NPM in Windows not installing module or adding to package.json - node.js

Question

I have no idea why I get an error for mongoskin. I used this module before but I got rid of it. I removed the node_modules directory then did a fresh npm install, fine everything installs. Then I tried to add a new module minimist as seen below:
C:\www\instantynode\src>npm install minimist --save
npm WARN package.json instanty#0.1.1 No description
npm WARN package.json instanty#0.1.1 No repository field.
npm WARN package.json instanty#0.1.1 No README data
npm ERR! Windows_NT 10.0.10586
npm ERR! argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "install" "minimist" "--save"
npm ERR! node v4.4.0
npm ERR! npm v2.14.20
npm ERR! code EPEERINVALID
npm ERR! peerinvalid The package mongodb#2.1.4 does not satisfy its siblings' peerDependencies requirements!
npm ERR! peerinvalid Peer mongoskin#1.4.13 wants mongodb#~1.4
npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR! C:\www\instantynode\src\npm-debug.log
package.json:
{
"name": "app",
"version": "0.1.1",
"description": "",
"dependencies": {
"bunyan": "1.5.1",
"co": "4.6.0",
"cookie-parser": "^1.4.0",
"forever": "^0.15.1",
"fs": "0.0.2",
"geoip-lite": "^1.1.6",
"handlebars": "^4.0.5",
"jsonwebtoken": "^5.4.1",
"jwt-simple": "^0.4.0",
"koa": "^1.1.2",
"koa-better-ratelimit": "^2.1.2",
"koa-bodyparser": "^2.0.1",
"koa-conditional-get": "^1.0.3",
"koa-generic-session": "^1.10.0",
"koa-handlebars": "^0.5.7",
"koa-mount": "^1.3.0",
"koa-multer": "1.0.0",
"koa-passport": "^2.0.1",
"koa-redis": "^1.0.1",
"koa-router": "^5.3.0",
"koa-static": "^1.5.2",
"lodash": "^3.10.1",
"mongodb": "2.1.4",
"nodemailer": "2.1.0",
"nodemon": "^1.8.1",
"passport": "^0.3.2",
"passport-http-bearer": "^1.0.1",
"passport-local": "^1.0.0",
"socket.io": "^1.3.7",
"socketio-jwt": "^4.3.3"
},
"devDependencies": {
"assert": "1.3.0",
"del": "2.1.0",
"gulp": "^3.9.1",
"gulp-autoprefixer": "3.1.0",
"gulp-concat": "2.6.0",
"gulp-concat-css": "2.2.0",
"gulp-imagemin": "2.4.0",
"gulp-less": "3.0.5",
"gulp-minify-css": "1.2.2",
"gulp-notify": "2.2.0",
"gulp-uglify": "1.5.1",
"imagemin-pngquant": "4.2.0",
"jsdoc": "3.4.0",
"node-inspector": "0.12.5",
"run-sequence": "1.1.5"
},
"main": "app.js",
"scripts": {
"startfn": "forever start -c \"nodemon --harmony\" app.js --exitcrash",
"startf": "forever start -c \"node --harmony\" app.js",
"start": "node --harmony app.js"
},
"author": "",
"license": "ISC"
}
npm install minimist --save does not work as you can see, does not install or add itself to the package.json file. And it is still mentioning mongoskin?
I have a feeling that the NPM in Windows is buggy?

Answer 1

i think that mongoskin only work with mongodb driver older than 1.4. You might have installed mongoskin in global mode, try to remove it.

Answer 2

You are trying to install minimist, which has its own package.json with its own dependencies. In these it says that it wants mongoskin to be installed, which has a dependency on mongodb itself, but in another version than you have it (you have 2.1.4 but as the error says, it needs ~1.4).
So, because you provided the --save parameter, you want npm to respect these dependencies and do not install mongodb in the desired version on top of it.

Answer 3

Ok I've found the issue. The NPM in Windows is way more sensitive than the one in Linux. In Linux I can manually remove the line from the package.json file and just remove the node_modules directory. However in Windows it appears to be cached by NPM, so I had to manually use the npm remove mongoskin --save command.
When I did this so that the package.json looked like it should I was able to install minimist via npm install minimist --save without issues!
I'm not surprised Windows... Not surprised...

Answer 4

In your package.json, try to change this:
"mongodb": "2.1.4",
to this:
"mongodb": "1.4.*",