Hi,
I have finished to code my website using lesscss client side and now want to compile less so I have donwloaded node.js. My website is running on localhost and I want first to know:
where I have to install node.js
what I have to do next ( commands lines tools, commands lines etc. ).
If someone can help me because I'm a newbie in this field.
Thanks.
You can install the LESS compiler directly from npm.
Install node.js. Go to this page and download the installer for your platform.
If you're on Windows, download the .msi; if you are on OSX, download the .pkg file. Whenever possible, download the 64-bit version (unless your system is running only 32-bit hardware and software). If you are on Linux and you want to use package managers, see this page.
Once you have node.js installed, you should also have npm, which is node.js Package Manager. You can open a terminal/console and run npm -v to make sure everything is installed correctly.
Eventually, you can install the LESS compiler by simply executing:
npm install -g less
(note: on OSX and Linux you may need to run this with sudo: sudo npm install -g less).
The LESS compiler will then be available as the lessc command. See examples here.
PS: Some GUIs also exist for simplifying working with lessc. Google "less gui windows/mac/linux" to see many results, like this one for Mac.
it's not mentioned what to do after installing node.js and installing less compiler on your node.
Go to your folder where you are hosting your project locally and then type styles. less styles.css. This should initiate the conversion from less to CSS at the node command prompt.
Related
I'm trying to install LESS css in Netbeans, but I'm running into one problem after another. As such, I already have LESS installed, but I can't get it running.
Less is installed via the npm package, I installed it using the packaging system, less itself via Terminal. The first problem I had was that despite a successful installation, Netbeans didn't get to the files he needed (usr/local/), I could either change permissions there, which I don't want to dig into, or change the location. So I changed the location of the .npm and .npm-global folders to my root (home/ivet/), from where Netbeans managed to load it.
So I set everything there, the general settings and the specific project and it looked fine.
I want it to be converted to css automatically after saving, but it throws the message "/usr/bin/env:"node": Directory or file does not exist" and the target css file is still empty.
I found a few advices, basically the same: "ln -s /usr/bin/node/ usr/local/bin/nodejs", but it tells me that the link already exists and nothing will solve it. On closer inspection, I found that the link does exist, but the target file does not exist.
I've also found that installing Nodejs legacy solves this, but this is an older piece of advice, the package no longer exists, and terminal pretends to have the packages that replace this installed. Even when searching for via grep, I couldn't find the file it should link to (neither node nor nodejs).
There are the same tips everywhere that don't work for me and I don't know what to try next. I use Linux Mint 20, but I call myself a Linux BFU, so please write answer step by step :-D
Thanks for the advice
Try completely removing NodeJS & npm and try to install NodeJS using nvm i.e., node version manager.
You can follow this link on how to install nodejs and npm using nvm.
It's always a tedious task sometimes when it comes to package managment with npm, so it's better to go with nvm and I strongly suggest to always have a fallback option for node version when using with or without nvm i.e.,
NodeJS LTS version & NodeJS latest/stable version.
There's also an alternative solution i.e.,you can try switching to yarn package manager.
I've had this issue on Ubuntu and I've resolved it likes this:
First of all I've removed node and npm packages via
sudo aptitude remove node npm
Then I've added the official repositories
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
After which I've just updated the list of packages with sudo aptitude update and then installed Node
sudo aptitude install nodejs npm
And that was it. With these steps done, everything just started to work.
I am in a unique situation where I can run npm install only on a linux based machine even though I plan to run my electron/node application on an offline Windows machine.
So, is there a way to tell npm to perform an install and "trick" it to npm install the windows version of each module?
I understand most modules are based on javascript and are not native, but a few are dependent on operating system, such as electron itself.
Perhaps I could modify any header information npm sends out which tells the servers which operating system I am running?
So, is there a way to tell npm to perform an install and "trick" it to
npm install the windows version of each module?
No. If you want NPM to install for windows, then you have to run NPM on windows.
For pure Javascript modules, you could "probably" install for Linux and then just copy the directories over to windows, but you'd have to know that these were pure Javascript modules that contained no native code and did not use any binaries or compile any native code and copying directories behind the back of NPM is asking for it to be confused about what you have.
