How To Install Gulp.js on CentOS 7

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Gulp.js on CentOS 7. For those of you who didn’t know, Gulp.js is a powerful and popular task runner for web development that automates repetitive tasks, such as minification, compilation, unit testing, and more. It is built on Node.js and uses a simple, intuitive API to define and execute tasks, making it an essential tool for streamlining and optimizing web development workflows.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Gulp.js on a CentOS 7 server.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: CentOS 7.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Gulp.js on CentOS 7

Step 1. To ensure a smooth installation process and maintain system stability, it is crucial to update your CentOS 7 system to the latest available packages. Open a terminal and run the following commands with root or sudo privileges:

yum clean all
yum install -y epel-release
yum -y update

These commands will clean the yum metadata and update all installed packages to their latest versions. Keeping your system up-to-date helps prevent potential compatibility issues and security vulnerabilities.

Step 2. Installing Node.js on CentOS Linux.

Gulp.js is built on Node.js, so we need to install Node.js on our CentOS 7 system before proceeding with the Gulp installation. There are two primary methods to install Node.js: using the NodeSource repository or compiling from source.

curl -fsSL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo bash -
sudo yum install -y nodejs
sudo yum install gcc-c++ make

Step 3. Installing Gulp.js on CentOS 7.

With Node.js installed, we can now proceed to install Gulp globally on our CentOS 7 system. A global installation makes the Gulp command available system-wide, allowing you to use it in any project directory.

sudo npm install -g gulp

This command uses the Node Package Manager (npm) to install the gulp-cli package globally. The gulp-cli package provides the command-line interface for running Gulp tasks.

Then, let’s check the installed version on your system using the following command:

gulp --version

[12:19:46] CLI version 3.9.1
[12:19:46] Local version 3.9.1

Step 4. Create a New Project.

Now that we have Gulp installed globally, let’s set up a new project and configure Gulp for it.

mkdir my-project
cd my-project

Initialize a new Node.js project by running:

npm init

Install Gulp locally as a development dependency for your project:

npm install --save-dev gulp

Verify the local Gulp installation by running:

npx gulp --version

Create a new file named gulpfile.js in your project’s root directory:

touch gulpfile.js

Open the gulpfile.js file in a text editor and add the following basic task:

const gulp = require('gulp');

gulp.task('default', function() {
  console.log('Hello, Gulp!');
});

Test running the default Gulp task:

npx gulp

This command executes the default task defined in the gulpfile.js. You should see the message “Hello, Gulp!” logged in the console.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Gulp.js. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing Gulp.js in the CentOS 7 system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Gulp.js website.