install-node-git.sh

# this way is best if you want to stay up to date
# or submit patches to node or npm

mkdir ~/local
# I use .bash_profile instead of .bashrc
echo 'export PATH=$HOME/local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile
. ~/.bash_profile

# could also fork, and then clone your own fork instead of the official one

git clone git://github.com/joyent/node.git
cd node

# find out the latest release (for now on the 0.10.x track for compatibility with yeoman, grunt, etc)
git tag -l
git checkout tags/v0.10.xx

./configure --prefix=$HOME/local

# the -j flag uses all available cores, so make is much faster
make install -j
cd ..

# npm now comes with nodejs, so we should be good to go

Following @isaac’s famous install gist, I’ll edit and add comments to this to document what works for me.

Added the git checkout … lines to get specific tag to make instead of tip.

You may need to change permissions:

sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/.npm
sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/local/lib/node_modules

as per these answers on Stack Overflow.

UPDATE:

Slightly more simple and in line with official reqs (note: remember to checkout a specific release tag prior to the following [not shown in Joyent’s instructions]). According to the official wiki:

$ export CC=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang
$ export CXX=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang++
$ ./configure && make && sudo make install

Followed by:

$ sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/.npm
$ sudo chown -R `whoami` /usr/local/lib/node_modules

SEEMS to be working for me now.