npm 3.5.2 intermittently fails to install packages

[Michael]

npm 3.5.2 (the current version in xenial) is subject to this bug- https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/11088 - making it rather difficult to use npm out-of-the-box. A fix was discussed in the linked issue, and has been resolved in version 3.5.5 (thus should be relatively easy to backport.

What actually happens is that npm says it will install correctly, however if you try to run any of the npm scripts (like npm test) it will have trouble finding some packages. Here's a log demonstrating the issue:

http://logs.openstack.org/50/317350/1/check/gate-fuel-ui-npm-run-lint/a6a0115/console.html#_2016-05-17_10_06_02_999

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.