Install nodejs using homebrew and install appium

I was very exited to install appium but one major issue I encountered is that you can't npm-install it using sudo.
Well that's really annoying because I'm installing it on a VM that has a shared folder, and I have to use sudo... damn...
So I tired several solutions, and found that the best thing to do, is install nodejs and npm allover again using Homebrew.

I thought it's a good place to share the process I went through:
Note that I'm running Ubuntu 13.04 64bit Using VirtualBox.
This solution worked for me, but I hope that will help someone, someday.
Enjoy!

• Uninstall node and npm:

sudo apt-get remove nodejs

• install linuxbrew:

ruby -e "$(wget -O- https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/linuxbrew/go/install)"

• Add linuxbrew to path:

In many places you might see that you need to add the following lines to .bashrc
In my case, .bashrc is not loaded each time I open the terminal, instead .bash_profile was the right place.

export PATH="$HOME/.linuxbrew/bin:$PATH"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$HOME/.linuxbrew/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"

so just add these two lines to the file that fits your machine.

• Install nodejs and npm:

brew install node

• Existing global packages.

If you have already installed global packages, make sure they will be in the newly created global packages folder. Since I didn't have many, I just reinstalled them. Default folder is:

~/.linuxbrew/lib/node_modules

old one was:

~/node_modules

• Install appium globally:

npm install -g appium

• Install appium client in your project folder:

npm install wd

• Download and Install Android SDK:

  • Download from: http://developer.android.com/index.html
  • unzip the downloaded file. I put it under the $HOME path and named the folder /adt

• Add the following paths to .bashrc / .bash_profile:

export ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/adt/sdk"

export JAVA_HOME="/usr/bin/java"

export PATH=${PATH}:~/adt/sdk/tools

export PATH=${PATH}:~/adt/sdk/platform-tools

• Install needed packages:

android

• Add AVD (Andorid virtual device)

  • Go to "Device Definitions"
  • Click on the wanted device.
  • Click create AVD.
  • Go to Android Virtual Devices.
  • Click Start.

• Start appium server:

appium &

• Run tests:

node your-appium-test.js

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References:

• http://appium.io/
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5650169/uninstall-node-js-using-linux-command-line
• https://github.com/Homebrew/linuxbrew
• http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/12993/why-doesnt-bashrc-run-automatically
• http://appium.io/slate/en/master/?ruby#about-appium
• http://askubuntu.com/questions/318246/complete-installation-guide-for-android-sdk-adt-bundle-on-ubuntu