NPM delivered package.json throws error - json

Question

I have created an NPM package and installed it to test it. NPM/Node throws an ENOENT error when installing dependencies for GruntJS in a nested node_modules folder with npm install.
I take these steps to create the error:
npm install pavilion
cd node_modules/pavilion
npm install
When installing the dependencies for Grunt, listed in the package.json...it throws the error as seen below.
PS. please continue reading below.
npm ERR! Darwin 14.5.0
npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install"
npm ERR! node v5.0.0
npm ERR! npm v3.8.6
npm ERR! path /Users/Baasdesign/Desktop/test/node_modules/pavilion/node_modules/.staging/pavilion-8a19d0be
npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! errno -2
npm ERR! syscall rename
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, rename '/Users/Baasdesign/Desktop/test/node_modules/pavilion/node_modules/.staging/pavilion-8a19d0be' -> '/Users/Baasdesign/Desktop/test/node_modules/pavilion'
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, rename '/Users/Baasdesign/Desktop/test/node_modules/pavilion/node_modules/.staging/pavilion-8a19d0be' -> '/Users/Baasdesign/Desktop/test/node_modules/pavilion'
npm ERR! enoent This is most likely not a problem with npm itself
npm ERR! enoent and is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent
npm ERR! Darwin 14.5.0
npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install"
npm ERR! node v5.0.0
npm ERR! npm v3.8.6
npm ERR! path npm-debug.log.575049388
npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! errno -2
npm ERR! syscall open
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'npm-debug.log.575049388'
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'npm-debug.log.575049388'
npm ERR! enoent This is most likely not a problem with npm itself
npm ERR! enoent and is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent
npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR! /Users/Baasdesign/Desktop/test/node_modules/pavilion/npm-debug.log
Now the weird part. When I use Bower to install the package...I don't get the error. Here are my steps:
bower install pavilion
cd bower_components/pavilion
npm install
Everything installs fine. The difference? ---> the package.json.
The bower install package.json works find. NPM's doesn't.
Bower gives me a clean package.json, as created by myself before publishing to npm.
NPM install gives me an package.json that had a lot more info in there. When I use the bower package.json...everything install fine...even when I paste and replace the npm package.json in the node_modules folder.
What's the deal here? It seems that the package.json delivered with the npm install messes up the dependency installation.
Here is the bower package.json delivery:
http://pastebin.com/g8FgSDNG
And here is the npm package.json delivery:
http://pastebin.com/xTiQ15ih
I have tried npm cache clean but it didn't work.
sysinfo:
OSX Yosemite
node - 5.10.1
npm - 3.8.6

Answer 1

Node is brilliant but can be a pain sometimes!
I have had this error myself lately and for me rolling back to an earlier version of node fixed my problem.
I would recommend you try out an earlier install you could use "node version manager" to have a few node versions on your system and it provides methods to switch between versions.
I know its not a very technical answer and i hope someone has a specific answer to your question!
[https://github.com/creationix/nvm]
Here's the version manager link hope it helps

Answer 2

The problem was that I didn't save the dependency in the package.json.
I guess Node gets the paths wrong if you do that.
So the correct workflow is:
npm init (create the package.json)
npm install <package> --save-dev
cd node_modules/pavilion
npm install
Then it works fine. The <package> needs to be added to the parent directory's package.json.