Node-Reinstall is going to delete a lot of shit, and you won't be able to recover any of it. Do yourself a favor and make sure that you read the node-reinstall script and completely understand what it is going to do (i.e.: what it is going to delete) before you proceed. Here is an expanded version of the script that shows all of the directories that will be deleted:
rm -rf ~/local
rm -rf ~/lib
rm -rf ~/include
rm -rf ~/node*
rm -rf ~/npm
rm -rf ~/.npm*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man1/node.1
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
At an absolute minimum, you need to go into the home directories (the ones that start with ~/) and make sure you are okay with deleting the contents of those directories. If you are unsure if this will delete anything important, you should stop now and find another alternative for re-installing Node.js, because this approach is pretty destructive.
This script assumes you are comfortable enough with UNIX to perform these actions. If you are not, I will respond to your GitHub issue with the following GIF that is titled "pay-attention.gif"
This is a complete (and very destructive) tool for re-installing Node.js on OSX and Linux. See the SO article for reference and the related gist that spawned this repo. This deletes everything, yes everything, a lot of stuff you might want and completely removes Node.js and NPM and replaces it with the Node Version Manager called NVM. It will attempt to re-install any global NPM modules already installed, and you can opt for Nave instead of NVM if you prefer.
It also works as a first-time installer.
Clone this repo somewhere. If you have SSH setup with GitHub, use this format:
git clone git@github.com:brock/node-reinstall.git
Otherwise, clone this repo using HTTPS:
git clone https://github.com/brock/node-reinstall.git
Change into the directory:
cd node-reinstall
To run node-reinstall, you can call it directly since it is an executable file:
./node-reinstall
Or you can run it with bash:
bash node-reinstall
If you decide later that you want to re-install Node.js all over again, just come back to the directory where you cloned the node-reinstall repo, optionally update to the latest version of node-reinstall by running git pull, then run it again:
git pull
bash node-reinstall
If you are comfortable with Bash and the command line, you can copy the node-reinstall file to someplace in your $PATH
cp node-reinstall ~/bin/node-reinstall
With node-reinstall in your $PATH you can execute it from any directory:
node-reinstall
Whenever you feel like you need to completely re-install Node and NPM, simply execute node-reinstall. You'll be prompted for sudo privileges since this will remove all possible installation paths. Pull requests welcome.
Usage: node-reinstall [--nave|--nvm|--nvm-latest] [-h|--help] [-v|--version] [NODE_VERSION]
node-reinstall re-install node and npm using nvm
node-reinstall [-h|--help] show help
node-reinstall [-v|--version] show the node-reinstall version number
node-reinstall [-f|--force] installs defaults without user confirmation
node-reinstall --nave re-install using nave
node-reinstall --nvm re-install using stable nvm - the default
node-reinstall --nvm-latest re-install using latest nvm - creationix/nvm:master
node-reinstall 5.0.0 specify a default node version