Updating Nodejs version never works!

[eeeee]

Not a NodeBB issue, but the NodeJS version on my server was v12 and I wanted to update it.
I have followed dozens of tutorial pages on how to update to --lts version, or even the latest version, without success
Although it appears to download, if I type nodejs --version it still comes back as v12.22.9
I have been trying to do this for two days, and seen many posts (and proposed solutions) on various forums. None of them have worked, but clearly I am not first to have this issue.

Does this ring bells with anyone else?

That aside, do I have to stop nodeBB before I attempt a Nodejs version upgrade?

[phenomlab]

@eeeee what command are you using to install nodeJS? Ideally, yes, you should stop NodeBB during the upgrade.

[eeeee]

@phenomlab
With and without sudo, I tried

nvm install --lts

It seemed to download but version never changed

[phenomlab]

@eeeee seems like you may have more than one version of nodejs installed, and your environment variables point to this specific version.

Can you post the output of whereis nodejs and locate nodejs ? Note that you many need to install the mlocate package for the second command.

[eeeee]

@phenomlab
The locate command gave 20pages of output, here is first few lines

And last ones ...

I can see node-v16.13.0 mentioned in the middle pages of output, which would make more sense as current version, as v12 was long time ago.
But v12 is what --version says!

[eeeee]

Off topic but I tried to see whats in etc directory
Theres an environment file which seems to have duplicated words?!,
cat environment gives:
PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/sr/local/games:/snap/bin"

And then in directory called environment.d, with two files

90atk-adaptor.conf 90gt-a11y.conf

Nothing with any paths related to NodeJs

[phenomlab]

@eeeee yes, as I suspected. Can you provide the output of nvm list?

[eeeee]

@phenomlab
Im trying to upload photo but it keeps saying unsuported file format for my jpg !
So thats another issue to come back to

But nvm list
-> v18.6.0

[eeeee]

Trying photo again...
This time it worked,

Its not picking up v18 though as I tried a small index.js file with the fetch command and its not recognised. And I know native fetch was introduced in v18

[phenomlab]

@eeeee I'd expect more output than that, but try
nvm use v18.6.0 followed by node --version

Edit - however, that does look very much like 18.6.0 is already the default.

[eeeee]

@phenomlab i typed
nvm use v18.6.0

And it said
N/A: version "v18.6.0 -> N/A" is not yet installed

So i did nvm install v18.6.0 and its says now using node v18.6.0
But nodejs --version still says 12.22.9

[phenomlab]

@eeeee try nvm use stable

[eeeee]

@phenomlab
Just done, it said now using v18.16.0
But
Still says v12 !

[phenomlab]

@eeeee that can only be path related.

[eeeee]

@phenomlab yes one of the tutorials said to delete Path which i tried
How can i put new Path in?

[phenomlab]

@eeeee have you considered removing the older versions? They will be vulnerable anyway and should be removed unless you have an app that depends on old code

[eeeee]

@phenomlab i thought I had removed older ones. Im keen to clear them out
What should i type?

[phenomlab]

@eeeee they are all still listed.

You should be able to uninstall a specific node version with (example)

nvm uninstall 8.16.2

[eeeee]

@phenomlab
Well I dont know why, as Ive never installed loads of older versions!
How can I remove them?

[phenomlab]

@eeeee see above post