Homebrew should no longer manage npm. #27479

chevcast · 2014-03-12T17:33:40Z

This discussion has been ongoing for a while now and it seems to have come to a consensus. When homebrew installs npm it breaks the ability for npm to update itself. This wouldn't be a big deal if we never let npm update itslef, but the reality is that's not really practical.

With npm you can run npm update -g (which is standard practice) and it will update all global node modules, including npm itself. When this happens after homebrew installed npm it completely breaks npm so that it no longer functions at all (unless you use sudo every time, which obviously isn't ideal). The only way to fix it is to re-install npm. Installing this brew formula without npm and then installing npm separately fixes the issue and allows npm to manage itself appropriately.

We came up with two options:

Brew formula should only install node and simply display the curl script to install npm at the end (what this PR does).
Brew should install and manage node and then run the curl script itself at the end.

I'm not familiar enough with homebrew or Ruby to even know if it's possible to run the curl script at the end of the node install so I went ahead and did my best to implement option 1. Please feel free to point out any issues with my changes; as I said, I'm not a Ruby developer, so I wouldn't be surprised if I made a few mistakes.

Option 2 would be the best since it would allow brew to install npm initially, but then let it update itself thereafter, but the original issue is obviously a permissions issue; it seems likely that the same issue would occur with this option. If someone reading this thinks it's possible to do that then please do so; I know that lots of us would be very grateful :)

MikeMcQuaid · 2014-03-12T17:42:08Z

I want @isaacs or other input on this before we merge it. We can't keep yo-yoing the Homebrew formula on this.

chevcast · 2014-03-12T17:44:11Z

Totally agree. This workaround of not letting homebrew manage npm is actually his workaround. Well, he tells others to completely opt out of homebrew altogether when it comes to node, but later in the thread everyone realized only npm needs to not be managed by homebrew.

adamv · 2014-03-12T17:52:22Z

Library/Formula/node.rb

-      end
-    end
+  def caveats; <<-end.undent
+      Homebrew has NOT installed npm. If you want npm (you do right?)


I would absolutely rather we provide a link to a webpage that provides these instructions, so the caveats would be "To install npm, read the instructions at http://blah."

chevcast · 2014-03-12T17:57:45Z

Makes sense to me. Where would be the best place to host such instructions? Or does one already exist?

I will say that install script has not changed for quite some time. Idk if that makes a difference or not.

adamv · 2014-03-12T18:00:59Z

Presumably the NPM project has a homepage with these instructions on it. They could even make a Homebrew specific page that we could link to.

chevcast · 2014-03-12T18:34:41Z

Well I've searched around and I cannot find one. If you know of one then please let me know. I've seen the one-liner install script all over the place but I can't find any page dedicated to install instructions that includes the easy one-liner. Should I create one? I'd be more than happy to throw up a permanent page on my domain. Though, is this really worth the hassle? What is your reasoning for not liking the one-line npm install just being displayed right in the caveat?

MikeMcQuaid · 2014-03-12T18:36:54Z

@adamv @chevex I want this PR to sit open for at least a week before we merge it. We need to take the time to do this properly, finally.

chevcast · 2014-03-12T18:37:47Z

That's fine with me. I'm in no way trying to rush anything. Just discussing. I will stay on top of this PR discussion and make any changes in my fork that we decide to make.

adamv · 2014-03-12T18:54:51Z

My reasoning is that NPM should provide install instructions, and if they change their install instructions we shouldn't have to update the caveat, since we wouldn't actually be packaging NPM anymore.

Surely they have a page with installation instructions somewhere on the Internet.

chevcast · 2014-03-12T18:58:36Z

@adamv Surely you can find it and link to it then, because I sure can't.

Since npm is packaged with node I'd bet most people get it that way so maybe they don't feel it necessary to provide an install page for npm since they have one for node. Anytime I've seen npm installed by itself without node it has always been that curl script. They've maintained that shell script since I can remember and even when they've changed and moved stuff around that shell script has always been there. They just keep redirecting that url to wherever it needs to go (hence the -L so that it will follow 301 redirects).

chevcast · 2014-03-12T19:01:24Z

This is the best I could find, and it tells users to install node to get npm. There is a "fancy pants" install section below that with the script in it. I suppose it does make sense to just link to the README. Only issue is that it doesn't actually instruct them how to easily DL and run the script; no mention of curl.

