python: no user

One possible failure of downloading packages with node.js is "gyp ERR! stack Error: Command failed: python: no user {random number}" while executing "npm install -d".

If that happens, try

1) reinstall node.js first
2) put this into your .bash_profile:

The cause might be that the particular instance of Python is running from a protected space in the fs.

PATH="/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions

/2.7/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH

Python seems to operate from 2 directories: /usr/bin 

and the aforementioned 

(I was able to download with the latter)