How To Install Node.js on Ubuntu 14.04

Node.js is a Javascript programming platform that allows users to build network applications very easily. Many developers want to build applications and libraries using JavaScript (server-side and client-side).

In this guide, we’ll show you how to get started with Node.js on an Ubuntu 14.04 server. First of all make sure that all packages are up to date.

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

Install Node.js with Ubuntu Package Manager

Ubuntu 14.04 contains a version of Node.js in its default repositories that can be used to install.

To get this version, we just have to use the apt package manager.

sudo apt-get install nodejs

Then install the node package manager, npm:

sudo apt-get install npm

Create a symbolic link for node, as many Node.js tools use this name to execute.

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/bin/node

Now we should have both the node and npm commands working:

node –v
npm -v

Install Node.js with Maintained Ubuntu Packages

Add the Node.js-maintained repositories to your Ubuntu package source list with this command:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup | sudo bash -

Then install Node.js with apt-get:

sudo apt-get install nodejs

Optionally we can create a symbolic link for node (for reasons mentioned earlier):

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/bin/node

Using this install option, we end up with newer versions of Node.js and npm:

node –v
npm –v

Congratulation’s! You have successfully installed Node.js.