build

node-pre-gyp ERR! Tried to download(undefined): https://mapbox-node-binary.s3.amazonaws.com/sqlite3/v3.1.9/node-v48-linux-x64.tar.gz
node-pre-gyp ERR! Pre-built binaries not found for [email protected] and [email protected] (node-v48 ABI) (falling back to source compile with node-gyp)
gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3/build'
gyp ERR! stack     at Error (native)
gyp ERR! System Linux 4.4.0-43-Microsoft
gyp ERR! command "/usr/bin/nodejs" "/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "configure" "--fallback-to-build" "--module=/usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v48-linux-x64/node_sqlite3.node" "--module_name=node_sqlite3" "--module_path=/usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v48-linux-x64"
gyp ERR! cwd /usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3
gyp ERR! node -v v6.11.2
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.6.2
gyp ERR! not ok
node-pre-gyp ERR! build error
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack Error: Failed to execute '/usr/bin/nodejs /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js configure --fallback-to-build --module=/usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v48-linux-x64/node_sqlite3.node --module_name=node_sqlite3 --module_path=/usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v48-linux-x64' (1)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3/node_modules/node-pre-gyp/lib/util/compile.js:83:29)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:191:7)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:891:16)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:226:5)
node-pre-gyp ERR! System Linux 4.4.0-43-Microsoft
node-pre-gyp ERR! command "/usr/bin/nodejs" "/usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3/node_modules/.bin/node-pre-gyp" "install" "--fallback-to-build"
node-pre-gyp ERR! cwd /usr/lib/node_modules/joplin/node_modules/sqlite3
node-pre-gyp ERR! node -v v6.11.2
node-pre-gyp ERR! node-pre-gyp -v v0.6.36
node-pre-gyp ERR! not ok

Edit

I've also tried sudo npm i sqlite3 -g --build-from-source but getting the same error Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/lib/node_modules/sqlite3/build' so it seems to be something to do with sqlite3.

Solution 1

You need to reclaim ownership of the .npm directory.

sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm

and need the write permission in node_modules directory:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/lib/node_modules

Solution 2

A rule of thumb as I have learned is to never run npm install with sudo. That creates items with root being the owner as opposed to your username.

It's best to change ownership to the directory to your username. $(whoami)

Comments

[lxknvlk]

what is $(whoami) ?

[Abhishek Singh]

whoami refers to the linux command which displays the current logged in user and $(whoami) gives you the output of the command.

[geeky_monster]

wow. this worked. had tried my head on lots of things till I found this and it worked!

[AnchovyLegend]

The who am I command answers philosophical questions about life.

[Kokodoko]

Sadly, this does not fix the problem for me in OS X Mojave

[Abhishek Singh]

The global npm directory might be different in your case. You might as well try running the command on /usr/local/lib/node_modules

[Katia Savina]

For some reason, after these commands executing sudo npm i failed with the same error, but without sudo - it works!