"Error Executing Command, Exiting" Error upon installation of NodeJS

Question

I am using Ubuntu 16.04LTS. I typed in the following command in the terminal:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -

In return, I am receiving the following error:

Reading package lists... Done
W: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/next/ubuntu xenial Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Data from such a repository can't be authenticated and is therefore potentially dangerous to use.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ppa/ubuntu xenial Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Data from such a repository can't be authenticated and is therefore potentially dangerous to use.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/next/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/binary-amd64/Packages  404  Not Found
E: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ppa/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/binary-amd64/Packages  404  Not Found
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Error executing command, exiting

I just installed the very old version of NodeJS and NPM from the Ubuntu repositories because I could not install the most current version. However, I still want the most current version of Node and NPM.

`npm i -g npm` updates npm. For Node check [`n`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/n) — pzaenger, Feb 08 '18 at 17:19
Did you have update your package list with `sudo apt update` before run the command ? — Zagonine, Feb 08 '18 at 17:31
I think your problem does not come from the node installer but a wrong package in your package list: seems to be the package `http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/next/ubuntu`. — Zagonine, Feb 08 '18 at 17:37

Cleb · Answer 1 · 2018-11-23T08:56:24.100

I had the same issue. The problem is not the nodejs installation script but another package in your package list in /etc/apt/sources.list.

The following worked for me:

1) Create backup of the file /etc/apt/sources.list just to be on the safe side:

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bu

2) Remove the packages that cause the issue:
Open /etc/apt/sources.list with root permissions, e.g.

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

and remove the

http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/next/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/binary-amd64/Packages

parts. In my case it was skype that caused the issue; you can identify the critical packages by the lines that start with E: Failed to fetch.

Afterwards, the following works fine (taken from the installation instructions):

cd ~
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x -o nodesource_setup.sh
sudo bash nodesource_setup.sh
sudo apt-get install nodejs
sudo apt-get install build-essential

If one then types

nodejs -v

it will return

v8.9.4

(or whatever version you specified).

In case you already have anaconda installed, I recommend to install node.js inside an environment which keeps things clean. A detailed explanation on how to do this can be found here. Basically all it needs is

conda create -n webdev nodejs

plus desired python modules in case you would like to use e.g. Flask or Django.

"Error Executing Command, Exiting" Error upon installation of NodeJS

1 Answers1