I think running `pacman -Syu --overwrite '/usr/lib/node_modules/*'` is safe.
I have no idea how those files would end up there without using `sudo
npm install -g`
On Wed, Nov 4, 2020 at 11:56 AM Greg Minshall via arch-general
hi. [hope all are well, etc.]
i use the npm package (for managing javascript packages).
today i tried "pacman -Syu", and i got a number of errors about files under /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules that "exists in filesystem": ---- (182/182) checking for file conflicts error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files) npm: /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/meant/.github/workflows/ci.yml exists in filesystem npm: /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/minimist/.travis.yml exists in filesystem ... (about minimist) ----
these are files that are not owned by the npm package. the relevant find command
: find /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/ -exec pacman -Qo {} \; | : grep -v 'is owned by npm 6.14.8-1'
shows two files in some sort of ./.bin/ directory ---- error: No package owns /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/.bin/node-gyp error: No package owns /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/.bin/semver ----
and then a number in a small number of npm packages, namely in - meant (the .github subdirectory) - minimist (the whole directory, i think) - node-gyp (the whole directory) - semver (the whole directory) that are also in the "No package owns" state.
note that [pacman -Syu] only complains about meant and minimist, not node-gyp or semver.
first off, i wonder if anyone has ideas of how i ended up in this situation? i know that occasionally npm will exclaim, with enthusiasm, that a new, updated version, is available, and offer me a chance to update it. normally i don't run as root. but, if i had, in the past, sudo'd npm, and let it update itself, might *that* have produced this?
then, second, i'm ignorant enough to not be sure what to do and am looking for advice. i can do [pacman --overwrite]. i could, i suppose (at what consequence?:) [pacman -R npm], then re-install. (though i assume i'd have the same problem, as pacman would presumably leave untouched the files not owned by npm.) i could just delete the offending files pacman complains about (meant/.github/..., and minimist/...).
okay, thanks in advance for any thoughts.
cheers, Greg