nvm is not compatible with the npm config prefix option currently set to ""

[AdrienLemaire]

• Arch linux
• zsh 5.6.2 with zgen, tmux 2.8
• nvm v0.34.0 (via zsh-nvm)
• Deleted system nodejs and npm packages
• deleted ~/.npmrc and removed nvm sourcing from ~/.zshrc since it's handled by zsh-nvm
• Had issues with nvm for months so only used system node/npm until recently. Now that latest icu & http-parser libs used by other packages break node 10, I need to constantly downgrade/reupgrade the libs to switch between node 10 & 11, which is too much hassle, so I tried to come back to nvm and spent the morning trying to solve this nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to "" error.
• Deleted archlinux nvm package, installed zgen load lukechilds/zsh-nvm

$ PATH=".nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/:$PATH" node
[1]    27252 segmentation fault (core dumped) PATH=".nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/:$PATH" node  
$ /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/node --version
v10.12.0
$ which node
/home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/node
$ nvm current
none
$ nvm ls
       v10.12.0
default -> v10.12 (-> v10.12.0)
node -> stable (-> v10.12.0) (default)
stable -> 10.12 (-> v10.12.0)
…
$ nvm use v10.12
nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to ""
Run `nvm use --delete-prefix v10.12.0` to unset it.
$ which node
node not found
$ nvm use --delete-prefix v10.12.0
$ which node
/home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/node
$ node --version
v10.12.0
$ node --help
[1]    19251 segmentation fault (core dumped)  node --help
$ /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/node --help                                                    
Usage: node [options] [ -e script | script.js | - ] [arguments]                                             
       node inspect script.js [arguments]                                                                   
                                                                                                            
Options: 
…
$ npm --version
[1]    28966 segmentation fault (core dumped)  npm --version
$ which npm
/home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/npm
$  /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/npm --version
[1]    5939 segmentation fault (core dumped)  /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/npm --version
$ ls -lh  ~/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin
total 38M
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dori dori 38M Oct 11 04:53 node
lrwxrwxrwx 1 dori dori  38 Oct 11 04:54 npm -> ../lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
lrwxrwxrwx 1 dori dori  38 Oct 11 04:54 npx -> ../lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npx-cli.js
$ ls -lh  ~/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dori dori 833 Aug  3 01:58 /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm
$ vim /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm # set echo
/home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm --version                             
NODE: node; NPM_CLI_JS: /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js; @: --version
/home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm: line 35: 31882 Segmentation fault      (core dumped) "$NODE_EXE" "$NPM_CLI_JS" "$@"
$ ls /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
ls: cannot access '/home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js': No such file or directory
$ ls /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
/home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js

From this, I understand that NPM_CLI_JS has a duplicated node_modules/npm/bin/ in its path

$ sed -i "s/node_modules\/npm\/bin\///g" /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm
$ /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm --version
NODE: node; NPM_CLI_JS: /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js; @: --version
/home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm: line 35: 20130 Segmentation fault      (core dumped) "$NODE_EXE" "$NPM_CLI_JS" "$@"
$ /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/node /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js --version
6.4.1
$ /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/npm --version
[1]    5939 segmentation fault (core dumped)  /home/dori/.nvm/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/npm --version
$ /usr/bin/env node
[1]    21184 segmentation fault (core dumped)  /usr/bin/env node
/usr/bin/env npm 
[1]    21654 segmentation fault (core dumped)  /usr/bin/env npm

