isaacs/nave is one of the server-side repositories TopGit tracks, currently at 1.6k stars, written primarily in Shell. Virtual Environments for Node
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Switch out your node version and global npm install space in one
command. Supports named environments. Uses subshells by default so
that you can ^D or exit out of an environment quickly.
No need to edit .bashrc or .profile, just install and go.
Installation
If you want a global nave command, you could install this thing with
npm. But that's not really necessary. You can run the nave.sh
shell script from here, or symlink it wherever you want, or even
just download the script and just put it where you want it.
If you have npm, presumably you already have Node, so it's a tiny bit
silly, but maybe you like installing the top-level Node some other
way, and install your subshell version switcher with npm. Why is a
bash program in npm anyway? It's fine. Bits don't judge.
npm install -g nave
Usage
To use a version of node, you do this:
nave use <some version>
If you want to name a virtual env, you can do this:
nave use <some name>
If that virtual env doesn't already exist, it'll prompt you to choose
a version.
Both of these commands drop you into a subshell. Exit the shell with
exit or ^D to go back from whence you came.
Here's the full usage statement:
Usage: nave <cmd>
COMMANDS
install <version> Install the version specified (ex: 12.8.0)
install <name> <ver> Install the version as a named env
use <version> Enter a subshell where <version> is being used
use <ver> <program> Enter a subshell, and run "<program>", then exit
use <name> <ver> Create a named env, using the specified version.
If the name already exists, but the version differs,
then it will update the link.
usemain <version> Install in /usr/local/bin (ie, use as your main nodejs)
clean <version> Delete the source code for <version>
uninstall <version> Delete the install for <version>
ls List versions currently installed
ls-remote List remote node versions
ls-all List remote and local node versions
latest Show the most recent dist version
cache Clear or view the cache
help Output help information
auto Find a .naverc and then be in that env
If no .naverc is found, then alias for 'nave exit'
auto <dir> cd into <dir>, then find a .naverc, and be in that env
If no .naverc is found, then alias for 'nave exit' in
the specified directory.
auto <dir> <cmd> cd into <dir>, then find a .naverc, and run a command
in that env
If no .naverc is found, then alias for 'nave exit <cmd>'
in the specified directory.
should-auto Exits with 1 if the nave auto env already
matches the config, or 0 if a change should
be made (ie, by calling 'nave auto')
An explicit call to 'nave use' or 'nave exit' will
tell nave that it should NOT auto.
get <variable> Print out various nave config values.
exit Unset all the NAVE environs (use with 'exec')
exit <cmd> Run the specified command in a nave-free environment
(Note that nave will still set NAVE_EXIT=1 in order to
prevent 'nave should-auto' from evaluating true.)
VERSION STRINGS
Any command that calls for a version can be provided any of the
following "version-ish" identifies:
- x.y.z A specific SemVer tuple
- x.y Major and minor version number
- x Just a major version number
- lts The most recent LTS (long-term support) node version
- lts/<name> The latest in a named LTS set. (argon, boron, etc.)
- lts/* Same as just "lts"
- latest The most recent (non-LTS) version
- stable Backwards-compatible alias for "lts".
To exit a nave subshell, type 'exit' or press ^D.
To run nave *without* a subshell, do 'exec nave use <version>'.
To clear the settings from a nave env, use 'exec nave exit'
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables can be set to change nave's behavior.
NAVE_DIR Root directory for nave to operate in. Defaults to
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nave if set (eg, ~/.config/nave), or
~/.nave otherwise.
NAVE_NPX Set this to '1' to add node_modules/.bin to the PATH
NAVE_DEBUG Set this to '1' to run in debug mode.
NAVE_CACHE_DUR Duration in seconds to cache version information (86400)
NAVEUA User-agent header to send when fetching version information
NAVE_SRC_ONLY Set to '1' to *only* build node from source, and never use
binary distributions. (This is much slower!)
NAVE_JOBS Set to the number of JOBS to use when building node.
Defaults to the number of CPUs on the system.
NODEDIST The distribution server to fetch node from. Defaults to
https://nodejs.org/dist
NAVE_CONFIG Arguments to pass to ./configure when building from source.
Nave sets the following environment variables when in use:
NAVE A descriptive string of the nave setting in use.
NAVENAME The name, in named subshells, otherwise $NAVEVERSION
NAVEVERSION The version of node in use.
NAVELVL The number of subshells currently in use (like bash $SHLVL)
NAVE_LOGIN '1' in interactive nave subshells, '0' otherwise.
