I want to make sure I’m keeping node.js up to date on my debian system since it can still be somewhat buggy. Here’s how I’ll do it:

Check the current version

node --version

Remove the node installation:

sudo dpkg -r node

Build the latest for dpkg

sudo apt-get install python g++ make checkinstall
mkdir ~/src && cd $_
wget -N http://nodejs.org/dist/node-latest.tar.gz
tar xzvf node-latest.tar.gz && cd node-v*
./configure
checkinstall #(remove the "v" in front of the version number in the dialog)
sudo dpkg -i node_*

And, of course, verify that you have the latest version installed

node --version