So, the problem is with /usr/bin/env ? I don't know how to debug this further :(

more details

$ nvm debug
nvm --version: v0.34.0
$SHELL: /bin/zsh
$SHLVL: 4
$HOME: /home/dori
$NVM_DIR: '$HOME/.nvm'
$PATH: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin:$HOME/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.5.1/bin:$HOME/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.5.1@global/bin:$HOME/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.5.1/bin:/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin:./vendor/bin:node_modules/.bin:$HOME/.pub-cache/bin:$HOME/Projects/personal/flutter/flutter/bin:/opt/genymotion/tools/:$HOME/.cargo/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/bin/:/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin:/opt/android-sdk/emulator:$HOME/.gem/ruby/2.5.0/bin:$HOME/bin:/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin:./vendor/bin:node_modules/.bin:$HOME/.pub-cache/bin:$HOME/Projects/personal/flutter/flutter/bin:/opt/genymotion/tools/:$HOME/.cargo/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/bin/:/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin:/opt/android-sdk/emulator:$HOME/.gem/ruby/2.5.0/bin:$HOME/bin:$HOME/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.5.1/bin:$HOME/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.5.1@global/bin:$HOME/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.5.1/bin:/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin:./vendor/bin:node_modules/.bin:$HOME/.pub-cache/bin:$HOME/Projects/personal/flutter/flutter/bin:/opt/genymotion/tools/:$HOME/.cargo/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/bin/:/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin:/opt/android-sdk/emulator:$HOME/.gem/ruby/2.6.0/bin:$HOME/bin:/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl:/opt/anaconda/bin/:$HOME/.fzf/bin:$HOME/Projects/3rdpart/phalcon-devtools:$HOME/.rvm/bin:/opt/anaconda/bin/:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl:/opt/anaconda/bin/:$HOME/Projects/3rdpart/phalcon-devtools              
$PREFIX: ''
$NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: ''
$NVM_NODEJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
$NVM_IOJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
shell version: 'zsh 5.6.2 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)'
uname -a: 'Linux 4.20.1-arch1-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jan 9 20:25:43 UTC 2019 x86_64 GNU/Linux'           
OS version: Arch Linux  ()
curl: /usr/bin/curl, curl 7.63.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.63.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1a zlib/1.2.11 libidn2/2.1.0 libpsl/0.20.2 (+libidn2/2.1.0) libssh2/1.8.0 nghttp2/1.35.1
wget: /usr/bin/wget, GNU Wget 1.20.1 built on linux-gnu.
git: /usr/bin/git, git version 2.20.1
grep: grep: aliased to grep  --color=auto --exclude-dir={.bzr,CVS,.git,.hg,.svn} (grep --color=auto --exclude-dir={.bzr,CVS,.git,.hg,.svn}), grep (GNU grep) 3.3
awk: /usr/bin/awk, GNU Awk 4.2.1, API: 2.0 (GNU MPFR 4.0.1, GNU MP 6.1.2)
sed: /usr/bin/sed, sed (GNU sed) 4.7
cut: /usr/bin/cut, cut (GNU coreutils) 8.30
basename: /usr/bin/basename, basename (GNU coreutils) 8.30
rm: /usr/bin/rm, rm (GNU coreutils) 8.30
mkdir: /usr/bin/mkdir, mkdir (GNU coreutils) 8.30
xargs: /usr/bin/xargs, xargs (GNU findutils) 4.6.0
nvm current: none
which node: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/node
which iojs: iojs not found
which npm: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v10.12.0/bin/npm
npm config get prefix: 
npm root -g: 

