First you'll need to make sure your system has a c++ compiler. For OSX, XCode will work, for Ubuntu, the build-essential and libssl-dev packages work.
To install create a folder somewhere in your filesystem with the "nvm.sh" file inside it. I put mine in a folder called "nvm".
Or if you have git installed, then just clone it:
git clone git://github.com/creationix/nvm.git ~/nvm
To activate nvm, you need to source it from your bash shell
. ~/nvm/nvm.sh
I always add this line to my ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile file to have it automatically sources upon login.
Often I also put in a line to use a specific version of node.
To download, compile, and install the v0.6.14 release of node, do this:
nvm install v0.6.14
And then in any new shell just use the installed version:
nvm use v0.6.14
Or you can just run it:
nvm run v0.6.14
If you want to see what versions are available:
nvm ls
To restore your PATH, you can deactivate it.
nvm deactivate
To set a default Node version to be used in any new shell, use the alias 'default':
nvm alias default 0.6
To activate, you need to source bash_completion:
[[ -r $NVM_DIR/bash_completion ]] && . $NVM_DIR/bash_completion
Put the above sourcing line just below the sourcing line for NVM in your profile (.bashrc, .bash_profile).
nvm
$ nvm [tab][tab]
alias copy-packages help list run uninstall version
clear-cache deactivate install ls unalias use
nvm alias
$ nvm alias [tab][tab]
default
$ nvm alias my_alias [tab][tab]
v0.4.11 v0.4.12 v0.6.14
nvm use
$ nvm use [tab][tab]
my_alias default v0.4.11 v0.4.12 v0.6.14
nvm uninstall
$ nvm uninstall [tab][tab]
my_alias default v0.4.11 v0.4.12 v0.6.14
If you try to install a node version and the installation fails, be sure to delete the node downloads from src (~/nvm/src/) or you might get an error when trying to reinstall them again or you might get an error like the following:
curl: (33) HTTP server doesn't seem to support byte ranges. Cannot resume.
Where's my 'sudo node'? Checkout this link:
https://github.com/creationix/nvm/issues/43
on Arch Linux and other systems using python3 by default, before running install you need to
export PYTHON=python2