npm 1.0 has been released. Here are the highlights:

• Global vs local installation
• ls displays a tree, instead of being a remote search
• No more “activation” concept - dependencies are nested
• Updates to link command
• Install script cleans up any 0.x cruft it finds. (That is, it removes old packages, so that they can be installed properly.)
• Simplified “search” command. One line per package, rather than one line per version.
• Renovated “completion” approach
• More help topics
• Simplified folder structure

The focus is on npm being a development tool, rather than an apt-wannabe.

Installing it

To get the new version, run this command:

curl https://npmjs.com/install.sh | sh

This will prompt to ask you if it’s ok to remove all the old 0.x cruft. If you want to not be asked, then do this:

curl https://npmjs.com/install.sh | clean=yes sh

Or, if you want to not do the cleanup, and leave the old stuff behind, then do this:

curl https://npmjs.com/install.sh | clean=no sh

A lot of people in the node community were brave testers and helped make this release a lot better (and swifter) than it would have otherwise been. Thanks :)

Code Freeze

npm will not have any major feature enhancements or architectural changes for at least 6 months. There are interesting developments planned that leverage npm in some ways, but it’s time to let the client itself settle. Also, I want to focus attention on some other problems for a little while.

Of course, bug reports are always welcome.

See you at NodeConf!