Instructions for installing node using the apt package manager are gone

[stof]

Enter your suggestions in details:

https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/ used to link to https://github.com/nodesource/distributions to install node using apt, which has the benefit of keeping minor releases updated automatically alongside other OS package updates.

The new download page does not seem to show that option anymore at all (even in the "community" methods. Is it planned to add it again ?

[ovflowd]

They are not gone. Still here https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/all.

But this page is deprecated in favor of migrating some of these methods to the new all-in-one page. However, I'd discourage adding instructions to distro-specific ways of installing Node.js, as there are always unified ways or version-manager ways of installing Node.js. Even "package managers" such as Homebrew can be installed on pretty much every Linux distro.

[ovflowd]

I'm closing this as a wont-fix as the page still exists.

[stof]

This page exists but is not linked anymore from the main download, and so not discoverable.

To me, the big benefit of installing node with APT is that it means I don't have to remember using a separate package manager just to get updates for node installed. With APT, those updates get installed as part of the regular OS updates (which are checked automatically on a weekly basis in Ubuntu). This is even more important when node is not my primary development language (the main reason I have node installed is because the frontend tooling is built on node, not because my own code is)

[ovflowd]

I'm not arguing that; Still that page is indexed and added to robots. If you search on Google "nodejs install via apt" it will show exactly this page as a result, so it is still easy to find ;)

But it is intentional a long term depreciation of this page; As I mentioned before we are transitioning to a new downloads page with drop downs.

If you want apt there, simply contribute it by reading our Contribution Guidelines.

TL;DR -- never said was opposed to "apt", just explained the state of the page you linked and future goals...

[ovflowd]

Also...

This is even more important when node is not my primary development language (the main reason I have node installed is because the frontend tooling is built on node, not because my own code is)

This doesn't make any sense at all with using "apt" as justification. You can install Node that way using any other of the available version managers displayed on the website. Actually installing Node.js via "apt" does not even come with "npm" bundled, so technically speaking you have more steps as you need to install more stuff and a possible outdated version of Node, as these are usually bound to the version of your Distro.

Hence this:

With APT, those updates get installed as part of the regular OS updates (which are checked automatically on a weekly basis in Ubuntu).

Is wrong. Node is not part of Ubuntu, nor an "OS update", you simply run "apt upgrade" which is the CLI equivalent of going to App Store or "Software" App and hitting updates. Node on Ubuntu "apt" default repositories is also usually way outdated as it takes effort from Canonical to update those (see https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nodejs -- mostly because Canonical decides which versions they want to ship and which release line of Node.js to match a major of Ubuntu)

[stof]

@ovflowd what I mean with with "automatic OS updates" is that Ubuntu itself (or maybe the Software app, I don't know the detail of the implementation) is doing an automatic weekly checks of the available upgrades with apt (asking a confirmation whether we want to install updates). Once you register the nodesource repository, node updates will be part of those automatic updates (because apt upgrade will install them.
I'm not saying that node gets updated automatically for each minor release when using the Canonical repository alone (which is not what the nodesource installation instructions are doing).

[ovflowd]

@ovflowd what I mean with with "automatic OS updates" is that Ubuntu itself (or maybe the Software app, I don't know the detail of the implementation) is doing an automatic weekly checks of the available upgrades with apt (asking a confirmation whether we want to install updates). Once you register the nodesource repository, node updates will be part of those automatic updates (because apt upgrade will install them.
I'm not saying that node gets updated automatically for each minor release when using the Canonical repository alone (which is not what the nodesource installation instructions are doing).

Noted. Nodesource is a 3rd party repository, adding more and more instructions makes things complex.

On the new downloads page we aim to add installation methods that are as most compatible with the most amount of distros as possible. That's why we only have "Linux" as an option instead of a Distro chooser. I feel that if we want to add distro specific instructions we need to figure out first how to nicely display a way to choose distros and have instructions that are nicely documented.