There are situations where the ability to switch between different versions of Node.js can be very useful and save a lot of time. For example, if you want to test a module you're developing with the latest bleeding edge version without uninstalling the stable version of node, this utility can help.

Installation

Download the latest from the releases and run the installer.

Usage

nvm for Windows is a command line tool. Simply type nvm in the console for help. The basic commands are:

nvm install <version>: Install a specific version, i.e. 0.10.32. This will also accept latest, which will install the latest stable version.
nvm uninstall <version>: Uninstall a specific version.
nvm use <version>: Switch to a specific version of node.
nvm list <installed | available>: List the versions of node that are currently installed or the versions available from nodejs.org.
nvm on: Turn on nvm management.
nvm off: Turn off nvm entirely.

Gotcha!

Please note that any global npm modules you may have installed are not shared between the various versions of node.js installed.

Why another version manager?

There are several version managers for node.js. Tools like nvm and n are specifically designed for Mac OSX and Linux. nvmw and nodist are both designed for Windows. So, why another version manager for Windows?

Right around node 0.10.30, the installation structure changed a little, causing some issues with the other modules. Additionally, some users struggle to install those modules. The architecture of most node managers on Windows focus primarily around the use of bat files, which do some clever hackery to set environment variables. Some of them use node itself (once it's downloaded), which is admirable, but prone to problems.

What's the difference?

First and foremost, this version of nvm has no dependency on node. It's written in Go, which is a much more structured approach than using a .bat file. It does not rely on having an existing node installation. Plus, the potential for creating a Mac/Linux version is substanially easier than converting a bunch of .bat --> .sh logic.

The approach is also quite different. There are two general ideas for supporting multiple node installations and readily switching between them. One is to modify the system PATH any time you switch versions. This always seemed a little hackish to me, and it has some quirks. The other option is to use a symlink. This concept requires one to put the symlink in the system PATH, then just update the symlink to point to whichever node installation directory you want to use. This is a more straightforward approach, and the one most people recommend.... until they realize just how much of a pain symlinks are on Windows. In order to create/modify a symlink, you must be running as an admin, and you must get around Windows UAC (that annoying prompt). Luckily, this is a challenge I already solved with some helper scripts in node-windows.

This version of of nvm for Windows comes with an installer, courtesy of a byproduct of the node-webkit work I did on Fenix Web Server.

Overall, this project brings together some robust new technology, a few battle-hardened pieces of other modules, and support for newer versions of node.

Why?

I needed it, plain and simple. Additionally, it's apparent that support for multiple versions is not coming to node core. It was also an excuse to play with Go :)

License

MIT. See the LICENSE file.

Languages

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Inno Setup 25.9%

JavaScript 0.7%

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