NVM is known as Node Version Manager, Similarily to RVM (Ruby Version Manager) for Ruby language. NVM provides an option for the easy installation of Node.js. You can also install a specific Node.js version or multiple Node.js versions on the same system using nvm and use the required version for the application. This tutorial will help you to Install and Manage Node.js using NVM.
The default NVM installs under current users home directory, So nvm installation with one user will not be accessible to another user. Windows users can visit our other tutorial to install Nodejs on Windows system.
Step 1 – Install NVM
First of all, you need to install NVM on your system. A Bash script is available to install nvm on your system. Use the following command to install NVM on your Linux system.
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/master/install.sh | bash
Reload system environment using this command. It will set the required environment variables to use nvm on the system.
source ~/.profile ## Debian based systems source ~/.bashrc ## CentOS/RHEL systems
Step 2 – Find Available Node.js Version
At this point, you have installed nvm on your system for the current user. Now find out the available version of Node.js to install. Use ls-remote
option to list versions.
nvm ls-remote
You will see a long list of available versions.
... ... v12.16.2 (LTS: Erbium) v12.16.3 (LTS: Erbium) v12.17.0 (LTS: Erbium) v12.18.0 (LTS: Erbium) v12.18.1 (LTS: Erbium) v12.18.2 (Latest LTS: Erbium) ... ... v14.2.0 v14.3.0 v14.4.0 v14.5.0
Step 3 – Installing Node.js with NVM
Now install the node.js version you need to use for running node.js application. Below command will install node.js 12.16.2 the LTS release on your system.
nvm install v12.18.2
You can have also installed the latest version of Node.js.
nvm install v14.5.0
Repeat the above command with the different-2 node.js versions to install multiple versions of node.js on your system.
Step 4 – Set Node.js Default Version
As you have installed multiple node.js versions, You can select the specific version of node.js as default version used by system and load in the environment. Use below command to list currently installed version and default set version.
nvm list -> v12.18.2 v14.5.0 system default -> 12 (-> v12.18.2) node -> stable (-> v14.5.0) (default) stable -> 14.5 (-> v14.5.0) (default) iojs -> N/A (default) unstable -> N/A (default) lts/* -> lts/erbium (-> v12.18.2) lts/argon -> v4.9.1 (-> N/A) lts/boron -> v6.17.1 (-> N/A) lts/carbon -> v8.17.0 (-> N/A) lts/dubnium -> v10.21.0 (-> N/A) lts/erbium -> v12.18.2
You can see that Node.js version v12.18.2 is set as the default version. You can change the default Node.js version. The below command will set 12.18.2 as default Node.js version.
nvm use v12.18.2
Now verify current active version of node.js
node --version v12.18.2
Step 5 – Run Application with Specific Version
If you have multiple node.js applications on your system and want to run each with a specific version of node.js. NVM provides you an option to use a node.js version for running any application. For example
nvm run v12.18.2 app.js
Step 6 – Remove Unused Node.js Version
This command will provide a list of installed versions of node.js on your system.
nvm list
You can remove any unused version from your system. Use the following nvm command to remove Node.js version 4.9.1 from your system.
nvm uninstall v4.9.1
Thanks Bro!
No Non-Sense Explanation, Very useful.
Thankyou.
This works great!
perfect.
Nice very informative and updated,,,million thanks
Thanks, the guide is very concise and useful.
Thx!
thanks
Wow, it works,
ça marche correctement. Merci
Many thanks 😀
thanks alot man!
Thank you very much. This just what I needed to install the latest version of Nodejs on MX Linux. Other methods responded with an error message stating that it could not be installed on ‘Continuum’.
System Info: ‘Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: MX-18.3_x64 Continuum Feb 9 2019’
i found out that nvm is easier to use compared to npm. thanks!
`nvm remove v10.15.0` is not a valid command. Use `nvm uninstall v10.15.0`
Thanks R,
Thank you
Thanks for ur information
Thanks for detailing them!
Life saver, thanks
Thanks for your help…