NAVE_ROOT Location of nave installed environments
NAVE_SRC Location of downloaded Node.js source
NAVE_AUTO_RC The .naverc file used by 'nave auto'
NAVE_AUTO_CFG The contents of the .naverc file used by 'nave auto'
CONFIGURATION FILES
Nave subshells will source the same .bashrc, .bash_profile, .zprofile, etc.
configuration files as normal shells, based on whether it is being run as a
login shell, or to run a specific command.
In addition, the following files are sourced in all nave subshells if found,
after the normal shell profile files, in the following order, based on the
resulting environment variables described above. When run in a subdirectory,
nave will walk up the directory tree looking for any of these that it finds,
but will not walk up further than any folder containing a '.git' entry.
.nave_profile_${NAVE}
.nave_profile_${NAVENAME}, if a named environment
.nave_profile_${NAVEVERSION}, eg .nave_profile_16.19.0
.nave_profile_${NAVEVERSION major.minor}, eg .nave_profile_16.19
.nave_profile_${NAVEVERSION major}, eg .nave_profile_16
.nave_profile
Finally, it will always source ${NAVEDIR}/../.naverc if present.
(eg, ~/.config/.naverc)
These may be used to set project-specific confirations, env variables, or
other behavior based on the Nave environment in use, without the use of
configuration files in the home directory.
The 'nave auto' command will walk up the directory tree looking for a
'.naverc' or '.nvmrc' file, and use the contents as arguments to 'nave use'.
Subshell-free operation
If you prefer to not enter a subshell, just run nave with exec
exec nave use lts/argon
You could even add something like this to your .bashrc file to save
on typing:
n () {
exec nave "$@"
}
Running shell script with specific version of Node.js
If there is need to run a shell script with version of node.js
provided by nave following snippet can be inserted into script:
You can put a .naverc file in the root of your project (or
anywhere). This file should contain the version that you want to use.
It can be something like lts/boron or 16 or latest
echo lts/boron > ~/projects/my-project/.naverc
Then you can run nave auto to load the appropriate environment.
BUT THAT'S NOT NEARLY MAGICAL OR AUTO ENOUGH FOR ME THOUGH
If you want to get even more absurd/automated, put this in your bash
settings (like ~/.bashrc or whatever)
alias cd='exec nave auto'
and then every time you cd into a different folder, it'll
automatically load the correct nave settings, or exit nave-land if no
automatic stuff could be found.
Note that doing this will also cause it to exit the nave environment
when you cd to a directory that doesn't have a nave setting, so it can
interfere with "normal" nave operation.
Also, aliasing cd is a very all-consuming type of change to make to
one's system. You might wish to give it some other name, so that you
can switch directories without affecting environment variables as a
potentially surprising side effect, or even just run exec nave auto
as an explicit action whenever you want this behavior to happen.
Bottom line, it's your shell, and I hope that this helps you enjoy it
more :)
NO THAT'S TOO MAGICAL, BE JUST SLIGHTLY LESS MAGICAL THAN THAT
Ok, put this snippet in a PROMPT_COMMAND export in your bash
profile (.bashrc or .bash_profile or whatever you use for
that).
Now you'll always be in the configured nave environment in any
project with a .naverc (or .nvmrc), and always not in a
nave environment in your main shell in any folder that isn't
set up for nave auto.
This has no effect on the normal nave subshells you get from
nave use.
The output of your PROMPT_COMMAND is used for the main bash
prompt, so you can also do some fancy stuff like this:
__prompt () {
if nave should-auto; then
exec nave auto
if
# Show the nave version in white-on-blue, but the "normal" node
# version in green
if [ "$NAVE" != "" ]; then
echo -ne " \033[44;37mnode@$NAVE\033[0m"
else
echo -ne " \033[32mnode@$(node -p 'process.version.slice(1)' 2>/dev/null)\033[0m"
fi
}
PS1="\\$ "
export PROMPT_COMMAND='__prompt'
env vars
$NAVE The current shell. Either a version, or a name and version.
$NAVE_NPX Set to "1" to add node_modules/.bin to the
$PATH in all nave shells (including the main shell when exec nave auto is used).
$NAVE_AUTO_RC The .naverc file found by nave auto.
$NAVE_AUTO_CFG The contents of the .naverc file that was
read when entering the nave auto environment.
$NAVENAME The name of the current shell. Equal to $NAVEVERSION
in unnammed environments.
