NPM modules won't install globally without sud

Question

I have just reinstalled Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, and before anything else i did these steps:

1. Installed Node via package manager with the following script

   sudo apt-get update
   
   sudo apt-get install python-software-properties python g++ make
   
   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/node.js
   
   sudo apt-get update
   
   sudo apt-get install nodejs
   

2. Tried to install yeoman, express, n, yeoman's generators globally and all of them returned the same error

   npm ERR! Error: EACCES, symlink '../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n'

   npm ERR! { [Error: EACCES, symlink '../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n'] errno: 3, code: 'EACCES', path: '../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n' }

   npm ERR!

   npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

   npm ERR! System Linux 3.8.0-29-generic

   npm ERR! command "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "install" "-g" "-d" "n"

   npm ERR! cwd /home/heberlz

   npm ERR! node -v v0.10.20

   npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.11

   npm ERR! path ../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n

   npm ERR! code EACCES

   npm ERR! errno 3

   npm ERR! stack Error: EACCES, symlink '../lib/node_modules/n/bin/n'

   npm ERR!

   npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:

   npm ERR! /home/heberlz/npm-debug.log

   npm ERR! not ok code 0

3. Reclaimed ownership of the following folders recursively ~/.npm, /usr/lib/node, /usr/lib/node_modules, and of the following symlinks /usr/bin/node, /usr/bin/nodejs with absolutely no success

I need to install yeoman and its generators without sudo not to be in trouble later on :(

Answer 1

using lubuntu 14.04.3, I tried changing ownership of .npm and npm prefix, updated my path, npm installed modules to my home directory without sudo but the path was incorrect so the modules like ember were not found, linuxbew solved the problem, quick setup guide here for node/npm