So for some unknown historical reason node core has a Windows installer (probably to appease the MS gods)...
After a recent conversation with @ljharb, IMHO the installer should be in this WG's focus, since it's essentially a "management-challenged" version manager....
We are fielding issues as:
Which bring up the same issues that are discussed here, like:
where do we put the global node_modules?
Should we install npm or not, and where?
Does core want to officially support side-by-side multi-version, and if so how to switch versions (i.e. version manager yes or no)?
How to detect which version are installed?
Not to diminish from this WG's efforts in the least, and not intending to step on anyone's toes!!!
It's just that our questions are less "academic" since they are motivated by issues opened by users, since the Windows installer is unfortunately an existing core feature 🤦♂️ So we need to answer them sooner rather than later...
BTW: Personally my prefered answer would have been "The Windows installer is deprecated, use the zipped package or a userland version manager" but it got push-back https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/4603#issuecomment-313275229
So for some unknown historical reason node core has a Windows installer (probably to appease the MS gods)... After a recent conversation with @ljharb, IMHO the installer should be in this WG's focus, since it's essentially a "management-challenged" version manager.... We are fielding issues as:
Which bring up the same issues that are discussed here, like:
node_modules?npmor not, and where?corewant to officially support side-by-side multi-version, and if so how to switch versions (i.e. version manager yes or no)?Not to diminish from this WG's efforts in the least, and not intending to step on anyone's toes!!! It's just that our questions are less "academic" since they are motivated by issues opened by users, since the Windows installer is unfortunately an existing core feature 🤦♂️ So we need to answer them sooner rather than later... BTW: Personally my prefered answer would have been "The Windows installer is deprecated, use the zipped package or a userland version manager" but it got push-back https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/4603#issuecomment-313275229
/cc @tniessen @nodejs/platform-windows