[BUG] cannot read property 'length' of undefined with npm

[thefordyking]

Current Behavior:

root@localhost:~/Desktop/fordycoin-miner# npm install node-fetch
npm ERR! Cannot read property 'length' of undefined

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! /root/.npm/_logs/2021-02-18T03_45_41_879Z-debug.log

Expected Behavior:

root@localhost:~/Desktop/fordycoin-miner# npm install node-fetch
//and it should continue installing the package

Steps To Reproduce:

Use version 7.5.3
Run 'npm install' with why package including npm

Environment:

• OS: Ubuntu 4.9.117
• Node: 10.19.0
• npm: 7.5.3

[ljharb]

Can you try npm v7.5.4?

[thefordyking]

Fixed it

[thefordyking]

No, I cannot update npm with npm

[ljharb]

npm install -g npm errors out the same way? (possibly with sudo)

[thefordyking]

yup I don't know what happened it was working a while ago My linux distro is kinda weird.since I'm running a vertral computer on a android device. But I got it to work in a terminal so I can update packages with that. But I will like to update the npm in my vertral linux thing.

[nlf]

we've made some improvements to how global updates work in the time since this was opened. if your current npm isn't capable of installing a new npm, you can always try our install script detailed here https://github.com/npm/cli#direct-download

that script will download and install the latest release for you and only requires a working nodejs installation