What do you think @adamv?

adamv · 2014-03-12T19:04:41Z

This homepage is indirect as heck but it "works for me" in the sense that I don't use npm myself.

chevcast · 2014-03-12T19:07:05Z

I think I'll leave it the way it is for now; either that or submit a PR to npm. I don't like that the README doesn't show any simple way to download and install npm. Even if they think to use curl they then have to figure out that they must supply the -L option to force it to follow the redirects. If they update the README with such information then I'd happily link to it. For now I think it's easier to have this line right in the formula where others can come correct it if it ever really did change (which I doubt anytime soon).

Most people using brew are power users and are going to want the simple one-liner and it really sucks to force everyone to google when we know what the one-liner is. Also, since it's brew, we only care about the unix install and none of the others. I think this makes the most sense for now. But again, updating the npm README probably makes the most sense.

adamv · 2014-03-12T19:11:29Z

I won't be the maintainer who ultimately pulls this, but I'll leave this as a note to future interested maintainers: I'm strongly opposed to directly including the command-line to install NPM in node's caveats, and would very much prefer a link to npm documentation. Said documentation doesn't seem to exist in a usable state, but perhaps that is a sign to npm to improve it.

This change assumes that the npm PR will be merged.

chevcast · 2014-03-12T19:25:31Z

I found the npm README and sent a PR to change it. I then updated this PR with a link to the README. That should do what you want @adamv.

adamv · 2014-03-12T20:34:56Z

Library/Formula/node.rb

-          #{npm_prefix}/bin
-      end
-    end
+  def caveats; <<-end.undent


Use EOS.undent and put in the ending EOS.

Will do. Thank you :)

https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/pull/27479/files#r10539249

adamv · 2014-03-12T21:56:09Z

Library/Formula/node.rb

-          lib/"node_modules/npm/lib/utils/completion.sh" => "npm"
-      end
-    end
-  end


This end needs to remain as the end of def install.

Done. Thanks again.

isaacs · 2014-03-13T00:18:36Z

If you're familiar with the history here, I did once upon a time send a pull request to Homebrew that removed npm entirely. After massive push-back on that, I sent a new pull request that installed npm in a more standard fashion, such that it would not disable features or be unable to upgrade itself. After much back and forth with the Homebrew team, we settled on something that we could all be equally dissatisfied with. That was some time ago, and the current state of the npm brew recipe is to be perpetually broken and weird.

So, in short, huge +1 on this from me. Several years overdue.

MikeMcQuaid · 2014-03-13T10:17:56Z

@isaacs Ok, thanks. Is this: https://github.com/npm/npm#fancy-install-unix the best link for us? Alternatively, can we rely on https://npmjs.org/install.sh to work for a long time? Thanks again!

joeyhoer · 2014-03-13T20:14:06Z

One-line npm install: npm_config_prefix=/usr/local/lib/node_modules; curl -sSL https://npmjs.org/install.sh | bash

Edit: On inspection of the PR I see you've already done this, and subsequently removed it.

chevcast · 2014-03-20T19:30:43Z

Think this has been open long enough that we can finally get this fixed? :)

aredridel · 2014-03-22T18:47:14Z

y'know, 👍. It's a nice compromise, and considering how npm works so compatibly with brew if you do it this way, I'm a fan.

jfelchner · 2014-03-22T21:02:19Z

@mistydemeo I stand corrected. I guess I'll revise to say "No developer I know of installs Ruby/Rubygems via Homebrew". Everyone I've ever met uses a version manager (eg RVM, rbenv, chruby, etc) to handle that.

franciscolourenco · 2014-03-22T22:56:48Z

What about a patch in the formula which prevents npm from updating itself?
Then npm can be updated by homebrew like every other formula.

chevcast · 2014-03-23T00:57:00Z

How would you do that though? When I run

npm update -g

It updates all global modules, including npm itself.

jacknagel · 2014-03-23T01:05:49Z

Yeah, I don't think that suggestion would be an improvement for anyone; people want to keep npm up to date (for good reasons).

isaacs · 2014-03-24T02:26:45Z

What about a patch in the formula which prevents npm from updating itself?

Please see the long gory history of this formula, and the discussions around it. What you suggest IS the problem.

MikeMcQuaid · 2014-03-24T09:33:44Z

I'm going to actively work on this to see if we can find a solution that allows self-update without patching by installing npm in a different/correct place.

