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Asked: 2017-04-04 05:50:05 +0800 CST

Can't install npm - Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages?

  • 772

I am trying to upgrade my nodejs to 7.6 but failed. Now I have a new problem after re-installing node 6.10:

$ sudo apt-get purge nodejs npm
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package 'npm' is not installed, so not removed
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.8.0-40 linux-headers-4.8.0-40-generic linux-image-4.8.0-40-generic linux-image-extra-4.8.0-40-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED
  nodejs*
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 1 to remove and 53 not to upgrade.
After this operation, 51.7 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 278133 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing nodejs (6.9.5-1nodesource1~yakkety1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...
(Reading database ... 274476 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing nodejs (6.9.5-1nodesource1~yakkety1) ...
Purging configuration files for nodejs (6.9.5-1nodesource1~yakkety1) ...
dpkg: warning: while removing nodejs, directory '/usr/lib/node_modules' not empty so not removed

Why does it say Package 'npm' is not installed, so not removed? i have been using npm to install many node packages for my projects!!

I ignore the error and went on installing node 7.6:

$ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_7.6 | sudo -E bash - 
bash: line 1: html: No such file or directory
bash: line 2: syntax error near unexpected token `<'
'ash: line 2: `<head><title>404 Not Found</title></head>

So I fell back to node 6.x. But I cannot install npm anymore:

$ sudo apt-get install npm
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies.
 npm : Depends: nodejs but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-abbrev (>= 1.0.4) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-ansi (>= 0.3.0-2) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-ansi-color-table but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-archy but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-block-stream but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-fstream (>= 0.1.22) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-fstream-ignore but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-github-url-from-git but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-glob (>= 3.1.21) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-graceful-fs (>= 2.0.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-inherits but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-ini (>= 1.1.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-lockfile but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-lru-cache (>= 2.3.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-minimatch (>= 0.2.11) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-mkdirp (>= 0.3.3) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-gyp (>= 0.10.9) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-nopt (>= 3.0.1) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-npmlog but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-once but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-osenv but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-read but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-read-package-json (>= 1.1.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-request (>= 2.25.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-retry but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-rimraf (>= 2.2.2) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-semver (>= 2.1.0) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-sha but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-slide but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-tar (>= 0.1.18) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-underscore but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: node-which but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Any ideas?

apt

4 Answers

  1. I had the same issue with npm and had to install the following packages in order:

    sudo apt install libssl1.0-dev
sudo apt install nodejs-dev
sudo apt install node-gyp
sudo apt install npm

    Hope this helps

    • 61

  2. I had the same issue with npm.

    I suggest you install aptitude which can help you resolve conflicts

    sudo apt install aptitude

    then install your package with aptitude 

    sudo aptitude install npm
    • 56 
  3. sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* ~/.npm
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*

sudo apt-get purge nodejs npm
sudo apt autoremove

    Then install node and npm

    • 4

  4. This works for me:

    sudo apt install aptitude
sudo aptitude install libnode-dev                        
sudo aptitude install libnode64
sudo aptitude install node-gyp
sudo aptitude install npm
    • 2