[BUG] npm update --global fails: npm ERR! global requires an add or rm option

[felipecrs]

Current Behavior:

$ npm install --global semver@7.3.1

changed 1 package, and audited 1 package in 2s

found 0 vulnerabilities

$ npm update --global
npm ERR! global requires an add or rm option

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/felipesantos/.npm/_logs/2020-10-14T13_14_27_261Z-debug.log

$ npm update --global semver
npm ERR! global requires an add or rm option

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/felipesantos/.npm/_logs/2020-10-14T13_17_01_600Z-debug.log

$ cat /home/felipesantos/.npm/_logs/2020-10-14T13_14_27_261Z-debug.log
0 verbose cli [
0 verbose cli   '/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/bin/node',
0 verbose cli   '/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/bin/npm',
0 verbose cli   'update',
0 verbose cli   '--global'
0 verbose cli ]
1 info using npm@7.0.0
2 info using node@v12.19.0
3 timing config:load:defaults Completed in 1ms
4 timing config:load:file:/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc Completed in 1ms
5 timing config:load:builtin Completed in 1ms
6 timing config:load:cli Completed in 2ms
7 timing config:load:env Completed in 0ms
8 timing config:load:file:/mnt/c/Users/felip/.npmrc Completed in 1ms
9 timing config:load:project Completed in 3ms
10 timing config:load:file:/home/felipesantos/.npmrc Completed in 0ms
11 timing config:load:user Completed in 0ms
12 timing config:load:file:/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/etc/npmrc Completed in 0ms
13 timing config:load:global Completed in 0ms
14 timing config:load:cafile Completed in 0ms
15 timing config:load:validate Completed in 0ms
16 timing config:load:setUserAgent Completed in 1ms
17 timing config:load:setEnvs Completed in 0ms
18 timing config:load Completed in 8ms
19 verbose npm-session 38aa94d0b0d83ff4
20 timing npm:load Completed in 14ms
21 timing arborist:ctor Completed in 0ms
22 timing command:update Completed in 2ms
23 verbose stack Error: global requires an add or rm option
23 verbose stack     at Arborist.buildIdealTree (/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js:185:29)
23 verbose stack     at Arborist.[loadTrees] (/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:186:17)
23 verbose stack     at Arborist.reify (/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:121:27)
23 verbose stack     at update (/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/update.js:34:13)
23 verbose stack     at cmd (/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/update.js:15:27)
23 verbose stack     at Object.[_runCmd] (/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:112:7)
23 verbose stack     at fn (/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:46:40)
23 verbose stack     at Object.<anonymous> (/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cli.js:56:7)
24 verbose cwd /mnt/c/Users/felip
25 verbose Linux 4.19.104-microsoft-standard
26 verbose argv "/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/bin/node" "/home/felipesantos/.nvm/versions/node/v12.19.0/bin/npm" "update" "--global"
27 verbose node v12.19.0
28 verbose npm  v7.0.0
29 error global requires an add or rm option
30 verbose exit 1

Expected Behavior:

Before v7.0.0, running npm update --global would update all the packages installed globally which are outdated.

Steps To Reproduce:

Install an outdated global package, and try to update all the packages.

Environment:

• OS: Ubuntu 20.04.1
• Node: 12.19.0
• npm: 7.0.0

[pirouet]

Can confirm this happens for me too ...

➜  event-centre npm -v 
7.0.0
➜  event-centre npm -g update
npm ERR! global requires an add or rm option

