Ansible Role: Node.js

Installs Node.js on RHEL/CentOS or Debian/Ubuntu.

Requirements

None.

Role Variables

Available variables are listed below, along with default values (see defaults/main.yml):

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nodejs_version: "16.x"

The Node.js version to install. "14.x" is the default and works on most supported OSes. Other versions such as "10.x", "14.x", "18.x", etc. should work on the latest versions of Debian/Ubuntu and RHEL/CentOS.

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nodejs_install_npm_user: "{{ ansible_ssh_user }}"

The user for whom the npm packages will be installed can be set here, this defaults to ansible_user.

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npm_config_prefix: "/usr/local/lib/npm"

The global installation directory. This should be writeable by the nodejs_install_npm_user.

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npm_config_unsafe_perm: "false"

Set to true to suppress the UID/GID switching when running package scripts. If set explicitly to false, then installing as a non-root user will fail.

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nodejs_npm_global_packages: []

A list of npm packages with a name and (optional) version to be installed globally. For example:

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nodejs_npm_global_packages:
  # Install a specific version of a package.
  - name: jslint
    version: 0.9.3
  # Install the latest stable release of a package.
  - name: node-sass
  # This shorthand syntax also works (same as previous example).
  - node-sass
  # Remove a package by setting state to 'absent'.
  - name: node-sass
    state: absent

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nodejs_package_json_path: ""

Set a path pointing to a particular package.json (e.g. "/var/www/app/package.json"). This will install all of the defined packages globally using Ansible's npm module.

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nodejs_generate_etc_profile: true

By default the role will create /etc/profile.d/npm.sh with exported variables (PATH, NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX, NODE_PATH). If you prefer to avoid generating that file (e.g. you want to set the variables yourself for a non-global install), set it to "false".

Dependencies

None.

Example Playbook

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- hosts: utility
  vars_files:
    - vars/main.yml
  roles:
    - geerlingguy.nodejs

Inside vars/main.yml:

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nodejs_npm_global_packages:
  - name: jslint
  - name: node-sass

License

MIT / BSD

Author Information

This role was created in 2014 by Jeff Geerling, author of Ansible for DevOps.