nodist

A node.js and npm version manager for the windows folks out there. Inspired by n. And nodenv.

Heads up! Nodist v0.8 is here! Nodist supports cmd, Powershell, Git bash and Cygwin!

C:\> nodist + 5
5.11.0

C:\> nodist global 5
5

C:\> node -v
v5.11.0

C:\> nodist
  0.10.26
  4.4.3
> 5.11.0 (global: 5)

(see Usage)

Installation

Nodist was designed to replace any existing node.js installation, so if node is already installed on your machine, uninstall it first.

with the installer

Download the installer here
Run the installer and follow the install wizard

via chocolatey

For this you'll need chocolatey, of course.

choco install nodist

Activating nodist in git bash

Git bash integration is setup automatically.

Activating nodist in cygwin

Before you are able to use nodist in cygwin you need to run the following in your cygwin terminal after installing nodist:

cat "$NODIST_PREFIX/bin/nodist_bash_profile_content.sh" >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile

Make it work in your IDE

If your IDE cannot access node or npm right away, don't fret! Find the relevant configuration settings and either set path\to\Nodist\bin as the Node installation dir or set path\to\Nodist\bin\node.exe as the path to the node binary directly.

Similar for npm: either set ...\Nodist\bin as the installation path or ...\Nodist\bin\npm.cmd directly. Some IDEs (eg. WebStorm) require you to set the path to an npm package containing bin\npm-cli.js. Nodist comes with a proxy npm folder: Simply set ...\Nodist\npm as the npm package (this feature is experimental and feedback is appreciated!).

Migrating from 0.7 or lower

If you're looking to upgrade your Nodist installation, the easiest way is to uninstall (see below) the old installation and install the new version with the installer above. You may need to reset your per-directory node version settings in order for them to work in v0.8 (ones set using nodist v0.6 should work fine, ones set using v0.7 will not).

Uninstall (v0.7)

Run the uninstaller either from the directory where you installed nodist, or from the Software Control Panel
Make sure to completely remove the nodist directory. (This will remove all your globally installed npm modules. If you don't want that, remove everything else, other than nodist\bin\.)

Uninstall (<v0.7)

Remove <..path..>\nodist\bin from your path. (how?).
Remove the NODIST_PREFIX env var.
Delete the nodist directory
Run npm config delete prefix on the command prompt to restore NPM functionality if you are going back to the official node install.

Usage

Nodist understands version patterns, like 0.12 or 4.x or ~5 as well as 4.4.3 or v4.4.3. As an added bonus, you may also use latest.

io.js is supported natively: Since node and io.js versions form a continuum you can simply use io.js versions as if they were node versions.

Btw, nodist also works in your PowerShell, but you might first need to 'Unblock' the file bin\nodist.ps1.

Upgrading from < v0.8?

Starting in v0.8 Nodist employs lazy version pattern evaluation. This means that setting versions per env/locally/globally doesn't set an explicit version, if you didn't give one. Instead the node.exe shim chooses a suitable version at runtime. To update your node version (if your global version is set to 6, e.g.), you now need to run nodist + 6 (i.e. nodist 6 doesn't do that for you anymore), which is probably how it should have worked all along.

Scope precedence

Nodist allows you to set node and npm versions for different scopes. The following is a list of all scopes ordered by precedence (the first scope is the one with the highest priority; only if it's not set, the second scope is examined).

Environment (NODIST_NODE_VERSIONand NODIST_NPM_VERSION env vars)
(optional:) Package (package.json with an engines field in the directory of interest or one of its parent directories)
Directory (.node-version or .npm-version in the directory of interest or one of its parent directories)
Global (globally set node or npm version)

When you're just running node, the directory of interest is the directory of the javascript file to be executed. When running npm, it is the current working directory.

Any instances of node invoked by npm will be locked to the same version npm runs on.

Package.json inspection is turned off by default as of nodist v0.8.5. You can turn it on by setting NODIST_INSPECT_PACKAGEJSON=1.

Commands

All commands automatically install the latest matching version before setting the version pattern.

> nodist
# Lists installed versions highlighting the active ones.

> nodist 4.x
# Sets the global node version.

> nodist local 4.x
# Sets the node version per directory (including all subdirectories).

> nodist env 4.x
# Sets the node version per terminal.

