Adding descriptions about symlinks in the 'nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option' error

[MrOrz]

I have ran into two machines that shows nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option error everytime ~/.nvm/nvm.sh is invoked, and which is also mentioned by existing issues.

In the end, I found that in both my machines, the home directories is symlinked to another location. By modifying the nvm load script .bashrc to set NVM_DIRto the path after symlink resolution, the error goes away for good. It works in new bash sessions as well.

That is, if in your machine it says something like

$ ls -l /home
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 May  7  2014 /home -> /srv/home
$ echo $HOME
/home/username

then your nvm will blow up with nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option. To correctly solve the issue, we should change NVM_DIR from $HOME/.nvm to something like /srv/home/username/.nvm.

I think the error message was useless in helping me figure this out. I spent some time tracing nvm.sh, inserting echo and disabling --silence to see my echo, to found that the system admin has setup those symlinks, and it is those symlinks that broke nvm.

Specifically, when the condition of this ifstatement turns true, it does not necessarily means that npm config get prefix is set by another npm instance. It just means that nvm is not sure if the prefix is set by nvm itself. I think extending the error message here to include the symlink issue can help others encountering this issue, since it is not uncommon to have home directories symlinked to somewhere else.

[ljharb]

The intention is for the string in nvm.sh to contain $HOME so that it auto-expands that path.

The true fix is related to #617 - it would need to change nvm to support traversing symlinks.

In the meantime, adding more information to the error message seems very helpful.

[qq756585379]

nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to "/usr/local/Cellar/nvm/0.33.0/versions/node/v5.11.0"
Run npm config delete prefix or nvm use --delete-prefix v5.11.0 to unset it.

how why?sorry,my english is poor

[ljharb]

@qq756585379 Please file a separate issue; but nvm is not supported via homebrew. Please brew uninstall nvm and install it properly with the curl script in the readme.

[qq756585379]

i have installed via homebrew and also via curl , i find

vim .bash_profile
export NVM_DIR=~/.nvm
source $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh
source .bash_profile

this may can do

[ljharb]

@qq756585379 brew uninstall nvm, remove all nvm-related lines from your bash_profile/.bashrc, and then rerun the install script.

[qq756585379]

@ljharb yes,can you say 中文

[ljharb]

Google translate gives me: brew uninstall nvm，从.bash_profile / .bashrc 中删除所有与nvm相关的行，然后重新运行安装脚本。

but that's the best i can do.

[qq756585379]

@ljharb thanks,你很棒