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.
Related
I've been working on a lot of different node.js projects. All of them have their own package.json file with their own needed packages. Every time I run node <mainfile>.js, npm installs all the packages to the project directory. Like so: C:/Users/me/Projects/<project-name>/node_modules.
This isn't a very big problem, but is there a way to make npm use/install to the global packages? Like in C:/Users/me/node_modules?
One of the advantages I could see this having is less storage being taken up, although it isn't a huge advantage.
I would assume that if it is possible, it would require you to add/modify something in the package.json file.
While looking into answers for this question, I've seen people saying that you should avoid installing packages globally. Can you also explain why this is a bad practice andy why I should avoid it?
Install Package Globally
NPM installs global packages into //local/lib/node_modules folder.
Apply -g in the install command to install package globally.
npm install -g express
To answer your other question
The obvious short answer is that your project depends on them. If your
project depends on a package, it should be documented in package.json
so that you can guarantee that it is installed when someone types npm
install. Otherwise, you’ll need to add extra steps in your README file
to inform anyone else who clones your project that they need to
install each of your global dependencies as well
Finally, even if someone installs the correct version of Browserify
for your project, they may be working on a different project that
requires a different version of that same tool, which would cause
conflicts. Several of your own projects might even use different
versions of Browserify because you updated it when you started a new
project and didn’t go back to make sure that earlier projects were
updated to work with the new version. These conflicts can be avoided.
You can only have one version installed globally. This causes problems if you have different projects that rely on different versions of a package.
Why not to install all packages globally
It's not really you shouldn't install a package globally it's more knowing what packages to install globally. The packages to install globally are ones that your project/application does not depend on.
How to identify a package that my project depends on
A package that your project is depended on is a package that your application could not run without like axios or express (an express API could not run without express installed or a web page that makes API requests with axios cant make those requests without axios) but something like http-server or minify is not needed to run the application so it can be installed globally.
Why is it important to have locally installed packages
It's important/good practice because if you are working with a group of developers or someone gets your work from Github they can just run npm install and get all the packages with out having to find all the packages them selfs.
How can I remove the node modules folder
You could technically globally install every package but I would sudjest not to. Node and many other developers know this is an issue that they have created a solution for in deno "the node killer".
I would recommend not installing all packages globally and if the node modules folder really annoys you try deno it fixes a lot of things that node developers hate.
Related, not an answer: Managing global npm packages when using nvm
Let's say I install Node 0.12.4 with NVM. Now I want to install node-inspector and use it from the command line:
npm install -g node-inspector
Node-inspector will be placed in: /Users/[xxx]/.nvm/versions/node/v0.12.4/lib/node_modules/node-inspector/node_modules/v8-profiler
OK no problem. But now when I run which node-inspector I get no results. Clearly I need to alias it in /usr/local/bin (I think) or add that path to my $PATH. But that would mean changing those values when I switch node versions, which doesn't seem in keeping with what nvm is meant to do.
Is there a better way to update the path to any globally installed packages when using nvm and switching versions?
But that would mean changing those values when I switch node versions, which doesn't seem in keeping with what nvm is meant to do.
You'll find a long discussion of this issue here which I interpret to contradict your idea of "what nvm is meant to do".
My personal solution has 2 aspects: First, don't install npm modules globally as described in my blog post here. I find that 95% of my npm libraries that recommend global installation work better with a node version installed courtesy of nvm and tied to the project via a .nvmrc file within the project's directory, and project-specific npm modules in the node_modules directory within the project. Really, for things like bower, gulp, grunt, stylus, less, browserify, uglify, etc, local install and decent PATH management work just fine.
For things that are really less project specific, I just install a shared node at ~/shared_node.js and install things in there and put ~/shared_node.js/node_modules/.bin on my PATH permanently and call it good. At the moment I have just a few things in there like html2jade, keybase, and node-inspector.
i know it's an old question.
but after too much searching i didn't find non dirty way to do.
i'm using fish.
and i just need to add this kind of path in $PATH
/home/{USER}/.nvm/versions/node/{VERSION}/lib/node_modules/bin
so i put this in my config.fish
set PATH $PATH (npm root -g)/bin
if you change your node version. your $PATH will change and you must install those package you want for new version
Does anyone know if installing the latest build from source is a risky route to take? Should i just stick with the package manager?
Current recommendations
Use install-node-on-linux if you want a really simple install with your user account (disclaimer: I'm the author).
Use nvm if you want to install with your user account + you need to regularly switch between versions, and you're cool with a little bit of tool and environment complexity.
Follow the directions here to install via the NodeSource PPA. This is easy to do but it's the least flexible.
Old Answer
Note: At the time of this writing I'm using Ubuntu 12.10.
There are a lot of ways to install node. I personally prefer to download the source of the latest stable build and just install it to ~/local (you do this by adding --prefix to the ./configure command as seen here. There really isn't any 'risk' in doing this as everything gets installed in a directory which is separated from the rest of your system. You can have a look at the node recipe in my system install scripts here. I regularly run my update_node.py script to upgrade my installation to the latest version.
Alternatively you can follow the directions here to install the latest stable version via the package manager. I haven't actually done that so I can't comment on how well it works.
