[Discuss] node.js and npm on Debian?

[Steve Litt]

On Tue, 13 Feb 2018 10:40:54 -0500
Dan Ritter <dsr at randomstring.org> wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 13, 2018 at 10:23:09AM -0500, Kent Borg wrote:
> > For work I need to mess with node.js, unfortunately.
> > 
> > So I installed node.js:
> > 
> >   apt-get install nodejs
> > 
> > But I can't figure out how to install npm. When I search for
> > installation instructions they all seem to want me to pipe a curl
> > command into a sudo bash. Huh? That's scary as hell.
> > 
> > Why is there no .deb for npm? What is so dangerous or otherwise
> > skanky about npm that Debian 9 doesn't include it? Why should I let
> > it have root privileges? It isn't as if Javascript has a great
> > security reputation. And when they brag: "npm, is the largest
> > ecosystem of open source libraries in the world", that doesn't make
> > it sound very well vetted.
> > 
> > -kb, the Kent who might have to fire up a VM to try to isolate this
> > beast (if only VMs actually offered much isolation).  
> 
> It's ridiculously complex.
> 
> https://wiki.debian.org/Javascript/Nodejs/Tasks/npm
> 
> It might be in the next stable release. It's not in the current
> stable release. There are at least 30 more packages that have to 
> be built and tested before npm can come in.
> 
> Best practice here: install your own npm into a directory
> structure, be rigorous about how you call it, and distribute it
> using your existing config management.

Or switch to Void Linux, which installs npm with the nodejs package.

Debian isn't the distro it used to be.
 
SteveT

Steve Litt
January 2018 featured book: Troubleshooting: Why Bother?
http://www.troubleshooters.com/twb