$ nvm deactivate
/home/dori/.nvm/*/bin removed from $PATH

$ nvm debug
nvm --version: v0.34.0
$SHELL: /bin/zsh
$SHLVL: 4
$HOME: /home/dori
$NVM_DIR: '$HOME/.nvm'
$PATH: $HOME/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.5.1/bin:$HOME/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.5.1@global/bin:$HOME/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.5.1/bin:/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin:./vendor/bin:node_modules/.bin:$HOME/.pub-cache/bin:$HOME/Projects/personal/flutter/flutter/bin:/opt/genymotion/tools/:$HOME/.cargo/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/bin/:/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin:/opt/android-sdk/emulator:$HOME/.gem/ruby/2.5.0/bin:$HOME/bin:/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin:./vendor/bin:node_modules/.bin:$HOME/.pub-cache/bin:$HOME/Projects/personal/flutter/flutter/bin:/opt/genymotion/tools/:$HOME/.cargo/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/bin/:/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin:/opt/android-sdk/emulator:$HOME/.gem/ruby/2.5.0/bin:$HOME/bin:$HOME/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.5.1/bin:$HOME/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.5.1@global/bin:$HOME/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.5.1/bin:/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin:./vendor/bin:node_modules/.bin:$HOME/.pub-cache/bin:$HOME/Projects/personal/flutter/flutter/bin:/opt/genymotion/tools/:$HOME/.cargo/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/bin/:/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin:/opt/android-sdk/emulator:$HOME/.gem/ruby/2.6.0/bin:$HOME/bin:/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl:/opt/anaconda/bin/:$HOME/.fzf/bin:$HOME/Projects/3rdpart/phalcon-devtools:$HOME/.rvm/bin:/opt/anaconda/bin/:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl:/opt/anaconda/bin/:$HOME/Projects/3rdpart/phalcon-devtools                                                                                                   
$PREFIX: ''
$NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: ''
$NVM_NODEJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
$NVM_IOJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
shell version: 'zsh 5.6.2 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)'
uname -a: 'Linux 4.20.1-arch1-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jan 9 20:25:43 UTC 2019 x86_64 GNU/Linux'
OS version: Arch Linux  ()
curl: /usr/bin/curl, curl 7.63.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.63.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1a zlib/1.2.11 libidn2/2.1.0 libpsl/0.20.2 (+libidn2/2.1.0) libssh2/1.8.0 nghttp2/1.35.1                                                      
wget: /usr/bin/wget, GNU Wget 1.20.1 built on linux-gnu.
git: /usr/bin/git, git version 2.20.1
grep: grep: aliased to grep  --color=auto --exclude-dir={.bzr,CVS,.git,.hg,.svn} (grep --color=auto --exclude-dir={.bzr,CVS,.git,.hg,.svn}), grep (GNU grep) 3.3                                                                
awk: /usr/bin/awk, GNU Awk 4.2.1, API: 2.0 (GNU MPFR 4.0.1, GNU MP 6.1.2)
sed: /usr/bin/sed, sed (GNU sed) 4.7
cut: /usr/bin/cut, cut (GNU coreutils) 8.30
basename: /usr/bin/basename, basename (GNU coreutils) 8.30
rm: /usr/bin/rm, rm (GNU coreutils) 8.30
mkdir: /usr/bin/mkdir, mkdir (GNU coreutils) 8.30
xargs: /usr/bin/xargs, xargs (GNU findutils) 4.6.0
nvm current: none
which node: node not found
which iojs: iojs not found
which npm: npm not found
npm config get prefix: npm may be found in the following packages:
  community/npm
  6.1.0-1
  /usr/bin/npm
  community/npm
  6.1.0-1
  /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm
npm root -g: npm may be found in the following packages:
  community/npm
  6.1.0-1
  /usr/bin/npm
  community/npm
  6.1.0-1
  /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm

$ echo $PREFIX ; echo $NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX


$ setopt
alwaystoend
autocd
autopushd
noclobber
completeinword
extendedglob
extendedhistory
noflowcontrol
histexpiredupsfirst
histignoredups
histignorespace
histverify
incappendhistory
interactive
interactivecomments
kshglob
login
longlistjobs
monitor
promptsubst
pushdignoredups
pushdminus
sharehistory
shinstdin
zle

Related issues:

• oh-my-zsh: NVM is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option nvm-sh/nvm#855
• Manjaro: nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to "" nvm-sh/nvm#1968

[lusoalex]

Hello,
FYI I got the same issue, and fix it (remove nvm from brew and replace it with current plugin) and by checking my $HOME (case sensitive) value.
See my comment here
By the way, as I got the problem installing nvm whether, through the script, zsh plugin, or brew, it's not related to this repo, so you should close the issue.