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198 lines
7.7 KiB
Markdown
198 lines
7.7 KiB
Markdown
# `n` – Interactively Manage Your Node.js Versions
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[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/n)
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[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/n)
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[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/n)
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[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/n)
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Node.js version management: no subshells, no profile setup, no convoluted API, just **simple**.
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(Note: `n` is not supported natively on Windows.)
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- [`n` – Interactively Manage Your Node.js Versions](#n-%E2%80%93-Interactively-Manage-Your-Nodejs-Versions)
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- [Installation](#Installation)
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- [Third Party Installers](#Third-Party-Installers)
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- [Installing/Activating Node Versions](#InstallingActivating-Node-Versions)
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- [Removing Versions](#Removing-Versions)
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- [Binary Usage](#Binary-Usage)
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- [Help](#Help)
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- [Custom Source](#Custom-Source)
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- [Custom Architecture](#Custom-Architecture)
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- [Optional Environment Variables](#Optional-Environment-Variables)
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## Installation
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Since you probably already have `node`, the easiest way to install `n` is through `npm`:
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npm install -g n
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Alternatively, you can clone this repo and
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make install
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to install `n` to `bin/n` of the directory specified in the environment variable `$PREFIX`, which defaults to `/usr/local` (note that you will likely need to use `sudo`). To install `n` in a custom location (such as `$CUSTOM_LOCATION/bin/n`), run `PREFIX=$CUSTOM_LOCATION make install`.
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Once installed, `n` caches `node` versions in subdirectory `n/versions` of the directory specified in environment variable `N_PREFIX`, which defaults to `/usr/local`; and the _active_ `node` version is installed directly in `N_PREFIX`.
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To avoid requiring `sudo` for `n` and `npm` global installs, it is recommended you either install to your home directory using `N_PREFIX`, or take ownership of the system directories:
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```bash
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# make cache folder (if missing) and take ownership
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sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/n
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sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/n
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# take ownership of node install destination folders
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sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/include /usr/local/share
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```
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### Third Party Installers
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On macOS with [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/) you can install the [n formula](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/n.rb).
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brew install n
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On Linux and macOS, [n-install](https://github.com/mklement0/n-install) allows installation directly from GitHub; for instance:
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curl -L https://git.io/n-install | bash
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n-install sets both `PREFIX` and `N_PREFIX` to `$HOME/n`, installs `n` to `$HOME/n/bin`, modifies the initialization files of supported shells to export `N_PREFIX` and add `$HOME/n/bin` to the `PATH`, and installs the latest LTS `node` version.
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As a result, both `n` itself and all `node` versions it manages are hosted inside a single, optionally configurable directory, which you can later remove with the included `n-uninstall` script. `n-update` updates `n` itself to the latest version. See the [n-install repo](https://github.com/mklement0/n-install) for more details.
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## Installing/Activating Node Versions
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Simply execute `n <version>` to install a version of `node`. If `<version>` has already been installed (via `n`), `n` will activate that version.
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A leading `v` is optional, and a partial version number installs the newest matching version.
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n 4.9.1
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n 10
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n v8.11.3
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Execute `n` on its own to view your currently installed versions. Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate and press enter to select. Use `q` or ^C (control + C) to exit the selection screen.
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If you like vim key bindings during the selection of node versions, you can use `j` and `k` to navigate up or down without using arrows.
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$ n
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node/4.9.1
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ο node/8.11.3
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node/10.15.0
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Use or install the latest official release:
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n latest
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Use or install the latest LTS official release:
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n lts
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(If the active node version does not change after install, try opening a new shell in case seeing a stale version.)
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## Removing Versions
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Remove some cached versions:
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n rm 0.9.4 v0.10.0
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Removing all cached versions except the current version:
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n prune
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Remove the installed node and npm (does not affect the cached version). This can be useful
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to revert to the system version of node (if in a different location), or if you no longer
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wish to use node and npm, or are switching to a different way of managing them.
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n uninstall
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## Binary Usage
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When running multiple versions of `node`, we can target
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them directly by asking `n` for the binary path:
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$ n bin 0.9.4
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/usr/local/n/versions/0.9.4/bin/node
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Or by using a specific version through `n`'s `use` sub-command:
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n use 0.9.4 some.js
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Flags also work here:
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n as 0.9.4 --debug some.js
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## Help
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Output can also be obtained from `n --help`.
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Usage: n [options/env] [COMMAND] [args]
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Environments:
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n [COMMAND] [args] Uses default env (node)
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Commands:
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n Output versions installed
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n latest Install or activate the latest node release
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n -a x86 latest As above but force 32 bit architecture
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n lts Install or activate the latest LTS node release
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n <version> Install node <version>
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n use <version> [args ...] Execute node <version> with [args ...]
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n bin <version> Output bin path for <version>
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n rm <version ...> Remove the given version(s)
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n prune Remove all versions except the active version
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n --latest Output the latest node version available
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n --lts Output the latest LTS node version available
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n ls Output the versions of node available
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Options:
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-V, --version Output version of n
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-h, --help Display help information
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-q, --quiet Disable curl output (if available)
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-d, --download Download only
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-a, --arch Override system architecture
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Aliases:
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which bin
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use as
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list ls
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- rm
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stable lts
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## Custom Source
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If you would like to use a different node mirror which has the same layout as the default <https://nodejs.org/dist/>, you can define `NODE_MIRROR`.
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The most common example is users in China can define:
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export NODE_MIRROR=https://npm.taobao.org/mirrors/node
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## Custom Architecture
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By default `n` picks the binaries matching your system architecture, e.g. `n` will download 64 bit binaries for a 64 bit system. You can override this by using the `-a` or `--arch` option.
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Download and use latest 32 bit version of `node`:
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n --arch x86 latest
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Download and use 64 bit LTS version of `node` for older Mac Intel Core 2 Duo systems (x86 image is no longer available but x64 runs fine):
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n --arch x64 lts
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## Optional Environment Variables
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The `n` command downloads and installs to `/usr/local` by default, but you may override this location by defining `N_PREFIX`.
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To change the location to say `$HOME/.n`, add lines like the following to your shell initialization file:
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export N_PREFIX=$HOME/.n
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export PATH=$N_PREFIX/bin:$PATH
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By default `n` downloads archives from the mirror site which have been compressed with `gzip`. You can switch to using the `xz` compressed archives by defining `N_USE_XZ`.
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export N_USE_XZ=true
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In brief:
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- `NODE_MIRROR`: See [Custom source](#custom-source)
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- support for [NO_COLOR](http://no-color.org) and [CLICOLOR=0](https://bixense.com/clicolors) for controlling use of ANSI color codes
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