title: How to install Node.js version 16.x.x in a Debian based image (Dockerfile)? (why so hard?)
body: <p><strong>Date:</strong> <strong>Tuesday October 5th, 2021</strong></p>
  <p><strong>Node 10.x</strong> was released on <strong>2018-04-24</strong> (but that's the default version when using apt-get)</p>
  <hr />
  <p>I have needs to have both Python and Node.js installed in running container.  I can get the latest version of python in a container using:</p>
  <p><code>FROM python:alpine</code></p>
  <p>or</p>
  <p><code>FROM python:buster</code>    &lt;== Debian based</p>
  <hr />
  <p>How do I get the latest version of node.js (16.10.0) installed on Debian (in a Docker container)</p>
  <p>Whe I do this:</p>
  <pre><code>FROM python:buster
  
  RUN apt-get update &amp;&amp; \
    apt-get install -y \
      nodejs npm
  </code></pre>
  <p>I get these versions of node:</p>
  <p><strong>node: 10.24.0</strong></p>
  <p><strong>npm   5.8.0</strong></p>
  <p>and when run in the container give a long statement about no longer being unsupported.</p>
  <p>What's up with the package repo that 'apt-get' pulls from, that it will not install later versions of node (14.x or greater)?</p>
  <hr />
  <p><strong>If I pull from:</strong></p>
  <pre><code>FROM python:alpine
  
  and include these lines
  RUN apk -v --no-cache --update add \
      nodejs-current npm
  </code></pre>
  <hr />
  <p>I will get node <strong>16.x</strong> version, which makes it easy.  I don't have to do anything else.</p>
  <p>Is there something equivalent for <strong>python:buster</strong> (Debian based)</p>
  <p>I would really like a one or two liner in my <strong>Dockerfile</strong> and not a pages of instructions with a dozen commands to simply get node in the image.</p>
  <hr />
  <p>I would appreciate any tested/proven reply.  I am sure a number of others have the same question.  Other stackoverflow articles on this subject are convoluted and do not provide the simple solution I am hoping to find that is available with pytyon:alpine</p>
  <p>There is a reason I need <strong>python:debian</strong> and cannot use python:alpine in this one use case, otherwise I would chose the latter.</p>
  <hr />
  <p>Is there a way some how to get a package repo maintainers attention to show me how to get a recent version (<strong>14..16</strong>), into the apt-get repository?</p>
  <p>It appears many people are having issues with this.</p>