Using Node Version Manager
Use a Node version manager like nvm to handle installation and version management for you. After you install nvm you can simply install any Node version, for example nvm install 8.
But if you just want to install the binary yourself, see below:
Using apt-get
In special cases where you need a system wide Node installation, you can use apt-get:
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
The above snippet will install the latest Node 8.
Installing the Binary Manually
In order to install the binary manually, all you need to do is to download the binary and create a bunch of symbolic links. Execute the commands below one after the other, and it should do the job. I have also written a shell script that does it for you if that is easier (see the bottom of the answer). Hope that helps.
Make sure to use the correct download link for your OS architecture (i.e. either 32-bit or 64-bit) for wget on the second line.
ME=$(whoami) ; sudo chown -R $ME /usr/local && cd /usr/local/bin #adding yourself to the group to access /usr/local/bin
mkdir _node && cd $_ && wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v8.11.4/node-v8.11.4-linux-x64.tar.xz -O - | tar zxf - --strip-components=1
ln -s "/usr/local/bin/_node/bin/node" .. # Making the symbolic link to node
ln -s "/usr/local/bin/_node/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js" ../npm ## making the symbolic link to npm
Here is a shell script that downloads and installs all the components. If you use this script to install Node, you can use the uninstall script to uninstall it.
Installing Node
#! /bin/bash
# run it by: bash install-node.sh
read -p " which version of Node do you need to install: for example 8.11.4 (or any other valid version): " VERSIONNAME
read -p " Are you using a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system ? Enter 64 or 32: " ARCHVALUE
if [[ $ARCHVALUE = 32 ]]
then
printf "user put in 32 \n"
ARCHVALUE=86
URL=https://nodejs.org/dist/v${VERSIONNAME}/node-v${VERSIONNAME}-linux-x${ARCHVALUE}.tar.gz
elif [[ $ARCHVALUE = 64 ]]
then
printf "user put in 64 \n"
ARCHVALUE=64
URL=https://nodejs.org/dist/v${VERSIONNAME}/node-v${VERSIONNAME}-linux-x${ARCHVALUE}.tar.gz
else
printf "invalid input expted either 32 or 64 as input, quitting ... \n"
exit
fi
# setting up the folders and the the symbolic links
printf $URL"\n"
ME=$(whoami) ; sudo chown -R $ME /usr/local && cd /usr/local/bin #adding yourself to the group to access /usr/local/bin
mkdir _node && cd $_ && wget $URL -O - | tar zxf - --strip-components=1 # downloads and unzips the content to _node
cp -r ./lib/node_modules/ /usr/local/lib/ # copy the node modules folder to the /lib/ folder
cp -r ./include/node /usr/local/include/ # copy the /include/node folder to /usr/local/include folder
mkdir /usr/local/man/man1 # create the man folder
cp ./share/man/man1/node.1 /usr/local/man/man1/ # copy the man file
cp bin/node /usr/local/bin/ # copy node to the bin folder
ln -s "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js" ../npm ## making the symbolic link to npm
# print the version of node and npm
node -v
npm -v
Uninstalling Node
#! /bin/bash
# run it by: ./uninstall-node.sh
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules/
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node/
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man1/node.1
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/_node/
