npm install error ENOTDIR

Question

I am very new to Node.js and trying to install Flatiron using npm but it gives me an error.

sudo npm install flatiron -g

And I get -

npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/flatiron
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/flatiron
npm ERR! Error: ENOTDIR, mkdir '/home/siddharthsaha/tmp/npm-28554/1353323290836-0.20847953506745398'
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this log at:
npm ERR!     <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR!     <[e-mail]>

npm ERR! System Linux 3.2.0-24-generic
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "flatiron" "-g"
npm ERR! cwd /home/siddharthsaha/denarit
npm ERR! node -v v0.8.14
npm ERR! npm -v 1.1.65
npm ERR! path /home/siddharthsaha/tmp/npm-28554/1353323290836-0.20847953506745398
npm ERR! code ENOTDIR
npm ERR! errno 27
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/siddharthsaha/denarit/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

What is wrong here? I have no clue.

Answer 1

I direct delete the file of npm-debug.log. then it's ok for me.

Answer 2

Below are the steps to install a given release from source without root NOTE - this installs nodejs which gives you both node as well as npm, they come together per release.

to start fresh remove prior node.js and npm installs as well as these :

sudo mv ~/.npmrc ~/.npmrc_ignore
sudo mv ~/.npm   ~/.npm_ignore
sudo mv ~/tmp    ~/tmp_ignore
sudo mv ~/.npm-init.js ~/.npm-init.js_ignore

to install nodejs and npm as yourself NOT root do these commands (OSX/linux) :

export NODE_PARENT=${HOME}/bin_0_10_32

mkdir ${NODE_PARENT}

download source from : http://nodejs.org/download/

cd node-v0.xxxx

./configure   --prefix=${NODE_PARENT}/nodejs

make -j8
make install   #  IMPORTANT this is NOT using sudo
               # not wanted since installing into $USER owned $NODE_PARENT

which puts it into dir defined by above --prefix

export PATH=${NODE_PARENT}/nodejs/bin:$PATH

define environment variable NODE_PATH so node can find dir for modules otherwise npm install xxx will put newly installed module into current dir :

export NODE_PATH=${NODE_PARENT}/nodejs/lib/node_modules

when you use syntax : npm install -g some_cool_module the -g for global installs it into dir $NODE_PATH and not your $PWD

nodejs install gives you npm as well :

ls -la ${NODE_PARENT}/nodejs/bin

Subsequent modules you install using global flag -g will automagically put their ~binaries~ into above bin dir ... like browserify

Now put above three export xxx=yyy commands into your ~/.bashrc or some such so your environment is setup

Answer 3

Just solved the issue. Its because there's a file called tmp in the home directory.

rm -rf ~/tmp
sudo npm cache clear
sudo npm install -g node

Also... if you are trying to install npm then the same error and solution applies - delete ~/tmp

Answer 4

Try

sudo mkdir -p /home/siddharthsaha/tmp
sudo npm cache clear

before starting the install script, since npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/flatiron line states that this module is coming from cache. And also ENOTDIR states that there is no directory. Therefore, emptying the cache would solve your problem.