> nodist npm 3.x
# Globally activate npm 3

> nodist npm match
# Globally activates the npm version that corresponds to the active node version
# (the active node version may be the env, local or global version)

> nodist npm local 2.x
# Set the npm version for the current directory.

> nodist npm env 2.x
# Set the npm version for the current terminal environment.

call nodist env 4.x
# In a batch script use `call`.

> nodist dist
# Lists all available node versions.

> nodist r 4.x -- foo.js -s
# Runs a specific version without modifying any state.

> nodist + 4.x
# Just checks, if the version is installed and downloads it if not.

> nodist + all
# will install *everything*.

> nodist - 4.1.1
# Removes a version.

> nodist --help
# Displays a complete list of commands with examples.

Settings

> set HTTP_PROXY=http://myproxy.com:8213
# Set a proxy to use for fetching the executables
# (you may also use `HTTP_PROXY`/`http_proxy`/`HTTPS_PROXY`/`https_proxy`).

> set NODIST_NODE_MIRROR=https://mymirror.com/dist
# Set a mirror that has the same directory structure as https://nodejs.org/dist
# (you may also use `NODIST_IOJS_MIRROR` in the same fashion).

> set NODIST_X64=0
# (Set to `1` to enforce 64bit, `0` to enforce 32bit.)

> set NODIST_INSPECT_PACKAGEJSON=1
# Enable package.json inspection: Nodist will check the engines field of the package.json file of scripts to be executed and use the node version specified there. Turned off by default as of v0.8.5.

Details

Node executables are stored in NODIST_PREFIX\v and NODIST_PREFIX\v-x64, npm versions in NODIST_PREFIX\npmv. The global node.exe` is a shim and chooses the right node version to run based on the various version settings. The same applies for npm.

As the global node version will be subject to change, nodist comes with its own dedicated node binary.

Got ideas? Doesn't work for you? Want to give feedback?

File an issue and tell me what you'd change or add or what doesn't work for you. Every issue is welcome!

Debugging

To see all debug messages, set the DEBUG env var before running nodist or node as follows:

> set DEBUG=nodist:*

Testing

The default test suite can be ran using npm

$ npm test

Testing also accepts env variables for using a mirror to download from, as well as setting a proxy.

> set NODIST_NODE_MIRROR=http://nodejs.serverpals.com/dist
> vows --spec test\cli-test.js

Building

Building nodist requires

go for compiling the shim
NSIS v3 for compiling the installer (use the large strings build to avoid errors when manipulating PATH)
- NSIS Plugin: AccessControl
node.js for running the build script
and npm for installing nodist's dependencies
Finally you need to go get github.com/marcelklehr/semver github.com/tj/go-debug

If you have met all requirements, run the build command:

> npm run build

Afterwards you'll find the installer in build/out/NodistSetup.exe and fully prepared installation folder in build/out/staging (you could zip this, for example). The chocolatey package will be in build/out/package, you can run cpack and cpush --source https://chocolatey.org/ inside that directory (if you are a registered maintainer).

Legal

Copyright (c) 2012-2016 by Marcel Klehr
MIT License

Changelog

v0.8.6

Fix installer: Increase MAX_LEN for manipulating PATH to 8000
Add support for WebStorm and VisualStudio

v0.8.5

Disable package.json inspection by default

v0.8.4

Fix version spec parsing in shims

v0.8.3

Fix npm builds: Lock node version for npm's child processes

v0.8.2

Fix Git bash support and add support for Cygwin
Fix nodist dist output being unsorted

v0.8.1

Fix usage/help output: stable has been removed
Fix installer: Use the correct path to npm when setting npm prefix

v0.8.0

Add NPM version management (thanks to @nullivex)
Treat io.js versions as node versions
Allow setting ranges in global/local/env (don't resolve before setting versions)
Drop support for setting node command line args
Respect engines field declaration in package.json
Fix local switching: Use the target script's dir as the base dir
Allow setting env vars for mirror support
Support bash
Remove selfupdate command
Fix help flag
[installer] Fix: Set system not user PATH
[installer] Fix: auto-detect x64 arch
Improve build script
Revive chocolatey package

v0.7.2

correct version of NPM
Fixed offline support (#104)

v0.7.1

Fix x64 support

v0.7.0 (thanks to @nullivex)

