The OpenJS Foundation has announced that Node Version Manager (nvm), has been taken in as a project by the foundation. Nvm is a POSIX-compliant bash script to manage multiple active Node.js versions.

The project is the first to enter the OpenJS Foundation, which was created by the merger of the JS Foundation and the Node.js Foundation. When formed, the foundation was made up of 31 open source JavaScript projects including Appium, Dojo, jQuery, Node.js, and webpack, and stated its mission as:

support the healthy growth of JavaScript and web technologies by providing a neutral organization to host and sustain projects, as well as collaboratively fund activities that benefit the ecosystem as a whole.

Nvm was created to make it easier to use different versions of Node.js. Nvm is the most common and widely used method to install Node.js, and the most common tool to manage multiple installed Node.js versions. 

The advantage to bvm of being in the OpenJS Foundation is that both the infrastructure and organization of the product and its development will be better supported, including ensuring no single point of failure for the nvm.sh domain and GitHub repo.

By using nvm, developers can access all the long term support (LTS) versions of Node.js, and can download any of those LTS versions of Node locally with a simple command. It can also be used to set up aliases to switch between different versions of Node, and to default automatically to use a specific version of Node.js specified in the nvmrc file in a repo.

Nvm makes it easier to switch between node versions per-shell, so you can test libraries for maximum backwards compatibility, as well as testing apps against node upgrades. The tool also stores node versions and globally installed modules inside the user directory, removing the need for sudo when used with npm. Another advantage is that it handles compilation for most systems that don’t have prebuilt binaries available, simplifying the install process. Finally, the Foundation says it provides the ease and convenience of a package manager without needing to obtain node from an unofficial distribution channel. 

More Information

OpenJS Foundation

Nvm On GitHub

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