Pass the buck on package.json parse errors.

3 files changed, 12 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/lib/utils/error-handler.js b/lib/utils/error-handler.js
index 0bcdd156a..615008114 100644
--- a/lib/utils/error-handler.js
+++ b/lib/utils/error-handler.js
@@ -62,9 +62,17 @@ function errorHandler (er) {
               ,"    "+er.script
               ,"You can get their info via:"
               ,"    npm owner ls "+er.pkgname
-              ,"There may be additional logging output above."
+              ,"There is likely additional logging output above."
               ].join("\n"))
     break
+  case npm.EJSONPARSE:
+    log.error(["","Failed to parse package.json data."
+              ,"Note that package.json must be actual JSON, not"
+              ,"just a JavaScript object."
+              ,"","This changed in npm 0.3.0, and is not a bug in npm."
+              ,"Tell the package author to fix their package.json file."
+              ,""].join("\n"), "JSON.parse")
+    break
   case npm.E404:
     log.error(["","Looks like '"+er.pkgid+"' is not in the npm registry."
               ,"You should bug the author to publish it."
diff --git a/lib/utils/read-json.js b/lib/utils/read-json.js
index 62bff7f8c..653a591db 100644
--- a/lib/utils/read-json.js
+++ b/lib/utils/read-json.js
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ function processJsonString (opts, cb) { return function (er, jsonString) {
     json = JSON.parse(jsonString)
   } catch (ex) {
     var e = new Error(
-      "Failed to parse json\n"+ex.message+"\n"+jsonString)
+      "Failed to parse json\n"+ex.message)
+    e.errno = npm.EJSONPARSE
     if (cb) return cb(e)
     throw e
   }
diff --git a/npm.js b/npm.js
index 686a6ab47..32fcd8730 100644
--- a/npm.js
+++ b/npm.js
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ npm.commands = {}
 npm.ELIFECYCLE = {}
 npm.E404 = {}
 npm.EPUBLISHCONFLICT = {}
+npm.EJSONPARSE = {}
 
 
 try {