I've the same problem!
I'm trying to update ionic but I'm not able to cause this error:
root@GhilbaDebian:/opt/node/bin# ./npm install -g ionic
npm ERR! not a package /opt/node-v4.1.2-linux-x64/bin/ionic
npm ERR! addLocal Could not install /opt/node-v4.1.2-linux-x64/bin/ionic
npm ERR! Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64
npm ERR! argv "/opt/node-v4.1.2-linux-x64/bin/node" "/opt/node-v4.1.2-linux-x64/bin/npm" "install" "-g" "ionic"
npm ERR! node v4.1.2
npm ERR! npm v2.14.4
npm ERR! path /tmp/npm-5450-073a2fc7/unpack-22db664b752e/package.json
npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! errno -2
npm ERR! syscall opennpm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/tmp/npm-5450-073a2fc7/unpack-22db664b752e/package.json'
npm ERR! enoent This is most likely not a problem with npm itself
npm ERR! enoent and is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoentnpm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR! /opt/node-v4.1.2-linux-x64/bin/npm-debug.log