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/michael/.npm/_logs/2020-10-17T21_49_17_159Z-debug.log
➜  event-centre cat /Users/michael/.npm/_logs/2020-10-17T21_49_17_159Z-debug.log 
0 verbose cli [
0 verbose cli   '/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/bin/node',
0 verbose cli   '/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/bin/npm',
0 verbose cli   '-g',
0 verbose cli   'update'
0 verbose cli ]
1 info using npm@7.0.0
2 info using node@v14.13.0
3 timing config:load:defaults Completed in 1ms
4 timing config:load:file:/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc Completed in 0ms
5 timing config:load:builtin Completed in 0ms
6 timing config:load:cli Completed in 2ms
7 timing config:load:env Completed in 0ms
8 timing config:load:file:/Volumes/Developer/event-centre/.npmrc Completed in 0ms
9 timing config:load:project Completed in 1ms
10 timing config:load:file:/Users/michael/.npmrc Completed in 1ms
11 timing config:load:user Completed in 1ms
12 timing config:load:file:/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/etc/npmrc Completed in 0ms
13 timing config:load:global Completed in 0ms
14 timing config:load:cafile Completed in 0ms
15 timing config:load:validate Completed in 0ms
16 timing config:load:setUserAgent Completed in 1ms
17 timing config:load:setEnvs Completed in 0ms
18 timing config:load Completed in 7ms
19 verbose npm-session 7a6ea29e573a5509
20 timing npm:load Completed in 12ms
21 timing arborist:ctor Completed in 0ms
22 timing command:update Completed in 3ms
23 verbose stack Error: global requires an add or rm option
23 verbose stack     at Arborist.buildIdealTree (/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js:185:29)
23 verbose stack     at Arborist.[loadTrees] (/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:186:17)
23 verbose stack     at Arborist.reify (/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:121:27)
23 verbose stack     at update (/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/update.js:34:13)
23 verbose stack     at cmd (/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/update.js:15:27)
23 verbose stack     at Object.[_runCmd] (/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:112:7)
23 verbose stack     at fn (/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:46:40)
23 verbose stack     at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cli.js:56:7)
24 verbose cwd /Volumes/Developer/event-centre
25 verbose Darwin 19.6.0
26 verbose argv "/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/bin/node" "/Users/michael/.nvm/versions/node/v14.13.0/bin/npm" "-g" "update"
27 verbose node v14.13.0
28 verbose npm  v7.0.0
29 error global requires an add or rm option
30 verbose exit 1

[noseratio]

npm update --global fails: npm ERR! global requires an add or rm option

Same error if I just want to update global packages:

npm -g update

Or

npm -g upgrade

Seeing it with v7.0.1 on Windows and Debian 10.

These worked for 6.x

[somombo]

seems to be fixed in v7.0.2

[matthewlynden]

I'm still seeing the same issue with 7.0.2

$ npm -v
7.0.2

$ npm -g update
npm ERR! global requires an add or rm option

[ttyrakow]

I can confirm the same behavior in npm 7.0.3 on Windows 10 x64. Just upgraded from npm@6 and got this surprise.

[Xanonymous-GitHub]

npm v 7.0.2 on macOS nodejs v15 has same problem.

npm ERR! global requires an add or rm option
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! /Users/user/.npm/_logs/2020-10-21T09_28_30_807Z-debug.log

[wjhanna]

npm@7.0.3 /Users/username/.nvm/versions/node/v15.0.1/lib/node_modules/npm

❯ npm update -g
npm ERR! global requires an add or rm option

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/username/.npm/_logs/2020-10-22T20_49_47_598Z-debug.log

Same issue for me. MacOS, npm v7.0.3. Using nvm.

[WraithKenny]

Same. On MacOS, with Brew.

I brew rm node and brew install node to fix the issue of npm ls -g not showing any packages.

After that, I npm i npm@^6 -g then ran npm update -g (actually, I also did npm update eslinst@lastest -g first)

I then ran npm i npm@latest -g and now npm update -g doesn't report an error. (There's no updates available anymore, but it seems fixed for me, for now.)

[alaadahmed]

I did the same as @WraithKenny, but with the difference that I npm i npm -g without specifying @^6 and it will install by default ver 6.14.8, but then when you npm list -g, it shows nothing. I then reinstalled npm but ver 7 >> npm i npm@7 -g and now there are no errors and when I npm list -g it shows all globally installed packages, and no errors anymore.

[ljharb]

Because npm 7 isn’t “latest”, you don’t want to use npm install -g npm once you’re on npm 7, as that will downgrade it to 6. Use @7 to ensure you stay on v7.

[Niwotian60]

I encountered this problem today on Win 10 after updating node to version 15.0.1 and concomitantly npm to version 7.0.5. A quick look at the files in the debug log stack trace points to the following lines (184-5) in file npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\arborist\lib\arborist\build-ideal-tree.js:

    if (!options.add && !options.rm && this[_global])
      return Promise.reject(new Error('global requires an add or rm option'))

This is my first delve into the underlying code and it isn't clear to me from the context around these lines what their intended purpose is but they clearly put a hard stop to any global update actions other than add or rm.