Cannot install latest nodejs using conda on Mac

Question

When I run conda search -c conda-forge nodejs, I get:

# Name                       Version           Build  Channel
...
nodejs                           


        

Answer 1

Currently, the latest version nodejs 14.x requires icu>=65 which is not yet globally available across conda-forge packages. Therefore it can be installed into a new environment with conda create -n new_env_name -c conda-forge nodejs, but most likely will raise package conflicts in existing environments.

conda install node-js -c conda-forge installing the very old version 6.13.1 seems to be a solver problem. conda install nodejs -c conda-forge --repodata-fn=repodata.json will install a more current version: nodejs-13.x.

Alternative workaround is to use mamba as a conda replacement.

Credits go to Wolf Vollprecht.

Answer 2

NodeJS 15.3 successfully installed as of today, with:

conda install -c conda-forge nodejs

On a miniconda 4.9.2, python 3.9 environment.

As detail, the icu==68.1 get installed together.

Answer 3

Here's my workaround:

I installed nodejs for Mac from the .pkg file from the offical site and then every time I update packages in my conda environments, I force remove the nodejs version conda installs with:

conda uninstall --force nodejs

and then go about using the environment as if it had nodejs installed. That way when any other package needs nodejs, it gets the latest one from the system directory /usr/local/.