Add support for hashing downloading binaries and comparing to upstream
Code refactor to implement standards similar to npmjs style
Implement download progress bar
Add debugging output to aid in development and issue handling
Bump NPM version to 3.3.8
Improve testing and offer ability to see test output
Testing now accepts mirror env variables
Env variables can now be used to point nodist at a mirror
Only downloads binaries from HTTPS now as node is phasing out HTTP support

v0.6.1

Fix for node v4 dist directory structure (thanks to @jakub-g)

v0.6.0

Write out version spec that's being used, to make version errors more intuitive. (thanks to @blzaugg)
Fix replace for nodistPrefix and envVersion (thanks to @sdovenor)
Fix chocolatey package (thanks to @u9520107)
Add support for io.js

v0.5.2

Fix nodist version

v0.5.1

Fix npm prefix in nodist selfupdate

v0.5.0

Use a binary shim
Support for localized version switching

v0.4.8

Check in dependencies to avoid relying on npm on install

v0.4.7

Update bundled npm to v1.4.6 and check-in all files

v0.4.6

Update pre-packaged npm to v1.4.3

v0.4.5

Fix nodist -v in powershell (thanks to @devert for reporting)

v0.4.4

Fix GOTO in batch file (thanks to @BergWerkGIS)

v0.4.3

Fix a type coercion catch in x64 detection (NODIST_X64=0 had the same effect as NODIST_X64=1; thanks to @springmeyer for reporting)

v0.4.2

Use the right URI for fetching the x64 executables

v0.4.1

x64 auto-detection

v0.4.0

Refactor 64bit support (All commands now work with x64 versions)
Make npm use the user-chosen node version (thanks to @k-j-kleist for reporting)
Fix some minor bugs in error handling
Don't try installing 'vUpdate' after running nodist update
Install latest stable version after running nodist update

v0.3.11

Fix 'use' command in powershell (thanks to @paulbatum for reporting)

v0.3.10

Fix 'use' by fixing 'path' and 'bin' commands

v0.3.9

Fix renaming mistake (thanks to @paulbatum for reporting)
Tighten nodist update

v0.3.8

Add support for x64 versions (thanks to @CycoPH)
Improve performance by caching version lists

v0.3.7

Fix nodist run and list commands
Allow people to use an http proxy (thanks to @gratex)

v0.3.5

Fix install script. How did that go astray?

v0.3.4

Fix error message if n.checkout fails

v0.3.3

Fix installer (thanks to @Ciantic for reporting)
Fix a bug introduced by npm update

v0.3.2

Update npm on install/update

v0.3.1

Optimized nodist + all
Use a clean npm
Don't bundle dependencies, anymore -- nodist update must be run at install

v0.3.0

Dropped optimist (caused more problems than it solved)
Using node-semver, now, for better usability... (fixes #10)
Allow use of version patterns for every command (fixes #9)
Fix issue #8: Version patterns should require internet access

v0.2.8

Fix use command

v0.2.7

Deploy by copying node.exe, again, this should allow people to use nodist together with nodemon

v0.2.6

Fix a bug, that used to break everything on Win7 x64

v0.2.5

Updated npm to v1.1.48

v0.2.4

Fix nodist update command to work from all drives
Add basic support for MinGW shell (thanks to jdiamond) (update and use commands are still missing)
Fix tests
Allow npm updates with npm u npm -g
updated npm

v0.2.3

Install latest stable as default version
Add update command
Updated npm

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README.md

README.md

nodist

Installation

with the installer

via chocolatey

Activating nodist in git bash

Activating nodist in cygwin

Make it work in your IDE

Migrating from 0.7 or lower

Uninstall (v0.7)

Uninstall (<v0.7)

Usage

Upgrading from < v0.8?

Scope precedence

Commands

Settings

Details

Got ideas? Doesn't work for you? Want to give feedback?

Debugging

Testing

Building

Legal

Changelog

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

nodist

Installation

with the installer

via chocolatey

Activating nodist in git bash

Activating nodist in cygwin

Make it work in your IDE

Migrating from 0.7 or lower

Uninstall (v0.7)

Uninstall (<v0.7)

Usage

Upgrading from < v0.8?

Scope precedence

Commands

Settings

Details

Got ideas? Doesn't work for you? Want to give feedback?

Debugging

Testing

Building

Legal

Changelog