doc: remove v prefix for Node.js with version references

[MikeMcC399]

Situation

According to the Node.js documentation style guide > Version references section, version references using the text "Node.js" should be written without a v prefix.

Change

Change occurrences of Node.js version references to conform to the style guide, for example:

Before	After
Node.js v24	Node.js 24
Node.js v0.8	Node.js 0.8
Node.js v11.0.0	Node.js 11.0.0

Usage in CHANGELOG files is not touched, since these are considered immutable historical records.

doc/contributing/releases.md is also left unchanged. This should preferably be reviewed and updated separately by the release team to check and correct usage of "Node.js v" consistently.

Edit for clarification: This PR is only concerned with the combination text such as "Node.js 24.13.0".

Other uses with v like the output of the CLI command node --version "v24.13.0" or API documentation "Added in: v24.13.0" are OK and not impacted.

This is also in line with blog post release notices on https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release

[nodejs-github-bot]

Review requested:

• @nodejs/build
• @nodejs/crypto
• @nodejs/tsc
• @nodejs/userland-migrations

[sxa]

I personally think it looks better with the v even in these situations, although I appreciate that it was added some time ago.

I did wonder if this recommendation was made around the time of Node 8 where there could easily be confusion with our V8 dependency but looks like it was done by @Trott around Node 15 #33755

Not sure I care to much to object though but I felt it was worth voicing my opinion especially since it does mean we have some inconsistencies between how we'll write it in some places and others which have the full version (changelogs, tarball names). Seems like something that will be easy to trip up on because of that.

[MikeMcC399]

@sxa

This only concerns writing the version in the form like Node.js 24.13.0. Other instances without the word "Node.js" use the v prefix.

For example the following is OK:

• output of the CLI command node --version = "v24.13.0"
• API docs that describe transitions, for example "Added in: v9.9.0", where the context makes it clear that it's describing the version of Node.js without needing to use the text "Node.js" together with the version.

The Node.js documentation style guide > Version references section needs to be extended to describe these two situations clearly. The original authors and reviewers of the style guide section considered the examples I quoted above to be "non-prose" and therefore exempt. I plan to submit a proposal for a style guide update soon. I'm waiting for #61471 to be resolved, as currently the API docs website presentation of the Node.js version is not conformant with the style guide.

I personally tripped up on this when I submitted a PR that needed to describe a version (corrected in this PR for doc/contributing/distribution.md), hence my interest in getting it harmonized and clarified!

[Trott]

I did wonder if this recommendation was made around the time of Node 8 where there could easily be confusion with our V8 dependency but looks like it was done by @Trott around Node 15 #33755

There is the V8 dependency, yes, but also the built-in V8 module which uses a v8 namespace.

I don't have an opinion on whether this makes sense anymore or not. And in fact, I'd defer to the communications professionals in the OpenJS Foundation about what format to use to specify Node.js versions in text. @nodejs/openjs