Installing Node.js and npm using Homebrew can be problematic: Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#27479

MikeMcQuaid · 2014-04-02T13:31:01Z

In #28075 I've got a PR to install npm in a way that allows it to self-update and manage its own symlinks. This appears to be the best scenario and seems to work nicely given my tests. I'd advise people who care here to go test that.

chevcast · 2014-04-03T19:25:13Z

Closing since #28075 is the solution we all really wanted.

Install npm to the expected location using the upstream tarball. This should make everyone happier. Closes #27479.

MikeMcQuaid · 2014-04-04T10:59:44Z

Now fixed in f900829.

Install npm to the expected location using the upstream tarball. This should make everyone happier. Closes Homebrew#27479.

Added a simple example of installing npm by itself via curl. This helps solve [an issue](Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#27479) with the node homebrew formula where users will want a simple way to install npm after installing node. Homebrew maintainers would rather see this curl example in the npm README rather than directly in the node formula. It also just helps in general to have an example when users find the npm README and want to use the shell script.

It no longer conflicts with Homebrew (Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#27479). This reverts commit 5a70ba8.

Now that the `npm` related issue (see: Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#27479) has been fixed (see: Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#28075), revert back to using `Homebrew` to install `Node.js` and `npm` on OS X.

Install npm to the expected location using the upstream tarball. This should make everyone happier. Closes Homebrew#27479.

npm/npm#3794

2caa4d3

I guess the curl script fails due to 301 redirect. Modifying.

eac75f6

adamv reviewed Mar 12, 2014
View reviewed changes

chevcast mentioned this pull request Mar 12, 2014

Added shell script install example to README. npm/npm#4867

Closed

Added link to unix fancy install section for npm. npm/npm#4867

cf17263

This change assumes that the npm PR will be merged.

chevcast mentioned this pull request Mar 12, 2014

Error: Refusing to delete: /usr/local/bin/npm npm/npm#3794

Closed

adamv reviewed Mar 12, 2014
View reviewed changes

Alex Ford added 2 commits March 12, 2014 14:37

Fixing syntax errors.

75c6d40

https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/pull/27479/files#r10539249

I believe I still had the syntax incorrect.

1c762e7

adamv reviewed Mar 12, 2014
View reviewed changes

Alex Ford added 2 commits March 12, 2014 16:04

More syntax issues.

802f754

Removed some whitespace.

af456d1

mathiasbynens mentioned this pull request Mar 24, 2014

brew install node – what about npm? mathiasbynens/dotfiles#362

Closed

alrra added a commit to alrra/dotfiles that referenced this pull request Mar 24, 2014

[lib] Install node & npm using the official .pkg

d933fb2

Installing Node.js and npm using Homebrew can be problematic: Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#27479

MikeMcQuaid mentioned this pull request Apr 2, 2014

node: install npm using tarball. #28075

Closed

adamv added the integration label Apr 2, 2014

chevcast closed this Apr 3, 2014

MikeMcQuaid added a commit that referenced this pull request Apr 4, 2014

node: install npm using tarball.

f900829

Install npm to the expected location using the upstream tarball. This should make everyone happier. Closes #27479.

ehershey pushed a commit to ehershey/homebrew that referenced this pull request Apr 4, 2014

node: install npm using tarball.

46a87b3

Install npm to the expected location using the upstream tarball. This should make everyone happier. Closes Homebrew#27479.

porada added a commit to porada/dotfiles that referenced this pull request Apr 27, 2014

Update npm as well

3889d04

It no longer conflicts with Homebrew (Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#27479). This reverts commit 5a70ba8.

DomT4 mentioned this pull request Jan 14, 2015

add iojs #35853

Closed

This was referenced Jan 29, 2015

Node, iojs and npm formula resolution #36343

Closed

Graduate iojs out of keg-only #36369

Closed

Adds flag to patch npm install for iojs compatibility #36357

Closed

yeled pushed a commit to yeled/homebrew that referenced this pull request Mar 10, 2015

node: install npm using tarball.

0e10169

Install npm to the expected location using the upstream tarball. This should make everyone happier. Closes Homebrew#27479.

This was referenced Sep 3, 2015

Split npm from node package #43548

Closed

Upgrade Node.js to v4.0.0 #43714

Closed

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Homebrew should no longer manage npm. #27479

Homebrew should no longer manage npm. #27479

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Homebrew should no longer manage npm. #27479

Homebrew should no longer manage npm. #27479

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