I really like virtual environments in Python, where you can put a whole Python environment including the interpreter into a project directory. If you dig out an old project after years you can just activate the environment and you are ready to go - this is awesome.
What is the node.js way of doing this?
Usually you mark down the package versions and Node.js version that your code supports in the appropriate package.json directive. This means that distributed versions of your projects import the same modules. Locally, this doesn't matter as npm installs your packages in the project directory by default.
However, for managing your local Node versions more efficiently, a tool such as Node Version Manager will do the trick. NVM specifically supports a .nvmrc file in the project directory to mark down the Node version.
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I have a pretty common (i guess) problem. Many of my projects utilize nodejs, some for business logic, others only for some building task.
I need to have different runtimes in different projects, one of my electron apps requires node 7.10.0, a typical build suite requires node 8.x.
Now i know - i can use sudo n 7.10.0 or sudo n latest to switch the runtime globally on my computer (For those, who dont know this - have a look at "n")
Anyway, IMO this is not so convenient (some times, i need to rebuild all the modules after switching versions, often i forget to switch and so on). Is there a way of telling node which interpreter to use? Can i use a .npmrc file in a project directory to force a specific nodejs version within that subdirectory?
I searched exactly for this (npmrc node version) but was not lucky enough to find something.
Okay, i found a similar quesion:
Automatically switch to correct version of Node based on project
it seems you can install "avn" and use a .node-version file to do exactly that.
sudo npm install -g avn avn-n
avn setup
then you can create a .node-version file in your project and enter the desired version
echo 7.10.0 > .node-version
Then avn will detect that and activate the correct version
Unfortunately i get an additional permissions error. So to make this work, you need to install/configure "n" to work without sudo/root.
If you're fine with using another tool you could use nvshim.
pip install nvshim # this is all you need to do
It does not slow your shell startup or switching directories, instead moving the lookup of which node version to when you call node, npm or npx by shimming those binaries. More details in the docs.
Source, I wrote the tool.
NVM (Node Version Manager) allow us to use different versions of node quite easily on a single machine. You can have a look at here how to configure and use it.
Volta can used to manage multiple nodejs, npm or yarn versions on different projects on same machine. It's cross-platform.
For example you can run volta pin node#14 in project directory and this will set node to v14 if it exists otherwise it will download and then set it.
More information here https://docs.volta.sh/guide/
Node.js is sometimes confusing when it comes to version management...
I am trying to arrange various projects as i am doing with ruby projects. For example:
With ruby i can create file such as .rvmrc and fill with something like rvm --create use 1.9.3#my-app
This thing creates and uses all gems specifically to configured gemset. Which allows to have various options for any kind of project, and switch easily among them. So ruby does this in one place.
I want to achieve this for node.js projects.
Node works differently. I want to know the details about that, and especially of each node version management tool.
The point is to know which version management tool for which goal...
And why there are so many.
More accurately: i want npm install <package-name> to chosen node version. And after switching to other versions, this installed package to be missing, or have different version installed before (or certain one). Just like gemset is working.
I've been looking for clarification too:
Both allow switching & installing between node versions.
nvm will symlink the different versions to /usr/local/bin/node, and n will move your node installs to the path (/usr/local/bin/node).
n downloads and installs binary files, and nvm downloads, compiles, installs from the source.
I don't fully understand the latter part of your question, but in regards having control with node projects/apps, you can use npm install [package_name] --save-dev to save your npms within your 'project'.
These npm module versions (^semver) get detailed in your package.json file, for example "gulp": "^3.8.5" is different from "gulp": "3.8.5" (the later being specific to v3.8.5, and the ^3.8.5 means allowing any future version of 3, but not 4.0.0)
The differences between npm and gem is that npm installs the specified packages in the local node_modules folder (the current working directory using the --save-dev), so you have less worries with cross project module versions.
Important note: Running --save (instead of --save-dev) installs any missing dependencies.
I hope that helps a little :o)
Just tried to install nvm and it works for switching from one version to another. In header of nave.sh it says "# This program contains parts of narwhal's "sea" program, as well as bits borrowed from Tim Caswell's "nvm"", so you might try both and see the tiniest difference. Also check the "popularity" of each and contributors to get some insight). There is also a nodeenv which uses python, but I don't any reason why use python here. So, my answer would be no big difference.
I've been using Node.js and npm for a few weeks with great success and have started to question the best practice for installing local modules. I understand the Global vs Local argument, however, my question has more to do with where to place a local install. Let's say that I have a project located at ~/ProjectA/ which is version controlled and worked on by multiple developers. When initially playing with Node.js and npm I wasn't aware of the default local installation paths and just simply installed the necessary modules in a default terminal which resulted in a installation path of ~/node_modules. What this ended up doing is requiring all the other developers working on the project to install the modules on their own machines in order to run the application. Having seen where some of the developers ran npm install I'm still really surprised that it worked on their machines at all (I guess it relates to how Node.js and require() looks for modules), but needless to say, it worked.
Now that the project is getting past the "toying around" stage, I would like to setup the project folder correctly. So, my question is, should the modules be installed at ~/ProjectA/node_modules and therefore be part of the version controlled project files, or should it continue to be located at a developer-machine specific location...or does it not really matter at all?
I'm just looking for a little "best-practice" guidance on this one and what others do when setting up your projects.
I think that the "best practice" here is to keep the dependencies within the project folder.
Almostly all Node projects I've seen so far (I'm a Node developer has about 8 months now) do that.
You don't need to version control the dependencies. That's how I manage my Node projects:
Keep the versions locked in the package.json file, so everyone gets the same working version, or use the npm shrinkwrap command in your project root.
Add the node_modules folder to your VCS ignore file (I use git, so mine is .gitignore)
Be happy, you're done!
Is there any way to change the directory where node.js modules are installed? By default (on Linux Mint 13), npm install express installs the express module in home/username/node_modules, but I want modules to be installed by default in home/username/Dropbox/node_modules instead.
Well if you want to change installation directory try setting relevant prefix.
Just a suggestion though, if its a small project, a quick fix is simply install packages separately on each machine. If its a big project then I guess you would be atleast using some source control like git. All package dependencies can be managed elegantly using source control.
I am beginner on node.js. Actually my intention are setup portable environment for development node.js on windows. Wingnix are good candidates since it include nginx, mysql, and php.
I install the npm package via -g (global flag), however, it stored in my ${APPDATA}\npm due to the npmrc file on
C:\Winginx\nodejs\node_modules\npm
However, as in the documentation of Winginx for node.js section
As you know, Node.js supports packages (modules). Global packages
folder is \winginx\nodejs\node_modules.
Node.js Package Manager NPM, popular Node.js web framework Express.js
and template engine Jade are included.
That make me confuse, how i install additional global package and manage them? do Winginx provide command shell to manage? Because i set the \winginx\nodejs as Path in environment variables for access through Bash/CMD in windows.
Use this bat file: X:\winginx\nodejs\npm.cmd