NodeJS & npm updates | IoT Gateway Project

Sometimes there is a need to update nodeJS. This is a quick reference how that might be achieved. This is not as straightforward as updating packages.json and running npm update because some packages require rebuilding from source with the latest node version already in place.

For instance a critical timer bug exists in nodeJS (<=10.8.0) that causes events to stop running after 24.8 days of the app’s run time. An update to 10.9 or later is needed. Run node -v to find out the installed nodeJS version.

If you decide to update packages.json, you should update the whole gateway app and not just bits and pieces, since code dependencies exist between the app and certain nodeJS packages.

As always, it’s a good idea to make an image backup of the entire SD card in case anything goes wrong. Or at the very least back up the /home/pigateway folder that holds your database, uploaded images, custom metrics, settings, logs, etc.

Quick step guide to replacing nodeJS with latest available for the RaspberryPi:

#Stop gateway app and cd to gateway dir:
sudo systemctl stop gateway
cd /home/pi/gateway

#remove old package lock:
sudo rm -rf package-lock.json

#remove (or rename) node_modules directory:
sudo rm -rf node_modules
#Update nodejs (removes old node version):
sudo wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/audstanley/NodeJs-Raspberry-Pi/master/Install-Node.sh | sudo bash

#Update npm:
sudo npm install -g npm

#Re-install all packages/build from source:
sudo npm install --unsafe-perm --build-from-source
#and clear caches:
sudo npm cache verify

#Finally:
sudo systemctl start gateway