firebase-tools fails to load via terminal install on macOS - node.js

Question

Trying to install firebase-tool for CLI. Getting failures.
running on macOS
I have seen suggestions like the following ...
Troubling with installing firebase-tools
I tried $ sudo npm install -g firebase-tools
Using 'sudo' gets past the error issues trying to access directories. but still crashes
The troubling bit seems to be this
node-pre-gyp ERR! Tried to download(undefined): https://storage.googleapis.com/grpc-precompiled-binaries/node/grpc/v1.4.1/node-v57-darwin-x64.tar.gz
I can put the above URL in a browser and it will download the tar.
I also have access problem even if I use 'sudo'
gyp ERR! stack Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/node_modules/grpc/build'
Trying to understand how to get past the errors to install firebase-tools, Also some suggestions say to install node via nvm. Found tutorial on nvm, anyone know what doing this install will to to projects I already have on my machine. e.g confusion finding correct node.js, or need to reinstall everything that I already installed using my current node install?
The full error messages are ...
sudo npm install -g firebase-tools
Password:
npm WARN deprecated node-uuid#1.4.8: Use uuid module instead
/usr/local/bin/firebase -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/bin/firebase
> grpc#1.4.1 install /usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/node_modules/grpc
> node-pre-gyp install --fallback-to-build --library=static_library
node-pre-gyp ERR! Tried to download(undefined): https://storage.googleapis.com/grpc-precompiled-binaries/node/grpc/v1.4.1/node- v57-darwin-x64.tar.gz
node-pre-gyp ERR! Pre-built binaries not found for grpc#1.4.1 and node#8.9.4 (node-v57 ABI) (falling back to source compile with node-gyp)
gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/node_modules/grpc/build'
gyp ERR! System Darwin 17.3.0
gyp ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "configure" "--fallback-to-build" "--library=static_library" "-- module=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/node_modules/grpc/src/node/extension_binary/grpc_node.node" "-- module_name=grpc_node" "--module_path=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/node_modules/grpc/src/node/extension_binary"
gyp ERR! cwd /usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/node_modules/grpc
gyp ERR! node -v v8.9.4
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.6.2
gyp ERR! not ok
node-pre-gyp ERR! build error
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack Error: Failed to execute '/usr/local/bin/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js configure --fallback-to-build --library=static_library -- module=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/node_modules/grpc/src/node/extension_binary/grpc_node.node -- module_name=grpc_node --module_path=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/node_modules/grpc/src/node/extension_binary' (1)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/node_modules/grpc/node_modules/node- pre-gyp/lib/util/compile.js:83:29)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at emitTwo (events.js:126:13)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:214:7)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:925:16)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:209:5)
node-pre-gyp ERR! System Darwin 17.3.0
node-pre-gyp ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/node_modules/grpc/node_modules/.bin/node-pre-gyp" "install" "--fallback- to-build" "--library=static_library"
node-pre-gyp ERR! cwd /usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/node_modules/grpc
node-pre-gyp ERR! node -v v8.9.4
node-pre-gyp ERR! node-pre-gyp -v v0.6.36
node-pre-gyp ERR! not ok
Failed to execute '/usr/local/bin/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js configure --fallback-to-build --library=static_library -- module=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/node_modules/grpc/src/node/extension_binary/grpc_node.node -- module_name=grpc_node --module_path=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase- tools/node_modules/grpc/src/node/extension_binary' (1)
npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: grpc#1.4.1 (node_modules/firebase-tools/node_modules/grpc):
npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: grpc#1.4.1 install: `node- pre-gyp install --fallback-to-build --library=static_library`
npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Exit status 1
+ firebase-tools#3.17.4
added 8 packages and updated 1 package in 37.194s
I also tried to cd in to the node_modules directory and run the install from there as proposed in this post
firebase-tools cannot install, why?
The result is pages and pages of warning messages and finally an error
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/bin/firebase
npm ERR! code ELOOP
npm ERR! errno -62
npm ERR! syscall chmod
npm ERR! ELOOP: too many symbolic links encountered, chmod '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/bin/firebase'

Answer 1

npm install -g firebase-tools
works on windows without causing any error. but when it comes to Mac you need to start it with sudo.
so the command will be:
sudo npm install -g firebase-tools
then check the version using firebase -V on terminal to make sure you've done correctly.

Answer 2

I encountered the same problem what I did was made sure I was in root directory and the ran :
sudo npm i g firebase-tools
Or in Windows
npm i g firebase-tools
I was constantly doing it in my project folder and kept getting the same error.

Answer 3

I had the same problem on macOS High Sierra. The only thing that worked for me in the end was to uninstall node.js from Homebrew (brew uninstall node), then install node.js using the downloadable installer (https://nodejs.org/en/download/) then install the Firebase CLI using sudo:
sudo npm install -g firebase-tools
After that, I still received the warnings, but could launch and configure Firebase. Not an ideal solution, but it is serving as a fix for me at the moment.

Answer 4

sudo npm install -g firebase-tools
sudo worked for me!
Without sudo I was getting the following error:
Lewis-MacBook-Pro:demo-firebase-func leg$ npm install -g firebase-tools
npm WARN checkPermissions Missing write access to /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! syscall access
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! { Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! stack: 'Error: EACCES: permission denied, access \'/usr/local/lib/node_modules\'',
npm ERR! errno: -13,
npm ERR! code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR! syscall: 'access',
npm ERR! path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules' }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
npm ERR!
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator (though this is not recommended).
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! /Users/leg/.npm/_logs/2018-10-03T20_35_51_209Z-debug.log

Answer 5

Installing Node from the package on its website, rather than through Brew, solved this issue for me.

Answer 6

In my case I had a corrupted Firebase install, solved by running:
curl -sL firebase.tools | upgrade=true bash
If you don't have Firebase already you can just run:
curl -sL firebase.tools
Reference: https://firebase.google.com/docs/cli#mac-linux-auto-script