How I made node.js play nice on debian wheezy #!

gistfile1.txt

# Note: pasted from command line
umask 022
apt-get update
apt-get install libssl-dev pkg-config build-essential wget gcc g++ checkinstall
mkdir /tmp/node-install
cd /tmp/node-install

# Note: your version number may vary
wget http://nodejs.org/dist/node-latest.tar.gz
tar -zxvf node-v0.10.16.tar.gz
cd node-v0.10.16

# Note: this compiles a long time,
# then sudo asks for your pass.
./configure && make && sudo checkinstall --pkgname=nodejs --pkgversion="0.10.16" --install=no --default

# Finally, use the reported dpkg command to install (need sudo),
# dont forget to stash the .deb
sudo dpkg -i nodejs_0.10.16-1_amd64.deb

# Tests:
node -v
which node
npm -v
which npm