I have a weird problem when I install a Node.js package:
npm i socket.io
It doesn't appear in my package.json file as a dependency, but it was installed and I can use it. The problem is, when someone will download it from GitHub, he/she needs to install socket.io manually instead from just npm i. How can I add it?
Use
npm i --save socket.io
The --save option will add the package to your dependencies.
Related
I'm porting a node/Express app to Heroku, and it keeps crashing. The log first said, "Error: Cannot find module 'mongoose'" I then (re-)installed mongoose. Then it crashed with "Error: Cannot find module 'moment'"
I require mongoose, moment, etc. in my app. Isn't npm install by itself supposed to take care of the dependencies, or do I additionally have to add all these dependencies, one-by-one, to the package.json file, in addition to npm install? Tks!
In the older version of NPM (5.0.0 or earlier), you had to add --save as a flag to the npm install as:
npm i package-name --save
And it would add it to your package.json. As of 5.0.0 and later, it automatically adds it to the package file.
To answer your question, yes, you will have to add them one at a time for now. And keep in mind what I said before, because if you are using an older version of NPM, make sure you use --save when you are installing so you don't have to do extra work :-)
I have created the package.json using npm init. After some stage I installed few more modules as per the need.Rather than updating the package.json dependencies manually, is there any way to automatically update it??
If I understand what you are asking correctly, you want to use npm to install a dependency and have that dependency automatically added to your package.json ?
If so, use --save after the package name :
npm install [package name] --save
For download the all packages configured in the package.json, use:
npm update --save
Docs: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/update
I have an issue with a project where we are using node and brunch. The issue is current specific to brunch, but could occur for any module would be my guess.
The easiest way to currently reproduce this, is to do the following in a new folder:
npm init
npm install --save-dev brunch
The issue here is that brunch depends on loggy, which in turn depends on ansi-color, which no longer has an entry in the npmregistry:
https://registry.npmjs.org/ansi-color
I think this might be the github project: https://github.com/loopj/commonjs-ansi-color
In any case, I am unable to proceed, and all our builds fail because they are not able to fetch the given dependency.
I could perhaps use npm shrinkwrap in some way, but that depends on the modules already existing in node_modules, which I am currently missing.
So how can I force npm to use ansi-color from a different location, or ignore the dependency?
Not sure about npm 2 but you can fix this with beta npm 3. npm 3 has flat node_modules directory. So sub modules can sit in the top level. Read the Changelog.
The missing modules can be installed directly from their Github repo as a toplevel dependency in your project. If npm finds the module with the same version in node_modules directory, it won't look for it anymore in the registry.
Install npm 3:
npm install -g npm#3-latest
Then install depencies:
//install missing module from other location
npm install https://github.com/loopj/commonjs-ansi-color.git --save-dev
npm install --save-dev brunch
It looks like ansi-color is back on the npm registry ("https://registry.npmjs.org/ansi-color" is back online)
I understand the differences between npm install something and npm install something --save (for anyone wondering, the first one will install the dependency only while the latter will install the dependency and add it to your package.json).
However I do not understand why there is a --save option in the first place. In other words, why would you ever want to install a dependency without adding it to your package.json file? Why is the --save option not default?
A lot of websites/npm modules/SaaS suggest installing their module using npm install something (newrelic is one of them for instance), am I missing something?
Edit: Starting from NPM 5, --save is now on by default.
You would have a scenario such as you need some module to install without adding dependency to package.json file, for ex. you just want to try some module, and not sure you would be really using that module in production or while deploying, so instead adding the module dependency to package.json, just give it a try without using --save. this is why npm install without --save exists.
But For most of your modules you might require using --save, for ex. npm install express --save,
in this case you surely know that you are going to use express for you application.
The other scenario, for not using --save, would be, npm install heapdump or npm install nodemon, I would use it for testing my apps performance, but not add a dependency in the package.json :)
Also, As #surajck said in comment below: when you are doing global installs, in that case adding dependencies using --save, to the package.json would not make sense.
I just learned a nice trick from Jonathan Mills' JavaScript Best Practices course on Pluralsight. From the terminal:
npm config set save=true
Now I don't need to remember --save anymore. And I also now use
npm config set save-exact=true
Because I want the exact version of the package not the ^ prefix.
By default with version npm 5.0+ npm install adds the module to the dependencies list in the package.json file; with earlier versions of npm, you must specify the --save option explicitly. Then, afterwards, running npm install in the app directory will automatically install modules in the dependencies list.
I've just started using Grunt.js. It is pretty hard to set up and I am at the point of creating a package.json file.
Following this tutorial, it says there are 3 ways to create a package.json file.
The first is to do npm install grunt --save-dev
But what does --save-dev means? I tried looking but it ends in vain.
--save-dev: Package will appear in your devDependencies.
According to the npm install docs.
If someone is planning on downloading and using your module in their program, then they probably don't want or need to download and build the external test or documentation framework that you use.
In other words, when you run npm install, your project's devDependencies will be installed, but the devDependencies for any packages that your app depends on will not be installed; further, other apps having your app as a dependency need not install your devDependencies. Such modules should only be needed when developing the app (eg grunt, mocha etc).
According to the package.json docs
Edit: Attempt at visualising what npm install does:
yourproject
dependency installed
dependency installed
dependency installed
devDependency NOT installed
devDependency NOT installed
devDependency installed
dependency installed
devDependency NOT installed
There are (at least) two types of package dependencies you can indicate in your package.json files:
Those packages that are required in order to use your module are listed under the "dependencies" property. Using npm you can add those dependencies to your package.json file this way:
npm install --save packageName
Those packages required in order to help develop your module are listed under the "devDependencies" property. These packages are not necessary for others to use the module, but if they want to help develop the module, these packages will be needed. Using npm you can add those devDependencies to your package.json file this way:
npm install --save-dev packageName
To add on to Andreas' answer, you can install only the dependencies by using:
npm install --production
When you use the parameter "--save" your dependency will go inside the #1 below in package.json. When you use the parameter "--save-dev" your dependency will go inside the #2 below in package.json.
#1. "dependencies": these packages are required by your application in production.
#2. "devDependencies": these packages are only needed for development and testing
Documentation from npm for npm install <package-name> --save and npm install <package-name> --save-dev can be found here:
https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/using-a-package.json#the-save-and-save-dev-install-flags
A package.json file declares metadata about the module you are developing. Both aforementioned commands modify this package.json file. --save will declare the installed package (in this case, grunt) as a dependency for your module; --save-dev will declare it as a dependency for development of your module.
Ask yourself: will the installed package be required for use of my module, or will it only be required for developing it?
For me the first answer appears a bit confusing, so to make it short and clean:
npm install <package_name> saves any specified packages into dependencies by default. Additionally, you can control where and how they get saved with some additional flags:
npm install <package_name> --no-save Prevents saving to dependencies.
npm install <package_name> ---save-dev updates the devDependencies in your package. These are only used for local testing and development.
You can read more at in the dcu
–save
The package installed is core dependency.
–save-dev
The package installed is not a core rather development dependency.
Use only when developing
--save-dev means omit in production environments, use only in development environments (smaller, and probably faster).