Installer doesn't account for deb822-style nodesource.sources files when switching/forcing Node.js versions

[klein0r]

The install/update script install-update-nodered-deb only manages the legacy one-line APT source format for NodeSource (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list). It never checks for, nor removes, the newer deb822-style source file that NodeSource's own setup script now uses:

/etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.sources

Relevant lines:

linux-installers/deb/install-update-nodered

Lines 424 to 436 in 473431d

	# block debian nodejs install
	echo "Package: nodejs" | $SUDO tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/nodejs.pref >>/dev/null
	echo "Pin: release a=stable" | $SUDO tee -a /etc/apt/preferences.d/nodejs.pref >>/dev/null
	echo "Pin-Priority: -1" | $SUDO tee -a /etc/apt/preferences.d/nodejs.pref >>/dev/null
	# use the official script to install for other debian platforms
	$SUDO rm -rf /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list 2>&1 | $SUDO tee -a /var/log/nodered-install.log >>/dev/null
	$SUDO apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg 2>&1 | $SUDO tee -a /var/log/nodered-install.log >>/dev/null
	$SUDO mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings 2>&1 | $SUDO tee -a /var/log/nodered-install.log >>/dev/null
	curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | $SUDOE gpg --batch --yes --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg 2>&1 | $SUDO tee -a /var/log/nodered-install.log >>/dev/null
	echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_$NODE_VERSION.x nodistro main" | $SUDOE tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list >>/dev/null
	$SUDO apt-get update 2>&1 | $SUDO tee -a /var/log/nodered-install.log >>/dev/null
	$SUDO apt install -y --reinstall nodejs 2>&1 | $SUDO tee -a /var/log/nodered-install.log >>/dev/null

If a system already has NodeSource configured via the deb822 format (e.g. set up previously by NodeSource's official setup_XX.x script or after a manual apt modernize-sources, which now generates nodesource.sources instead of nodesource.list), this old file is left completely untouched. The script then creates an additional nodesource.list pointing at the requested major version.

The result is two NodeSource repo definitions active at the same time, pointing at different Node.js major versions.

[dceejay]

Thanks. Never heard of that new format until now. So yes needs a fix.

[klein0r]

@dceejay You can check the official nodejs installer scripts for reference: https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x