Node.js 0.6.3 integrates NPM

The Node.js developers have announced the release of version 0.6.3 of the JavaScript-based, event-driven, application framework. A new feature in the release is the addition of NPM, Node Package Manager, to the Node.js distribution. NPM was independently developed to offer Node users a simple way of packaging and distributing libraries of code and has become the de facto standard for Node.js packaging.

By incorporating NPM into the Node distribution, it is hoped that all users will be able to rely on having a robust packaging and distribution system to hand. Unfortunately, the 0.6.3 release has an issue where man pages are incorrectly installed; a 0.6.4 release is expected to resolve that issue, and to also have an option to not install NPM, for those users who run customised versions of npm, but no release date has been given.

Fixes in the 0.6.3 release allow the recently released native Windows version to support paths more than 260 characters long and to correctly resolve paths that are relative to drives. Other changes are detailed in the change log. Node.js is available to download, as source or as Windows and Macintosh installers, from the Node web site; it is published under an MIT licence.

See also:

• The H Speed Guide to Node.js, a feature from The H.

(djwm)