Windows Node Version Manager

Table of Contents

1. Intro
2. Setup
3. Usage
   • init
   • install
   • use
   • list
   • implode
4. To-do

Intro

I started this project because I wanted to play with building a CLI tool in Node and at that moment I was having issues with managing different versions of Node on Windows; I also wanted a tool that doesn't require admin privileges to install itself or other Node versions. So here we are :)

Granted, this tool requires Node to be present beforehand, but after I finish writing the important bits, it will be able to coexist with it.

Setup

This is pretty straight forward; just run the following command and the tool should be available for use:

npm i -g wnvm

Usage

wnvm init                                   Initialise the tool
wnvm install [version] [architecture]       Install specified [version]
wnvm use [version]                          Switch to specified [version]
wnvm list                                   List installed versions
wnvm implode                                Revert environment to how it was before the tool was initialised

init

This initialises the tool; in order to do this, the following steps are followed:

1. Looks for previously installed version of Node in the default location of this tool: %HOME%\.wnvm e.g. C:\Users\Alex-Radu\.wnvm

2. Makes a note of globally installed npm packages so that it can migrate them if the user so wants it

3. It also makes a note of the value for the Path environment variable and npm prefix

4. Creates a directory junction at %HOME%\.wnvm\active that initially points to the folder where Node is installed

5. Sets up NODE_HOME and WNVM_HOME environment variables and adds them to Path. WNVM_HOME is used for the location of the wnvm executable and NODE_HOME for the active version of Node

6. Sets npm prefix to point to the directory junction

7. Writes a .wnvmrc file used to keep track of what the tool is doing

install

This installs the specified version of node (e.g. 8.0.0, 9.4.0, etc.); additionally, the command can be followed by an architecture specification (e.g. 86 or 64) to override the default system architecture.

This is achieved by downloading the binary from https://nodejs.org/dist/ and extracting the archive in the .wnvm folder.

Note: If the specified version can't be found, the tool will try and recommend a similar version: something that has the same major version and either the same minor or the same patch version.

use

Activates the specified version. This is done by simply changing where the directory junction points at. For example, if active was pointing to 8.0.0 (the folder containing Node version 8.0.0) and we want to switch to version 9.0.0, we simply point active to that folder.

list

Pretty self explanatory; shows all installed versions of Node and highlights the one that is active, if such a version exists.

implode

Reverts all changes made by this tool: puts back the original values for Path and npm prefix, removes WNVM_HOME and NODE_HOME environment variables and deletes the directory junction - active.

To-do

• allow user to change default location for the .wnvm folder
• allow user to migrate global npm packages when installing a new version
• add proxy support for users on a corporate network