Setting up node and npm on libre systems

So you want to do some serious JavaScripting. Say no more.

Debian and Trisquel

The version of node on Debian and Trisquel tends to be a bit dated, so you’ll want to use nvm. This gives you the added benefit of being able to switch between different node versions and not having to sudo to install packages globally. Install nvm (using wget is probably easiest).

Then close and reopen your terminal so it picks up the nvm command. You can make sure nvm is installed properly by running

command -v nvm

which should output nvm. Use this command to install the latest long-term support version of npm and node:

nvm install --lts

You can check out the versions that got installed.

node --version
npm --version

That’s it!