node-pre-gyp VS nvm

The problem is that it determines the the system's platform and architecture using the binary compiling package node-pre-gyp and this very savior of a Github issue details how node-pre-gyp is not handling ARM architecture detection properly and basically mixing everything up. Because it's not detecting properly, even if we build our own binding with --build-from-source when installing, it still won't work because it is compiling the wrong binding file for the wrong architecture. To make matters worse, if we don't use --build-from-source, it just simply fetches the Intel precompiled binding file. napi-v6-darwin-unknown-x64

Indeed, Snowboy uses node-pre-gyp which helps to publish and install Node.js C++ addons from binaries. So when a new Node.js version is shipped, node-pre-gyp must update its listing of the supported targets by specifying the:

Node is like 95% OK with ARM chips, so you might have a tricky dependency. Every time I had problems it was related to something depending on node-pre-gyp, there is an issue about it .

nvm - Node version manager

Node.js + Nvm - runtime for javascript without a browser

Install Node.js if it hasn't been installed. There are several ways to install Node.js. You may download the installer from the official website, or install it with tools like NVM. After installation, run this command to verify its installation.

Our server also needs Node.js to run our app. We could install the binary directly, but I prefer to use a tool called NVM, which allows us to easily manage Node versions. We can install it with this command:

By setting up your environment in isolation, you can prevent yourself from a lot of issues when experimenting with code. It makes your code behave more predictable due to the defined state of the runtime environment you are working with. This article should provide you with enough information to get started, but obviously, there is a lot more power embedded in NVM, Virtual Environment and RBEnv. So make sure to check their documentation.

I highly recommend setting up nodejs with a version manager, nvm was and still is a popular option, however, I now recommend and have been using fnm, a simpler and faster alternative to manage my nodejs versions.

The purpose of a version manager is to help you navigate or install any tools for development easily. Version Manager can be one tool for each dependency (e.g. NVM, g) or One tool for all dependencies (e.g. asdf, mise).

I usually develop on Windows so I installed NVM for Windows from here, but if you’re on other OS I’m sure you can find a version that supports it, probably this is the answer.

This was a very quick introduction to how I setup NodeJS on my environment using nvm. If you have any questions please refer to the official documentation or contact me via my Social Links.