[BUG] Error EACCES -13 when using npm globally

[MithicSpirit]

What / Why

I get an EACCES -13 error sometimes (more below) when using npm globally

When

Whenever I run one of the following:

• npm -g upgrade
• npm -g install npm

Where

npm v6.13.4 on node v12.16.1, installed with nvm, using Ubuntu 18.04.4 with WSL.

How

Current Behavior

Running either npm -g upgrade or npm -g install npm gives the following error:

$ npm -g upgrade
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! syscall rename
npm ERR! path /home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/npm-d9b9c5ef/node_modules/yargs
npm ERR! dest /home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/yargs-b6502a51
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, rename '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/npm-d9b9c5ef/node_modules/yargs' -> '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/yargs-b6502a51'
npm ERR!  [OperationalError: EACCES: permission denied, rename '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/npm-d9b9c5ef/node_modules/yargs' -> '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/yargs-b6502a51'] {
npm ERR!   cause: [Error: EACCES: permission denied, rename '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/npm-d9b9c5ef/node_modules/yargs' -> '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/yargs-b6502a51'] {
npm ERR!     errno: -13,
npm ERR!     code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!     syscall: 'rename',
npm ERR!     path: '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/npm-d9b9c5ef/node_modules/yargs',
npm ERR!     dest: '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/yargs-b6502a51'
npm ERR!   },
npm ERR!   stack: "Error: EACCES: permission denied, rename '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/npm-d9b9c5ef/node_modules/yargs' -> '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/yargs-b6502a51'",
npm ERR!   errno: -13,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   syscall: 'rename',
npm ERR!   path: '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/npm-d9b9c5ef/node_modules/yargs',
npm ERR!   dest: '/home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/.staging/yargs-b6502a51'
npm ERR! }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
npm ERR!
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/mithic/.npm/_logs/2020-03-09T18_06_31_294Z-debug.log

Steps to Reproduce

Run npm -g upgrade or npm -g install npm

Expected Behavior

npm -g upgrade should attempt to update all globally installed packages to the latest version.
npm -g install npm should attempt to install the latest version of npm

[ljharb]

Given that you're using nvm, that suggests that the permissions aren't right on $NVM_DIR. Can you make sure that mithic is the owner of every file, recursive, inside that directory?

[MithicSpirit]

I believe so. $ find "$NVM_DIR" ! -user "mithic" did not return anything.

[ljharb]

Hmm, that checks ownership; what about -writable?

[MithicSpirit]

Only two seem to not be writable:

$ find "$NVM_DIR" ! -writable
/home/mithic/.nvm/.git/objects/pack/pack-c69cf0d0b58b9bd8c5b179abd3da49e09356afe5.idx
/home/mithic/.nvm/.git/objects/pack/pack-c69cf0d0b58b9bd8c5b179abd3da49e09356afe5.pack

should I change the permissions on them?

[ljharb]

nah, that's inside the nvm git repo, and wouldn't be related to this problem.

If you cd into /home/mithic/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/, and manually check the permissions of . and the files in there, those also make sense?

[MithicSpirit]

Yes, I own and have write permission for all of them.

[darcyclarke]

npm v6 is no longer in active development; We will continue to push security releases to v6 at our team's discretion as-per our Support Policy.

If your bug is preproducible on v7, please re-file this issue using our new issue template.

If your issue was a feature request, please consider opening a new RRFC or RFC. If your issue was a question or other idea that was not CLI-specific, consider opening a discussion on our feedback repo

Closing: This is an automated message.

[darcyclarke]

npm v6 is no longer in active development; We will continue to push security releases to v6 at our team's discretion as-per our Support Policy.

If your bug is preproducible on v7, please re-file this issue using our new issue template.

If your issue was a feature request, please consider opening a new RRFC or RFC. If your issue was a question or other idea that was not CLI-specific, consider opening a discussion on our feedback repo

Closing: This is an automated message.