npm install is inconsistent

I’m not able to consistently install clasp. I sometimes get these errors:

sudo npm i -g @google/clasp
/usr/local/bin/clasp -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/index.js

> grpc@1.12.2 install /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/grpc
> node-pre-gyp install --fallback-to-build --library=static_library

node-pre-gyp WARN Pre-built binaries not installable for grpc@1.12.2 and node@8.11.2 (node-v57 ABI, unknown) (falling back to source compile with node-gyp)
node-pre-gyp WARN Hit error EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/grpc/src/node'
gyp WARN EACCES user "root" does not have permission to access the dev dir "/var/root/.node-gyp/8.11.2"
gyp WARN EACCES attempting to reinstall using temporary dev dir "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/grpc/.node-gyp"
gyp WARN EACCES user "root" does not have permission to access the dev dir "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/grpc/.node-gyp/8.11.2"
...

Configs

npm -v
5.6.0
node -v
v8.11.2

Command

sudo npm i -g @google/clasp
/usr/local/bin/clasp -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/index.js
+ @google/clasp@1.3.1
updated 1 package in 11.211s

sudo npm uninstall -g @google/clasp

Possible Solutions

This seems to not give the errors: sudo npm i -g @google/clasp --allow-root

Another option would be to remove grpc, but I believe it is needed with a different npm module.

sudo npm i -g @google/clasp --unsafe-perm seems to always work too.

However, running clasp gives this error still:

/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/grpc/src/grpc_extension.js:45
    throw error;
    ^

Error: The gRPC binary module was not installed. This may be fixed by running "npm rebuild"
Original error: Cannot find module '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/grpc/src/node/extension_binary/node-v57-darwin-x64-unknown/grpc_node.node'
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/grpc/src/grpc_extension.js:43:17)
    at Module._compile (module.js:652:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:663:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:565:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:505:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:497:3)
    at Module.require (module.js:596:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:11:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/grpc/src/client_interceptors.js:145:12)
    at Module._compile (module.js:652:30)

[grant]

I think grpc is used for StackDriver logs (@google-cloud/logging):

Error: Cannot find module 'grpc'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:547:15)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:474:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:596:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:11:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@google/clasp/node_modules/@google-cloud/common-grpc/src/service.js:26:12)
    at Module._compile (module.js:652:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:663:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:565:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:505:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:497:3)

If this is the case, we should remove @google-cloud/logging in favor of googleapis.

[grant]

Running sudo npm rebuild in the clasp folder fixes the CLI. Maybe it should be added as a postinstall step.