npm error config/core.js missing

I started out with a simple task... install Tailwindcss.  What unfolded is something that many of us have experienced time and time again.

For anyone that has completed this task before knows that through shell the command is

# Using npm
npm install tailwindcss

However, before doing so I wanted to check the version of node on the server and in Plesk.  The shell command node -v was showing v7.10.1 whereas in Plesk v10.16.0.  Not great being a few versions behind.  But to top this situation off, npm (npm -v) presented me with the following error

module.js:472
    throw err;
    ^

Error: Cannot find module './config/core.js'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:470:15)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:418:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:498:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
    at /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:25:17
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:444:3)
    at Module._compile (module.js:571:32)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:580:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:488:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:447:12)

So no Tailwindcss installation for the moment.

Even though I covered some of the version above, I'm going to take you through this step by step.  So let’s check the current version and location of Node.js and npm (the Node.js package manager) and location:

$ node -v
v7.10.1
$ npm -v
not working

$ which node
/usr/bin/node
$ which npm
/usr/bin/npm

Nodejs 7.x is not supported so I need to move on from this asap.  If can see from https://nodejs.org/en/about/releases/ that the last Active LTS version is v12.  Before nodejs is installed, you need to remove it

sudo yum remove -y nodejs npm

Installing nodejs and npm

To get the curl for v12 go to https://github.com/nodesource/distributions#rpminstall and you'll see that the most suited is 

# As root
curl -sL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | bash -

# No root privileges 
curl -sL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo bash -

The curl command will first use the curl tool to download the “setup_12.x” script and then execute this script using bash.  Output from the script will look like:

## Installing the NodeSource Node.js 12.x repo...

## Inspecting system...

+ rpm -q --whatprovides redhat-release || rpm -q --whatprovides centos-release || rpm -q --whatprovides cloudlinux-release || rpm -q --whatprovides sl-release
+ uname -m

## Confirming "el6-x86_64" is supported...

+ curl -sLf -o /dev/null 'https://rpm.nodesource.com/pub_12.x/el/6/x86_64/nodesource-release-el6-1.noarch.rpm'

## Downloading release setup RPM...

+ mktemp
+ curl -sL -o '/tmp/tmp.fRBRGeaeHD' 'https://rpm.nodesource.com/pub_12.x/el/6/x86_64/nodesource-release-el6-1.noarch.rpm'

## Installing release setup RPM...

+ rpm -i --nosignature --force '/tmp/tmp.fRBRGeaeHD'

## Cleaning up...

+ rm -f '/tmp/tmp.fRBRGeaeHD'

## Checking for existing installations...

+ rpm -qa 'node|npm' | grep -v nodesource

## Run `sudo yum install -y nodejs` to install Node.js 12.x and npm.
## You may also need development tools to build native addons:
     sudo yum install gcc-c++ make
## To install the Yarn package manager, run:
     curl -sL https://dl.yarnpkg.com/rpm/yarn.repo | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/yarn.repo
     sudo yum install yarn

As the comment notes above, to install Node.js 12.x and npm execute the command 

sudo yum install -y nodejs

However, in doing so the following error came up

Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package nodejs.x86_64 2:12.16.1-1nodesource will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.17)(64bit) for package: 2:nodejs-12.16.1-1nodesource.x86_64
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Error: Package: 2:nodejs-12.16.1-1nodesource.x86_64 (nodesource)
           Requires: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.17)(64bit)
 You could try using --skip-broken to work around the problem
 You could try running: rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest

However, this is the start of issues with installing 12.x.  With the server running on Centos6 there are too many dependancies that thwart this process.  So, let's progress with v10 instead.

Make sure you remove the cache version of the installer.  Do this by running the command:

rm -rf /var/cache/yum/*

Re use the curl command that was commented above for setup_12.x, now for setup_10.x.

curl -sL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | bash -

Run the installer script

sudo yum install -y nodejs

A successful installation will look like the following output

Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package nodejs.x86_64 2:10.22.0-1nodesource will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

====================================================================================================
Package           Arch              Version                            Repository             Size
====================================================================================================
Installing:
nodejs            x86_64            2:10.22.0-1nodesource              nodesource             20 M

Transaction Summary
====================================================================================================
Install       1 Package(s)

Total download size: 20 M
Installed size: 61 M
Downloading Packages:
nodejs-10.22.0-1nodesource.x86_64.rpm                                        |  20 MB     00:01    
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing : 2:nodejs-10.22.0-1nodesource.x86_64                                              1/1
  Verifying  : 2:nodejs-10.22.0-1nodesource.x86_64                                              1/1 

Installed:
  nodejs.x86_64 2:10.22.0-1nodesource

Complete!

Check the versions of nodejs and npm

$ node -v
v10.22.0
$ npm -v
6.14.6

Okay now I'll go and install Tailwindcss!