node-and-npm-in-30s.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Install script adapted from:
# https://gist.github.com/dwayne/2983873

NODE_DIR="$HOME/.nodejs"

echo 'export PATH=$HOME/$NODE_DIR/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export NODE_PATH=$HOME/$NODE_DIR/lib/node_modules' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

mkdir -p $HOME/$NODE_DIR/node-latest-install
cd $HOME/$NODE_DIR/node-latest-install

curl http://nodejs.org/dist/node-latest.tar.gz | tar xz --strip-components=1

./configure --prefix=$HOME/$NODE_DIR # if SSL support is not required, use --without-ssl

# builds project
make && make install

steps.md

Assumes a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

1. Setup the system to handle compiling and installing from source.

    $ sudo apt-get install git-core curl build-essential openssl libssl-dev
   

2. Change into the directory containing the install script and source it.

    $ . node-and-npm-in-30s.sh
   

   N.B. This step takes a while.

3. Finally, check that the latest version of node and npm are indeed installed.

    $ node -v
    $ npm -v
   

References:

• http://www.howtogeek.com/105413/how-to-compile-and-install-from-source-on-ubuntu/
• https://gist.github.com/579814
• http://joyeur.com/2010/12/10/installing-node-and-npm/