Question
The shell forgets that node and npm are installed every time I log in or switch to a different user.
- Posted September 3, 2013
Whenever I log in or switch back to my main user account, the shell throws “command not found” errors for node and npm. In order to make it work, I have to run $ source ~/.profile; npm use 0.10.17. After that, the node command works again.
On IRC, someone suggested adding these commands to my .bashrc file, but when I did that, loading .bashrc hangs indefinitely. As a Mac user, I’m used to using .bash_profile like this, but this isn’t working like I expected. What is the path to enlightenment on this?
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P.S.: I’ve fixed your post :]
Try running <code>su -l join</code> instead. This spawns a login shell (and not just an interactive bash shell) which sources .profile and .bashrc. <br> <br>Let me know if that works!
</code> Ugh, there’s no edit button, and my code element wasn’t closed.
Yes, It works immediately now whenever I log in fresh. The only time it doesn’t work is when I switch user to my username with <code>su john</code>, but then I can just source my .profile and it remembers that node exists.
Oh. So does it work fine now?
Hi Kamal! <br> <br>I just appended the two commands to the bottom of my .bashrc, as if it were a shell script: <br> <br><pre><code> <br>source ~/.profile; <br>npm use 0.10.17; <br></code></pre> <br> <br>Today, I learned more about nvm, and realized that the command <code>nvm alias default 0.10.17</code> was exactly what I needed. For some reason, I didn’t realize what nvm was when I followed the <a href=‘https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-install-node-js-with-nvm-node-version-manager-on-a-vps’>Node VPS installation instructions</a>, and I mistook it for npm.
What did you add to .bashrc?