It sounds like perhaps you should explore fixing whatever issue is keeping you from running NPM on your windows box directly.
Is it possible to copy a set of NPM installed files and associated files from a Mac computer to a Windows computer, and for all those files to work?
For example, transfering Node.js files with some other NPM files from Mac to Windows, then running node app.js in that directory (on the Windows Command Prompt).
Thanks! :)
The binary, npm, that you install is platform dependent, as is node.js. That's why there are different releases for each platform available on the download site.
For the most part, your project files are platform independent. For example, most of your JavaScript files will all be used by node.js and work just fine without having to worry about what platform you are on because the system details will be dealt with by node.js itself.
However, some modules are platform dependent. For example, anything that uses node-gyp will try to compile on your platform whenever the module is installed by npm. You do not have to worry about that though because it is handled by npm, that's why you're using a package manager.
Copying node_modules can be done; but it's more often than not better and easier to just run npm i on whatever machine is going to be running your application. You can avoid having to worry about version problems using something like npm shrinkwrap which will lock down the version of a package that your module depends on.
NPM packages that contain native addons/dependencies are tied to the OS + NodeJS version and have to be rebuilt specifically for the system you intend to use them on. This is why you're seeing the error mentioning bson.node, it is a native addon that has to be rebuilt, this can be done with the npm rebuild command.
I have recently started playing with node.js, but I got lost in a big mess of different versions of node, npm, nvm and other packages. I don't know what is installed globally and what is installed locally (and if locally, how do the packages know which versions of node they can use?).
I'd like to have some summary of what different installation options do. In specific:
Where is node installed when I use nvm, apt-get, make install or when using other ways?
Is it a good idea to install node locally?
Why does nvm change my ~/.profile instead of installing itself in some system-recognizable bin folder?
I saw that nvm can install different versions of node alongside each other - why would I want to do this? I can install them locally instead, right?
Where does npm install packages? I saw that it checks packages aganist version of Node, what happens to these packages when node is upgraded?
In what cases it is better to use global or local installation? Where should I put my packages then (and where they put by default?)
What's the difference between npm, nvm and nave?
EDIT: There is a lot of ways to install node here, this makes me even more confused...
Where is node installed when I use nvm, apt-get, make install or when
using other ways?
apt-get installs all the software, not only node, on the file system following the Ubuntu convention where to store binaries, man files, shared files, logs, etc. However, using apt-get you'll have only the certain version of node which is determined by the distribution release cycle. If there are updates available they will be installed with apt-get update; apt-get upgrade However, the newest version of some app won't be available until it makes its way into the distribution. For example node v0.x.y might not be available until Ubuntu 13.10 the only way to get will be to install it manually. The good side of apt-get or other system package manager is that it manages updates and package removal for you. It stores all the data about the software package in it's own database. You can always delete the node with apt-get remove node and that's it.
make install install the package manually, but it is considered harmful. Never use the make install mainly because you won't be able to delete the package easily, you'll have to read the Makefile and manually delete all the files installed by it. In a situation where you want to use make install there is always checkinstall available. It's a software which creates a native package and registers it with the system. When you decide to delete the package you could do this with one command instead of many. wiki link; Ubuntu guide on checkinstall
Now nvm script is a node version manager. It is very helpful and easy to use. It allows you to have multiple versions of node to be installed and used in parallel on your machine. It doesn't compile the node from source like make install so it is very fast. it doesn't depend on your distribution release cycle so you have access to all the node versions available at the moment. nvm downloads precompiled binaries and is perfect for general use. It stores it's node files in it's own folder locally so in case you want to compare something between the different node versions it's easy to do.
Is it a good idea to install node locally?
If by locally you mean using nvm then it's very good for development, and testing. Not sure about production performance implications and benefits between having it's installed from source or using the nvm precompiled binaries. I use nvm for development and installed from source in production. However if someone could explain this issue any further I'll be glad to learn more.
Why does nvm change my ~/.profile instead of installing itself in some system-recognizable bin folder?
