nnvm

Version Manager for node

Inspired by pvm. An alternative to version managers like nvm or n.

Can currently install and switch between exact semantic versions, latest-of-major (ie: 18 -> 18.18.2) and lts code names (ie: lts/dubnium -> 10.24.1).

This is an early release and likely contains some bugs - please open an issue for any bugs you discover.

Feature request: open node docs from the command line with nnvm docs or nnvm docs <version>. Example: https://nodejs.org/dist/latest-hydrogen/docs/api/

Installation

First, remove any currently-installed node versions and node version managers (especially nvm or anything installed via brew). Remove any node or version manager logic from your profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile or ~/.bash_profile). You can detect node versions with which node and then rm the file, continuing until the command is not found.

Next, install nnvm:

curl -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pkg-mgr/nnvm/main/setup.sh | bash

Alternately, to auto-remove any existing node installation before installing:

curl -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pkg-mgr/nnvm/main/setup.sh | NUKE_NODE=1 bash

This removes any existing node, npm and npx commands.

Uninstalling

rm -rf ~/.nnvm /usr/local/bin/node /usr/local/bin/nnvm
# or simply:
nnvm nuke

Usage

Once nnvm is installed, you need to install at least one version of node (ex: nnvm install 8.9.2). You are now ready to use node. You can then install additional versions the same way and switch between them with nnvm use <version>.

You can also specify a default version (ex: nnvm default 8.9.5) for any new shell session where you have not run the nnvm use <version> command yet.

In addition, if you create a .nnvmrc file with a version in the same folder as a package.json file, any node command run in that folder will automatically use the specified version.

Example:

echo "8.9.2" > .nnvmrc
node --version

(The .nnvmrc must be in the same directory as your project's package.json file.)

How It Works

• Individual command scripts are installed to ~/.nnvm/cmds folder
• node binaries are installed to ~/.nnvm/version folders (ex: ~/.nnvm/8.9.2)
• The run.sh script is copied to /usr/local/bin/node. This allows us to intercept and run node commands with the correct version of node.
• The cmd.sh script is copied to /usr/local/bin/nnvm and /usr/local/bin/nnvm. This allows us to run the nnvm commands which collectively allow node version management.

Commands

Note: after running setup, you can run nnvm help to see the list of available commands.

• nnvm default aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/default.sh - lists the default version. (Initially set to the latest at time of original setup.)
• nnvm default <version> aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/default.sh - sets the default node version
• nnvm help aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/help.sh - lists all available commands
• nnvm install aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/install.sh - installs the latest version of node
• nnvm install <version> aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/install.sh - installs specified node version.
• nnvm list aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/list.sh - lists all currently installed versions of node
• nnvm list --remote aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/list.sh - lists all versions available to install
• nnvm nuke aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/nuke.sh - removes nnvm and all node binaries completely
• nnvm run aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/run.sh - runs a node command using automatic node version detection. (The node command will also do this directly.)
• nnvm uninstall <version> aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/uninstall.sh - uninstalls specified node version
• nnvm unuse aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/unuse.sh - un-sets the node version for the current terminal session
• nnvm update aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/ - updates all nnvm scripts
• nnvm use aka ~/.nnvm/cmds/use.sh - sets the node version for the current terminal session

Local Development Setup

Local Dev Install:

• VS Code
• Code Spell Checker
• shellcheck via the VS Code Extension for script linting
• shell-format for auto-formatting

Local Testing

Make code changes, then run ./setup.sh which will perform setup using your local code. You can now test your local changes with using the nnvm command. Once you've tested the commands locally, raise a PR. The changes are live once they are merged to master.