Install Node.js with downloaded binary on Ubuntu Desktop.. Where do the files go?

Question

I\'ve downloaded Node.js directly from https://nodejs.org/en/ onto my Ubuntu Desktop operating system. I can easily unpackage the node-vX.X.0-linux-x64.tar.xz

Answer 1

I wrote a tutorial to do exactly what you're asking: How to get Node 6.7.0 on Linux - it's about Node 6.7.0 but you can just change the version number.

In short:

First get the files:

# If you have a 64-bit system then download binary package:
wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v6.7.0/node-v6.7.0-linux-x64.tar.gz

# If you have a 32-bit system then download a different version:
wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v6.7.0/node-v6.7.0-linux-x86.tar.gz

Extract:

# Extract what you downloaded:
tar xzvf node-v6.7.0-linux-x64.tar.gz

# Change the file ownership:
sudo chown -Rv root.root node-v6.7.0-linux-x64

Then install in ONE of the locations:

# Install files in /usr/local
sudo cp -Rvi node-v6.7.0-linux-x64/{bin,include,lib,share} /usr/local
# (change -Rvi to -Rvf if you want to overwrite existing files)

# Install files in /opt/node
sudo cp -Rvi node-v6.7.0-linux-x64 /opt/node

# Install files in /opt/node-6.7.0
sudo cp -Rvi node-v6.7.0-linux-x64 /opt/node-6.7.0

The difference between those 3 locations in the example is explained better in the article. The consequences are mostly related to PATH and installing multiple versions.

Finish the setup:

You need to make sure that directory where you have the node and npm binaries is in your PATH. See my tutorial for details on how to do that.

Beware of shebang lines:

The shebang line of npm in Node installed from binaries is different than when installed from sources. This is one of the reasons I recommand building from sources if you have time for that. The other reason is that installing from sources you can do make test to test the version of Node on your specific system, which you cannot do when installing from binaries or with nvm.