You could either call novm not a version manager, or, a very opinionated one. Read PS for my thoughts.
novm does not ask for a version, it tries to detect one from known sources, installs, runs them. You don't manage a new binary, you just replace node with this.
Only support linux and macos, see windows support.
Download as a node binary
curl -L https://github.com/debdutdeb/novm/releases/latest/download/novm-$(uname -s | tr '[[:upper:]]' '[[:lower:]]')-$(uname -m) -o ~/.local/bin/node && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/nodeOr, as an npm binary
curl -L https://github.com/debdutdeb/novm/releases/latest/download/novm-$(uname -s | tr '[[:upper:]]' '[[:lower:]]')-$(uname -m) -o ~/.local/bin/npm && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/npmEither way, once run the first time, it will link itself to the other binary automatically.
I highly recommend installing in a folder that doesn't require sudo. Else it'll try to install first version onto /root as linking won't work otherwise.
Or, link manually before running either of the commands,
sudo ln -s $(which node) $(dirname $(which node))/npm
# or
sudo ln -s $(which npm) $(dirname $(which npm))/node
If at fresh install symlink fails, novm won't try again. This is to allow manual symlinking.
Make sure you add $HOME/.novm/bin to your PATH. More in docs/usage.md.
- Using novm — the full user guide: version detection sources, running/updating, the underlying
novmCLI, install directories, environment variables, and troubleshooting. - Using novm as a Go module — import
github.com/debdutdeb/novm/v3/pkg/nto drive Node.js installs/execution from your own Go programs.
As I said, opinionated. Updates are automatic. For example, check the output below
*[main][~/Documents/Repos/node-proxy]$ node
2024/05/06 00:59:07 no nodejs version detected from sources, using latest installed
Welcome to Node.js v21.7.3.
Type ".help" for more information.
> process.stdout.write("hello world")
hello worldtrue
>
2024/05/06 00:59:19 Updating novm to v1.3.0
I was on v1.2.x, and got automatically upgraded to current latest. Why? Because I don't want to be bothered to update yet another tool.
novm detects the Node.js version to use from NODE_VERSION, package.json (engines/volta), .nvmrc, .node-version, and a couple of experimental sources. Full list and priority order in docs/usage.md.
Contributions to more sources will be very much appreciated.
If there is no source, novm will either run latest version found locally or install the latest version.
Just run as node or npm. That's all.
[/tmp/example]$ jq .engines package.json
{
"node": "~16"
}
[/tmp/example]$ node --version
[Node v16.20.2] [==========================================================================================================================================================================================] 100.00%v16.20.2
2024/05/06 01:04:05 no new novm updates found.
novm installs the actual versions in $HOME/.novm/versions folder.
All global installs go under $HOME/.novm/bin folder.
More on the full layout, plus automatic cache cleanup, in docs/usage.md.
It all depends on what you have in your source. If it is an exact version, obviously won't auto update. If you have a constraint, at some point, if a new patch matches the constraint, or a new minor matches, it will be installed automatically.
Use NOVM_WAKE=1 with node or npm call, to get novm options (version, where, setup, completion). Without NOVM_WAKE, you'd be calling node itself. Full walkthrough and example output in docs/usage.md.
I wrote it precisely to not have to think about node versions. There is nvm, n, asdf, volta some of which (volta) I never touched. They may and do some of them, bring more than just managing node versions, but at the end of the day I get tooling-exhaustion. Specifically since I use so many node versions across different projects, whether work, personal playing, freelance projects, doesn't matter.
For example, at Rocket.Chat, the main repo uses node 14, another internal tool used to use node 12. So many times I forgot to make the switch. I have yet another of my own script that uses node 16. Sometimes versions are not a problem, sometimes they are, and I am tired to tracking them all the time.
There are solutions like oh-my-zsh's nvm plugin, but all of them (afaik, within my limited knowledge) are constrained to a single source, their own source ("use me" much?). There is even talk of I believe .voltarc. I don't want it. Not right now at least. Not unless I must. Whatever project decides to use whatever version, I just want to use node as a simple binary without always thinking about switching, no matter what project I am in, or what folder.
So this is opinionated. And I want to keep it that way. There isn't much to configure, nor am I planning to add.
Please feel free to contribute. What brings more joy than that? Not many things in this world.
I don't have a windows machine with me. But will accept PRs.