My preferred way to install node and npm on Linux

node_and_npm_from_souce_all_the_way.txt

Node from source
mkdir ~/local
git clone git@github.com:nodejs/node.git
cd node
git checkout <lastest release tag here>
./configure --prefix=~/local
make install
echo export 'PATH="$HOME/local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc (replace .zshrc with your shell config file)

npm from source
git clone git@github.com:npm/npm.git
cd npm
git checkout <lastest release tag here>
./configure
make install