How to Install Node.js

HEADS UP! This article was written for an older version of node. More up-to-date information may be available elsewhere.

This was the first in a series of posts leading up to Node.js Knockout on how to use node.js.

I have been given permission to repost the articles from the contest here (in wheat format) for general consumption. Expect more to come.

In this post we detail how to install node on Mac, Ubuntu, and Windows.

Mac

If you're using the excellent homebrew package manager, you can install node with one command: brew install node.

Otherwise, follow the below steps:

1. Install Xcode.
2. Install git.
3. Run the following commands:

git clone git://github.com/ry/node.git
cd node
./configure
make
sudo make install

You can check it worked with a simple Hello, World! example.

Debian (Ubuntu/ Mint)

With Aptitude package manager one can install the package nodeJS then edit their bash config to redirect the command node to nodejs.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nodejs
sudo apt-get install npm

nano (edit / vim) the file ~/.bashrc and add the line: alias node="nodejs"

Redhat (Fedora / CentOs)

Simply install from official repos:

sudo yum install nodejs npm

If that fails, enable EPEL repo:

curl --silent --location https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup | bash -

Then simply install from repo:

yum -y install nodejs 

Gentoo

In portage tree:

emerge nodejs

Archlinux

In official repo use pacman package manager:

pacman -S nodejs npm

Linux from source

1. Install the dependencies ( Below example using debian apptitude package manager): g++ curl libssl-dev apache2-utils git-core build-essential

   • sudo apt-get install g++ curl libssl-dev apache2-utils git-core build-essential

2. Run the following commands:

git clone git://github.com/ry/node.git
cd node
./configure
make
sudo make install

You can check it worked with a simple Hello, World! example.

Thanks to code-diesel for the Ubuntu dependencies.

Windows

Currently, you must use cygwin to install node. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Install cygwin.

2. Use setup.exe in the cygwin folder to install the following packages:

   • devel → openssl
   • devel → g++-gcc
   • devel → make
   • python → python
   • devel → git

3. Open the cygwin command line with Start > Cygwin > Cygwin Bash Shell.

4. Run the below commands to download and build node.

git clone git://github.com/ry/node.git
cd node
./configure
make
sudo make install

For more details, including information on troubleshooting, please see the GitHub wiki page.

Hello Node.js!

Here's a quick program to make sure everything is up and running correctly:

var http = require('http');
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end('Hello Node.js\n');
}).listen(8124, "127.0.0.1");
console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8124/');

Run the code with the node command line utility:

> node hello_node.js
Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8124/

Now, if you navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8124/ in your browser, you should see a nice message.

Congrats!

You've installed node.js.