while installing webdriverio node unable to find dependencies - node.js

Question

While installing the module webdriverio using npm, I am getting the following error:
sudo npm install webdriverio
[sudo] password for username:
npm WARN package.json indexof#0.0.1 No repository field.
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/webdriverio
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/webdriverio
npm WARN engine webdriverio#5.4.9: wanted: {"node":">= 4.8.5"} (current: {"node":"v0.10.15","npm":"1.3.5"})
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/grapheme-splitter
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/css-value
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash.merge
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash.zip
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/rgb2hex
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/serialize-error
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/webdriver
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/wdio/logger
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/wdio/config
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/wdio/repl
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/css-value
npm ERR! Error: No compatible version found: css-value#'^0.0.1'
npm ERR! Valid install targets:
npm ERR! ["0.0.1"]
npm ERR! at installTargetsError (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:719:10)
npm ERR! at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:638:10
npm ERR! at saved (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/npm-registry-client/lib/get.js:142:7)
npm ERR! at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/graceful-fs/polyfills.js:133:7
npm ERR! at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this log at:
npm ERR! <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR! <npm-#googlegroups.com>
npm ERR! System Linux 4.15.0-43-generic
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "webdriverio"
npm ERR! cwd /home/username/research
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.15
npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.5
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash.merge
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/serialize-error
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash.zip
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/grapheme-splitter
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/webdriver
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/rgb2hex
npm http 405 https://registry.npmjs.org/wdio/repl
npm ERR! TypeError: Object.keys called on non-object
npm ERR! at Function.keys (native)
npm ERR! at installTargetsError (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:708:24)
npm ERR! at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:638:10
npm ERR! at saved (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/npm-registry-client/lib/get.js:142:7)
npm ERR! at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/graceful-fs/polyfills.js:133:7
npm ERR! at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this log at:
npm ERR! <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR! <npm-#googlegroups.com>
npm ERR! System Linux 4.15.0-43-generic
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "webdriverio"
npm ERR! cwd /home/username/research
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.15
npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.5
npm ERR! type called_on_non_object
npm http 405 https://registry.npmjs.org/wdio/logger
npm ERR! TypeError: Object.keys called on non-object
npm ERR! at Function.keys (native)
npm ERR! at installTargetsError (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:708:24)
npm ERR! at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:638:10
npm ERR! at saved (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/npm-registry-client/lib/get.js:142:7)
npm ERR! at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/graceful-fs/polyfills.js:133:7
npm ERR! at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this log at:
npm ERR! <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR! <npm-#googlegroups.com>
npm ERR! System Linux 4.15.0-43-generic
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "webdriverio"
npm ERR! cwd /home/username/research
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.15
npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.5
npm ERR! type called_on_non_object
npm http 405 https://registry.npmjs.org/wdio/config
npm ERR! TypeError: Object.keys called on non-object
npm ERR! at Function.keys (native)
npm ERR! at installTargetsError (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:708:24)
npm ERR! at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:638:10
npm ERR! at saved (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/npm-registry-client/lib/get.js:142:7)
npm ERR! at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/graceful-fs/polyfills.js:133:7
npm ERR! at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this log at:
npm ERR! <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR! <npm-#googlegroups.com>
npm ERR! System Linux 4.15.0-43-generic
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "webdriverio"
npm ERR! cwd /home/username/research
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.15
npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.5
npm ERR! type called_on_non_object
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR! /home/username/research/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0
Could someone please help with this? I do not understand why this is happening since when I do npm info loadash.merge, the module version is clearly present. I have also tried to see what my $NODE_PATH contains (as some answers on stackoverflow suggest), and it seems to be pointing towards the correct path of node, or at least the path where nvm installed node:
/home/username/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.1/bin/node
Additionally, I am not sure about this particular warning:
npm WARN engine webdriverio#5.4.9: wanted: {"node":">= 4.8.5"} (current: {"node":"v0.10.15","npm":"1.3.5"}) My node version is 10.15.1 and not 0.10.15

Answer 1

I think you're missing the css-value library based on this part of the stack trace:
npm ERR! Error: No compatible version found: css-value#'^0.0.1'
Try to resolve this by doing: npm i css-value
Additionally, your stack trace is complaining about using an outdated version of Node. I would consider updating node since your version is very old:
npm WARN engine webdriverio#5.4.9: wanted: {"node":">= 4.8.5"} (current: {"node":"v0.10.15","npm":"1.3.5"})

Answer 2

Your issue is probably with using sudo in the npm install. You can check this out by using sudo node -v and it will probably give you a different node version than your nvm installed one, this would indicate that node in your server is broken in some places due some previous installation. To circumvent it I suggest the following that has worked for me for similar issues.
sudo su
nvm alias default 10.15.1
npm cache clean --force
npm install webdriverio
If it still gives syntax errors due to dependencies, use
npm install webdriverio --unsafe-perm