What I wouldn't do is install node from the ubuntu universe packages. You'll end up with a very dated version (currently 0.6.19).
update 1/26/2013:
If you are interested in installing node with your user (non-root) account, I highly recommend reading this blog post. I skipped the ~/.npmrc step, but found that the ~/.node_modules symlink step was critial for getting require to work properly.
update 12/30/2014:
I have migrated to using linux mint and doing binary node installs. If you have any interest in writing your own installation scripts, you can find my current one here. Specifically have a look at what I'm doing in node.sh. The execute function is run during the first install so it does things like configure the paths in .bashrc. The install function is run by update-node.sh and is used to remove an existing installation and add a new one (the latest version or one specified by the user).
update 1/8/2016:
I just switched over to using nvm. Simply install the script and then run nvm install node to get the latest version. This seems like an excellent way to get node installed with your user account.
another option is nvm (Node Version Manager) : https://github.com/creationix/nvm
bonus that it lets you easily switch between versions.
Although I live in an .rpm, and not .deb realm, fpm can do both (needs Ruby installed). I have been able to package node.js from the latest stable source without any major difficulties. In your case, the following scenario may help:
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
mkdir -p /tmp/nodejs
make install DESTDIR=/tmp/nodejs
fpm -s dir -t deb -n nodejs -v 0.8.15 -p nodejs-0.8.15.deb -C /tmp/nodejs usr
What is the cleanest or most optimal way to keep an up-to-date installation of Node along with its accompanying packages on OS X? Homebrew always seems a touch behind (except for head).
Additionally, an interesting observation from the Node.js wiki says:
Warning: brew installs are known to be buggy
Further, is there a preferred method to update the installed packages as well (across node updates and just generally updating them)?
I use a tool called NVM to manage Node.js installation; you can install and switch to various versions of Node.js with a single command. You can find NVM at https://github.com/creationix/nvm.
You may be interested in the first half of this screencast that covers installing and using NVM (full disclosure: I made the screencast).
I personally switched back to homebrew because installing the official package would foul up my path and which version of node I use.
And node packages shall not be installed globally so every new npm install will fetch the newest version if asked to do so.
I already have Node.js v0.8.0 running on Windows. Can I just run the latest installer to upgrade it to v0.8.4? I am afraid it will break existing third party modules on my machine.
Yes, you just install the latest version. Generally you shouldn't have any compatibility problems if you are already using the same major version (e.g. Version 0.8.x). If you are concerned about changes, you can always check the changelog for each version (link to changelog is on node.js download page at nodejs.org). That should tell you of any big changes (i.e API changes, etc).
For the record, I have just gone through the process, and it is painless even if you upgrade to another major version.
I have moved from 0.8 to 0.10, using the .msi package, overwriting the one installed on my system. Package problems were all fixed with npm update -g. Worked like a charm.
In case it does not work like a charm:
npm cache clean usually fixes the problem. Once the cache is empty, just run npm update -g again.
In case you really run into trouble:
Delete the modules you have installed globally, then reinstall them. Here's how:
Take stock of what you have:
npm list -g --depth=0 lists all top-level packages, with version numbers.
npm list -g --parseable --depth=0 > npm-global-modules.txt writes them to a file in your cwd.
Any strange stuff you didn't install yourself has probably been installed by another module (rare, but I have seen it happen). Remove those modules from the list. Also remove the module "npm".
In an editor, format the output for the command line by replacing \n?[^\n]+[\\/] (regex) with a single space.
(I didn't get this to work with findstr in a pipe, hence the roundtrip to the editor. You can also do it manually, of course ;)
Delete all modules. On Windows, delete (or rename) the %appdata%\npm directory. For other OS, see Command to remove all npm modules globally?
Reinstall the modules with npm install -g [your module list here]. Don't forget to npm cache clean before you do it.
I don't have experience with node on Windows, but I have just upgraded node & modules on my Mac, so this is just a general answer:
If you install v0.8, you might break your existing node modules, if they use deprecated functions, etc. The problem is that npm only checks your version of node while modules are being installed, not at run-time.
To be on the safe side, you need to find the global node_modules folder on your machine, back it up to somewhere, then delete and reinstall the modules. You will need to do the same thing for the node_modules folders in the apps you are using. (Assuming you have package.json files, reinstalling these should be easy.)
In practice, I don't think any of the modules I was using were actually incompatible. Good luck.
Yes. You can upgrade your node.js version to the latest by running the installer for latest node.js version at https://nodejs.org/en/. I upgraded mine from 4.4.4 to 8.11.2 running the installer.
Unless you're using a module that relies on an actual bug that was present in 0.8.0 and was fixed by 0.8.4, you're OK. There were no API changes in between those two versions (and the node team is too smart to introduce such changes in a minor release).
Currently upgrading to 4.4.*. I just used to installer from the nodejs.org website and that upgraded everything works just fine.
Just go to nodejs site & download it. You can install it directly without any hesitation. If you have any dependency on earlier version then check change logs.
JUST GO TO
nodejs.org
INSTALL THE LATEST STABLE VERSION (Recommended For Most Users)
and then run
npm install node
Now, you are good to go
You can even check the version of NodeJS using command
node --version
Best way to install node on windows is by using nvm-windows, so you can quickly switch between versions if you need to. This is analogous to the best way of installing node on linux and max, ie with nvm.
But Benjen is right (how could he not be with all his scouting experience) that you can just install a different version of node, and your version will update. Your npm dependencies may have to be reinstalled, and any extensions that aren't managed by npm may need to be recompiled, but this will be true no matter how you change your node version.