Error: The 'brew link' step did not comple

Question

I'm trying to install node.js via Homebrew. Unfortunately, I get this error:

➜  ~  brew install node
==> Downloading http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.8.10/node-v0.8.10.tar.gz
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.10
==> make install
==> Caveats
Homebrew installed npm.
We recommend prepending the following path to your PATH environment
variable to have npm-installed binaries picked up:
  /usr/local/share/npm/bin
Warning: Could not link node. Unlinking...
Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
You can try again using `brew link node'
==> Summary
/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.10: 856 files, 13M, built in 103 seconds

So then I try to link node manually...

➜  ~  brew link node
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.10... Warning: Could not link node. Unlinking...

Error: Could not symlink file: /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.10/lib/node_modules/npm/scripts/relocate.sh
Target /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/scripts/relocate.sh already exists. You may need to delete it.
To force the link and delete this file, do:
  brew link -f formula_name

To list all files that would be deleted:
  brew link -n formula_name

No luck, so I try forcefully linking node...

➜  ~  brew link -f node
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.10... Warning: Could not link node. Unlinking...

Error: Permission denied - /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d

I'm not familiar with dtrace in any regard and I'm afraid to mess with permissions, so I tried to sudo..

➜ ~ git:(master) sudo brew link -f node
Password:
Error: Cowardly refusing to `sudo brew link'
You can use brew with sudo, but only if the brew executable is owned by root.
However, this is both not recommended and completely unsupported so do so at
your own risk.

I've tried uninstalling node via brew uninstall node and retrying the install with no luck.

Answer 1

You need to remove the npm package manually.

first unlink node: brew link -n node

remove npm folder: rm -R /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.10/lib/node_modules/npm

link again: brew link node

there will be a soft link to the new location of npm

Answer 2

I fixed this in El Capitan by using the following command. Honestly, no idea what it does, but thought I'd share since it fixed my problem.

brew link --overwrite node

Answer 3

Don't know, if it's a good idea or not: After trying all other solutions without success, I just renamed /usr/local/lib/dtrace, linked node and re-renamed the directory again. After that, node worked as expected.

Answer 4

You probably already installed an older version of node.js using a different method, so you need to manually remove the files that are getting in brew's way.

Do brew link -n node and manually delete those conflicting files and directories, then try brew link node again.

Answer 5

by the Finder, Delete this file:

/usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d

in terminal:

$ brew link --overwrite --dry-run node

then:

$ brew link node

Answer 6

The homebrew package for node.js now includes npm again, so this happened to me when I missed the homebrew package's message about removing the standalone version first.

Assuming, like me, you've already broken node/npm by attempting the upgrade before knowing to npm uninstall npm -g first, you can rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm and then brew link node. This removes the standalone self-hosted npm package (rather than the one brew would like to install) and lets brew symlink its bundled one from Cellar.