Because nvm isn't an executable. It is a set of bash functions which are sourced by shell and could be used separately. You can invoke nvm_ls and nvm_ls_remote and others without the main script after is is sourced into your shell. What the main script does it parses the command line arguments and pretty prints the output in case of for example `nvm_ls_remote'.
in the ~/.profile the following line is added
[[ -s /home/USERNAME/.nvm/nvm.sh ]] && . /home/USERANME/.nvm/nvm.sh # This loads NVM
loads all the functions into your shell
I saw that nvm can install different versions of node alongside each other - why would I want to do this? I can install them locally instead, right?
You can install them locally using make install or checkinstall but you will have to make aliases for them like node_0.8.1, node_0.8.2, node_0.10.1 , etc. AND you'll have to manage new aliases, installing all the packages, removing them in case you don't need them YOURSELF. These are a tedious and boring tasks which could be error prone sometimes. nvm does all of these tasks for you for free.
You want to do this to test your app under the different versions of node. For example you are good and tested under the v0.8 but you want to use the new features of the v0.10.3 how do you do that ? You have to download the source code, compile, make an alias and run your app. you could do this with just nvm install 0.10.3 and run your app.
Sometimes you have to support more than one version of node. For example some hosted environments are not keeping in touch with the latest release and only have v0.6 Your clients which use your server app might encounter a bug specific to this version. When you fix the bug you have to reproduce it first. Using nvm installation of the v0.6 is one line and half a minute. And you can check all the versions you want this way easily. Test your code under different versions and make sure you are good to go.
Where does npm install packages? I saw that it checks packages aganist version of Node, what happens to these packages when node is upgraded?
If you are using nvm the packages which are installed globally with -g option are tied to the relevant node version. When you switch between versions with nvm use 0.x you have to either install the packages again or use nvm copy-packages <version> to use the packages from in the current version. If the packages are installed locally then it depends. package.json should contain info on the dependencies of the app. If it says node: '0.8' and you just updated to 0.9 you might encounter troubles. For example the behavior of process.nextTick was changed in the latest releases compared to 0.6. So be careful.
In what cases it is better to use global or local installation? Where should I put my packages then (and where they put by default?)
It depends. For development nvm is superior in my opinion. For me it is convenient and simple. For production there are might be some performance implications when using the precompiled binary files not optimized for your system. It would be better to ask this as a separate question so the people with the relevant experience could answer.
What's the difference between npm, nvm and nave?
npm is a node package manager -> link It contains userland packages developed by other people. These packages are not part of the node core. npm is used for publishing your code and dependency management. If your app requires other app developed by other people it is convenient to publish it via npm.
nvm is a node version manager it does a completely separate thing. It gives you an ability to very easily switch between node versions on the same machine and manages all he changes in your $PATH environment variable.
Consider nvm as update manager for the Operation System and npm as a manager of the applications for this system. Well, this comparison isn't precise but just came upon my mind
nave is basically the same as nvm but it is an executable whereas nvm is a script which is sourced into the shell. Each system has it's own benefits. You could make a separate question regarding it's use cases and differences.
My answer isn't 100% complete and contains a lot of subjective personal opinions. However, I hope I'll at least make some points more clear so you might proceed with other more specific questions. Btw, this question list of yours could be asked as separate questions. I believe stackoverflow gives best results when specific questions are asked separately and more people with relevant experience could contribute.
If you run
npm install
in folder with package.json, it installs all packages localy (in the current folder).
Also, npm default install packeges local. To install it globaly - use -g flag:
npm install -g <package>
Execute next command:
npm config list
You see all npm config description.
You can install modules in the local context of your application with
npm install modulename
In this case the module will be installed to your node_modules folder of your application.
Otherwise you can install a module in the global context with
npm install -g modulename
In this case the module will be installed for the hole system environment usually at /usr/local/bin/modulename.
The global installation makes sense for modules you need in more than one application, like express or node-inspector.
I'm running an educational project where kids needs to install node and some packages themselves before they start. I want to make it super simple for them to do themselves. Right now it's a matter of:
Download and install Node as a .msi or .pkg
Run some npm install command in a terminal which is less friendly.
Is there any way to bundle some packages with node and create one simple download that will just work?
I know that node webkit is able to do what you need, and even more; if you opt on it, you will probably find other useful features for your purpose.