Update 18-08-2016: We decided to pre-install Node.js on all Hypernodes due to growing demand. You can still choose to install the most recent version by downloading the preinstalled version from the Node.js website, just be aware a Node.js installation is present on the Hypernode itself already.
Table of contents
Using the installed version of Node.js
If you use the installed version, you can just start using node and npm.
Setting your PATH
If you want to execute the tools that you installed using npm, you should make sure these executables can be located by the shell. This can be easily done this by adjusting your PATH setting.
This PATH variable is used by the Bash shell to locate binaries and scripts. You can adjust it by exporting the PATH variable:
|
1 |
export PATH="/data/web/node_modules/.bin:$PATH" |
If you want this setting to be configured every time you log in to your Hypernode, you can add this setting to your ~/.profile, this file is loaded every time a new shell is spawned.
To configure your PATH variable at login time, run the following command:
|
1 |
echo 'export PATH="/data/web/node_modules/.bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.profile |
Now every time you log in, the Bash shell is configured to look for tools in /data/web/node_modules/.bin and /data/web/.node/bin.
Installing packages
Lets install some packages.
When your PATH is setup correctly, after the installation with npm install, you should immediately be able to use the newly installed tool.
To find the latest command line tool installed, run: ls -ltr /data/web/node_modules/.bin | tail -1
Install Gulp
|
1 |
npm install gulp gulp-cli |
Install Grunt
|
1 |
npm install grunt grunt-cli |
Install Sass
|
1 |
npm install sass |
Install Compass
|
1 |
npm install compass |
Install Less
|
1 |
npm install less |
You see the pattern here i presume? 🙂
Install Yarn
To install yarn, a more recent version of nodejs is required, so follow the instructions and download and unpack a newer version of nodejs first
|
1 |
npm install Yarn |
Using a newer version of Node.js
Install a newer version of Node.js
If you want to use a more recent version, it is very easy to install the latest version of Node.js yourself.
NodeJs offers precompiled packages on their website that are ready to use on your Hypernode.
All we need to do is download and unpack them to make use of node and npm and install your own node modules.
In this example we use version v4.4.5 but the installation process is the same when using older or newer versions.
- First, create the directory where we will unpack Node.js:
1mkdir /data/web/.node
- Then, get the precompiled package from the Node.js website and unpack it in our directory:
123wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v4.4.5/node-v4.4.5-linux-x64.tar.xz -O /tmp/node.txzcd ~/.node && tar xvfJ /tmp/node.txz -C . --strip-components=1rm /tmp/node.txz
That’s it 🙂 you now have a precompiled node installation in ~/node
Configure a manually installed Node.js
To run the manually installed executables, you need to change your PATH variable to make sure your node is located by the Bash shell before the pre-installed version.
To do this, run the following command to add the locations to your PATH:
|
1 |
export PATH="/data/web/node_modules/.bin:/data/web/.node/bin:$PATH" |
Or to make the settings permanent, add it to your ~/.profile:
|
1 |
echo 'export PATH="/data/web/node_modules/.bin:/data/web/.node/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.profile |
Both the installations (the already installed or the precompiled self-downloaded version) use /data/web/node_modules as their location to install new packages to when using npm.
Troubleshooting
- When using
npm search, so much memory is used that on Hypernode Start and Grow plans, your shell will get killed and you’ll be automagically logged out of your Hypernode due to our out of memory protection.
