The symlink that Homebrew creates causes a conflict with how npm wants to upgrade itself when an upgrade to npm is availabe:

For instance:

$ brew install node
.....
$ npm update -g
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/npm
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/npm
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/npm/1.3.11
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/npm/1.3.11
npm ERR! error rolling back Error: Refusing to delete: /usr/local/bin/npm not in /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm
npm ERR! error rolling back     at clobberFail (/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.18/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/gently-rm.js:41:12)
npm ERR! error rolling back     at next (/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.18/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/gently-rm.js:27:14)
npm ERR! error rolling back     at /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.18/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/gently-rm.js:36:12
npm ERR! error rolling back     at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
npm ERR! error rolling back  npm@1.3.11 { [Error: Refusing to delete: /usr/local/bin/npm not in /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm] code: 'EEXIST', path: '/usr/local/bin/npm' }
npm ERR! Refusing to delete: /usr/local/bin/npm not in /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm
File exists: /usr/local/bin/npm
Move it away, and try again.

npm ERR! System Darwin 12.5.0
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.18/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "update" "-g"
npm ERR! cwd /Users/Adam
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.18
npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.8
npm ERR! path /usr/local/bin/npm
npm ERR! code EEXIST
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/Adam/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

To fix it, change the formula's symlink to be

/usr/local/bin/npm -> ../lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js

instead of

/usr/local/bin/npm -> ../Cellar/node/<VERSION>/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js

Uh oh!

Homebrew installed npm can't upgrade itself #22408

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