alt Hacker NewsWhile I don't think piping curl into bash is the most secure, npm installing has proven time and time again to open yourself up to supply chain attacks. At least with curl you know that you're getting the supply chain put together by the software author. With npm, every single library is a vector for attack every time you update.
You’d be getting the supply chain put together by the software author in either case. It’s common to do both badly, but if you care about doing it well, that’s easier with npm (e.g. shrinkwrap, as mentioned) and can be taken farther (the non-varying artifact thing).