Installing V8plus for node.js

I'm installing the v8+ C++ to C boundary layer add on( https://github.com/wesolows/v8plus ) in order to call a C wrapper I wrote, and i'm having a difficult time understanding how to install and use it.

I installed the v8plus module by listing it in my dependency file: package.json, and then used npm install, and now I'm trying to tie it into the Makefile by using their commands listed:

PREFIX_NODE := $(shell dirname `bash -c 'hash node; hash -t node'`)/..
V8PLUS :=      $(shell $(PREFIX_NODE)/bin/node -e 'require("v8plus");')

However, whenever i type this into my ubuntu terminal, it doesn't recognize the 'shell' command from above i'm putting in there and suggests that i should install 'lshell', 'spell', or 'bshell'. Can someone please explain how I can properly install and use this module in order to call my C functions through Javascript in node.js.

I'm using the C wrapper to invoke popen in order to pipe commands into the terminal on behalf of my node.js application, is there a better solution to this problem then using commands such as:

popen()
execv c
system

Can you recommend any other good solutions/tutorials to approach this problem with?

Thank you for your time!