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Let our powers combine!

Chris Lea will be a familiar name to Node.js developers. His Node.js Ubuntu PPA (private package repository) currently powers a significant portion of Node.js production deployments around the world. While he's not primarily a Node.js developer, his keen interest in making solid, and up-to-date Node.js binaries available for Ubuntu users has been a huge service for many of us. Chris' impressive ability to respond to Node.js releases with rapid updates has been a great bonus.

As Chris discusses in his blog post, Dan Shaw originally reached out to try and give back for the great service he'd been offering and to ensure that Node.js developers can continue to be served by this awesome resource. Ultimately it was agreed that the best way forward was to have Chris join the NodeSource team and combine our expertise to ensure that the repository is solid, and well-supported far into the future.

A new repository

The immediate impact will be that the repository will be moving off Launchpad so that we can have better insight and control over the the distribution and also have the freedom to expand the number of targets and formats that we can support. Chris will continue to support his PPA on Launchpad for 0.10 but will not be supporting Node.js v0.12 and beyond.

The new repository will be located at https://deb.nodesource.com, instead of using the Launchpad tools for adding a PPA you will simply need to run a script located at that server:

$ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup | sudo bash -

This script will:

1. Clean up references to the old PPA if you are already using it
2. Add the NodeSource signing key to your keyring
3. Add deb.nodesource.com to your APT sources
4. Perform an apt-get update with your new sources

All you need to do is apt-get install nodejs and you'll have the latest and greatest version of Node.js!

There is also a https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_dev if you really must be working on the bleeding-edge but of course this is not something we generally recommend.

Available platforms

The new repository provides access to both Ubuntu and Debian releases, with multiple architectures:

Architectures:

• i386 (32-bit)
• amd64 (64-bit)
• armhf (ARM 32-bit hard-float, ARMv7 and up: arm-linux-gnueabihf)

Ubuntu:

• Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx, armhf build not available)
• Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin)
• Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander)
• Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr)

Debian:

• Debian 7 / stable (wheezy)
• Debian testing (jessie)
• Debian unstable (sid)

Going forward

This list of available platforms will obviously change over time and we will release for Ubuntu according to their LTS schedule and Debian according to their release cycle.

Chris and NodeSource are keen to stay connected to the Node.js community and respond to real needs being experienced in deploying to Linux. We will be working on ways to keep everyone connected with our efforts in this area and provide easy means for feedback.

Also ... watch this space as we expand our support for other Linux distributions! Please let us know the platforms you'd like to see supported next.