Botched npm Update Crashes Linux Systems, Forces Users to Reinstall (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by msmash on Thursday February 22, 2018 @08:50AM from the beware dept.

Catalin Cimpanu, reporting for BleepingComputer: A bug in npm (Node Package Manager), the most widely used JavaScript package manager, will change ownership of crucial Linux system folders, such as /etc, /usr, /boot. Changing ownership of these files either crashes the system, various local apps, or prevents the system from booting, according to reports from users who installed npm v5.7.0. -- the buggy npm update. Users who installed this update -- mostly developers and software engineers -- will likely have to reinstall their system from scratch or restore from a previous system image.

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Re:Rescue mode by Dracos · 2018-02-22 09:37 · Score: 5, Interesting

The people most likely to be using npm, and an apparently untested bleeding-edge version of it that gets pushed out automagically (there's a separate bug that pushed out 5.7.0 prematurely), deserve this rancid dog food. This is incontrovertible proof that the JS community lacks competence and leadership.