$NAVEVERSION The version of node that the current shell is
pointing to. (This should comply with node -v.)
$NAVELVL The level of nesting in the subshell.
$NAVE_DEBUG Set to 1 to run nave in bash -x style.
$NAVE_DIR Set to the location where you'd like nave to do its
business. Defaults to ~/.nave.
$NAVE_CONFIG Set this to an array of arguments to pass to
./configure. Defaults to ("--debug"). (Note that parens are
required to supply multiple arguments. I use ("--debug" "--without-npm") on my own system, since I'm usually using nave to
test npm, so installing it in the subshell doesn't help much.) This
can be set in the ~/.naverc file, or in your normal
~/.bash{rc,_profile} files.
$NAVE_JOBS If set, this will be the number of jobs to run when
building node. If this isn't set, it'll use the $JOBS env, then
try to guess a reasonable value based on the number of CPUs, then
fall back on 2 if sysctl -n hw.ncpu fails.
$NAVE_SRC_ONLY Set to "1" to only build from source, rather than
fetching binaries.
Contributing
Patches welcome! Before spending too much time on a patch or feature
request, please post an issue to see if it's
something that's going to be accepted or have unforeseen consequences.
Patches will usually not be accepted if they break tests or cause coverage
to drop below 100%. You can run tests with:
npm test
# or...
bash test/run.sh
And you can check coverage with:
npm run cov
# or...
COV=1 bash test/run.sh && open coverage-all/kcov-merged/nave.sh.*.html
The latest coverage report can be found at
https://isaacs.github.io/nave/kcov-merged/index.html
Compatibility
Nave is a bash program. It can still do most of its functionality if you
use zsh or fish as your shell, as long as you have bash somewhere, but
some of the magical stuff won't work (since obviously that has to run
inline in your shell with exec).
Nave requires bash. It will probably never work on Windows, or other
systems lack a native Bourne Again Shell. Sorry. (Patches welcome if you
can get it to work properly on Windows that do have bash, like WSL and
Cygwin.)
Nave logins work with any shell, but executing a command in the nave
environment (ie, nave use 12 node program.js) requires that your shell
support the -c argument. (Bash, sh, zsh, and fish all work fine.)
Configuration
Nave will source ~/.naverc on initialization of a new subshell, if it
exists and is readable.
You may control the place where nave puts things by setting the
NAVE_DIR environment variable. However, note that this must be set
somewhere other than ~/.naverc, since it needs to be set in the
parent shell where the nave command is invoked.
By default, nave puts its stuff in ~/.nave/. If this directory does
not exist and cannot be created, then it will attempt to use the location
of the nave.sh bash script itself. If it cannot write to this location,
then it will exit with an error.
Credits
nave borrows concepts, inspiration, and code from Tim Caswell's "nvm"
and Kris Kowal's "sea" programs.
Sea is really nice, but is very tied to Narwhal. Also, it's a
require.paths manager, which nave is not.
Nvm is also really nice, but has to be sourced rather than being run, and
thus is a little bit wonky for some use cases. But it doesn't involve
subshells, which makes it better for some others.
No homepage URL was recorded for isaacs/nave in TopGit's last sync. The README tab above frequently contains screenshots and demo links, or check the repository description on GitHub.
How active is development on isaacs/nave?
The most recent commit recorded on isaacs/nave was 7 months ago, based on the GitHub push timestamp. The repository has 121 forks — one of the better signals of community interest.
How many stars does isaacs/nave have?
isaacs/nave has 1.6k GitHub stars — refresh the page for the live number, or check github.com/isaacs/nave. TopGit mirrors GitHub's count but does not claim minute-by-minute accuracy.
What language is isaacs/nave written in?
isaacs/nave is written primarily in Shell. GitHub's language field is based on the largest share of bytes in the default branch.
What license does isaacs/nave use?
isaacs/nave is released under the BlueOak-1.0.0 license. Always verify the LICENSE file directly on GitHub for the authoritative terms — license strings can be edited out of sync with a project's actual stance.
What topics is isaacs/nave associated with?
GitHub's repository topics for isaacs/nave: "nave", "node", "nodejs", "nvm", "sea", "shell", "subshell", "versioning", "zsh". TopGit's editorial category is Backend.
Where do I read more about isaacs/nave?
This TopGit page is a snapshot — the READ ME tab shows the project's own README content (links stripped, images preserved). The GitHub repository at github.com/isaacs/nave is the definitive source.
Read full README in the tab above.
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