Express doesn't work on ubuntu

Question

I'm new with nodejs and trying to learn it. I have installed node framework express as global module by command:

$ sudo npm install express -g

This works correctly and I have it in /usr/lib/node_modules. Then I'm creating a new project on express:

 $ express app

But this doesn't create project folder and does not return any error code, clear node code works fine. Anybody knows how to detect and fix this error?

What's your current path when you're running `$ express app`? (The result of `$ pwd`) — brandonscript, Dec 10 '13 at 21:16
OK, and what's the output from `$ npm -g ls | grep express`? — brandonscript, Dec 10 '13 at 21:20
Peculiar! Can you run just `express` at the command line? Are you even able to execute it at all? — brandonscript, Dec 10 '13 at 21:25
yes looks works, but before I have reinstall node. So now I can create app with express. But anyway thank you for your help good man!;-) — Andrii Tarykin, Dec 10 '13 at 21:27
Ah, yep. I've had lots of grief with dependencies, reinstalling Node is always the best option. — brandonscript, Dec 10 '13 at 21:29

score 37 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 28 '14 at 18:17

found it. the npm package is actually named express-generator

sudo npm install -g express-generator

you can then use

express mytestapp

that results in :

olivier@****:~/workspace$ express mytestapp

create : mytestapp
create : mytestapp/package.json
create : mytestapp/app.js
create : mytestapp/public
create : mytestapp/public/javascripts
create : mytestapp/public/stylesheets
create : mytestapp/public/stylesheets/style.css
create : mytestapp/routes
create : mytestapp/routes/index.js
create : mytestapp/routes/users.js
create : mytestapp/views
create : mytestapp/views/index.jade
create : mytestapp/views/layout.jade
create : mytestapp/views/error.jade
create : mytestapp/bin
create : mytestapp/bin/www
create : mytestapp/public/images

install dependencies:
 $ cd mytestapp && npm install

run the app:
 $ DEBUG=my-application ./bin/www

Cheers ! Olivier

Source : http://expressjs.com/guide.html#executable

You're my hero! I've been looking for a solution for awhile and finally found this. — John, May 20 '14 at 03:51

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 24 '14 at 17:08

23

For me the solution was simply to install the nodejs-legacy package:

sudo apt-get install nodejs-legacy

answered Apr 24 '14 at 17:08

codefreak

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score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

5

First thing to try is if the plugin is installed:

$ npm -g ls | grep express

If nothing is returned, try reinstalling it.

Since in this case it was still installed, the next solution was to reinstall Node entirely.

There is a great post on cleaning up Node installations here: Uninstall Node.JS using Linux command line?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

Community

1
1

answered Dec 10 '13 at 21:31

brandonscript

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 11 '13 at 15:30

This is what I did to get mine to work and make sure everything was working ok on Ubuntu 12.04 running Node 0.8.21 and Express 3.2.0.

First install express

sudo npm install –g express

Now check that express is working by querying it for the version:

express -V

Now I went and created an express app:

cd /usr/lib/node_modules
sudo express -s -e expressTestApp

The following was output:

create : expressTestApp
create : expressTestApp/package.json
create : expressTestApp/app.js
create : expressTestApp/public
create : expressTestApp/public/javascripts
create : expressTestApp/public/images
create : expressTestApp/public/stylesheets
create : expressTestApp/public/stylesheets/style.css
create : expressTestApp/routes
create : expressTestApp/routes/index.js
create : expressTestApp/routes/user.js
create : expressTestApp/views
create : expressTestApp/views/index.ejs

install dependencies:
 $ cd expressTestApp && npm install

run the app:
 $ node app

So, following the instructions it gave me, I ran the following two commands in sequence:

cd expressTestApp
sudo npm install

After just a minute it finished and I was able to open /urs/lib/node_modules/app.js and work with it. Also, running node app like it said in the instructions during the express module creation worked as well.

From a previous comment, it looks like you might have fixed it by reinstalling node, but I still hope this will help you.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 10 '13 at 21:51

0

Perhaps a sudo express app might do the trick? (I see you're executing in /var/www, which generally is off limits from regular users?)

answered Dec 10 '13 at 21:51

Michael Tang

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He fixed the problem by reinstalling Node ;) – brandonscript Dec 10 '13 at 22:07

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 18 '17 at 08:14

As of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, the problem occurs when express is installed globally. To fix this, make sure you install express to your working directory even if you have installed globally. Use

sudo npm i express-generator --save

to save it to your working directory in every project you do.

Had this problem and fixed it easily, without having to reinstall nodejs or any other dependency.

Express doesn't work on ubuntu

6 Answers6

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