It appears that when I run npm link, it will install the project globally, and it seems to install devDependencies with it.
Is there a way to run npm link without devDependencies, perhaps with the --only=production flag?
In npm#4.x or lower
When you run npm link in other_module then you will get both dependencies and devDependencies symlinked.
The --production flag doesn't change anything, still creates a symlink to the whole directory
In npm#5.1.0
They fixed it!
If you remove node_modules and then do npm link --only=production, it runs an install before symlinking, and therefore devDependencies folder are indeed excluded.
This is currently not possible with npm link. The problem is, if you install only prod dependencies in that dependency, you're able to link it, but you're not able to develop on that dependency anymore (since missing devDependencies). And vice-versa: If you install devDependencies, you can't link anymore.
The solution: A package called npm-local-development at https://github.com/marcj/npm-local-development
It basically does the same thing as npm link, but works around the devDependency limitation by setting up a file watcher and syncs file changes automatically in the background, excluding all devDependencies/peerDependencies.
You install npm-local-development: npm i -g npm-local-development
You create file called .links.json in your root package.
You write every package name with its local relative folder path into it like so
{
"#shared/core": "../../my-library-repo/packages/core"
}
Open a console and run npm-local-development in that root package. Let it run in the background.
Disclaimer: I'm the author of this free open-source project.
A workaround I use is npm pack then point to the packed file in the example
Related
Node.js newbie here, Windows 10. I npm install-ed some packages (without -g) while inside a directory that didn't have package.json. npm placed the packages in C:\Users\{MyName}\node_modules\.
Now I'm seeing some weird behavior:
When I'm in my project directory (has package.json but no node_modules/ yet), npm list and npm list -g both show an empty list
When I'm in a non-project directory (no package.json)...
npm list -g still shows an empty list
However, npm list shows everything in C:\Users\{MyName}\node_modules\
Question 1. What is going on here? Apparently, npm's default global path should be C:\Users\{MyName}\AppData\Roaming\npm\. If so, why is it using C:\Users\{MyName}\node_modules\?
Question 2. How do I get out of this mess? Node.js has no problem importing packages from C:\Users\{MyName}\node_modules\, but I want npm to list them properly. How can I delete the semi-global packages, reinstall them correctly, and ensure that this doesn't happen again?
Welp, turns out I've been mistakenly npm install-ing packages without package.json. The first time I did this, I was in my home directory(C:\Users\{MyName}\). This caused npm to create node_modules/ and package-lock.json in the home directory. Further (mistaken) attempts to install packages in my projects--which were still missing package.json--caused npm to traverse upwards, until it found the initial node_modules/ dir, and install everything there. Because my home directory is among the places Node.js looks for modules, I didn't notice my mistake until now. :P
Not sure why it’s doing it, but the way to avoid it is to initialize your project directory using:
npm init
or if you don’t want to answer the questions:
npm init -y
That will setup the directory with the package.json and node_modules will be put there.
Ok, a couple of tips then...
when you install a package that you are going to use in production then add --save, e.g.
npm install --save some-package
this will automatically add the dependency to your package.json. If you are installing a package for use purely in development, e.g. chai, then use--save-devand it will add it to the development dependencies.
Also, git is your friend, even if you are only messing :)
Happy noding :)
For me the solution here was:
Go to c:\users[me]\AppData\Roaming\npm and delete the node_modules folder completely
Make sure I had the package.json file for the project
Delete the project package-lock.json file
Run npm init
Run npm install
Project then worked, not sure why the node_modules got to be in the folder above, ain't got time to find out.
I would like to clone https://github.com/tstringer/create-react-app-with-redux and start a new project. I ran npm start and then ran npm install for each module not present, but there are many of them. Is there a way to install all the requirements? Something like pip install -r requirements.txt in Python.
Thanks,
Uri.
Just run npm install without arguments. It will resolve the required dependencies from the package.json file.
It's simple.
If you want to install all the node_modules from the package.json file you simply put: npm install in terminal (on the same directory where the package.json exists) and it would install all the node modules in the folder called node_modules.
Generally, the node_modules folder is not uploaded in a git (by putting restriction at .gitignore) because it is essentially the same folders or packages that one would have to install, *hence installing it from package.json is simpler and it saves the internet bandwidth and time.
Even you want to save something in the package.json while you are installing any npm package you can simply put npm install --save your-package-name and it would automatically save your package in the .package.json file and you can install the same file, even after you delete the node_modules folder using the same command.
Better yet, if you want to save yourself a lot of time use yarn install instead of npm install (https://yarnpkg.com/en/). It is much faster because it caches everything and operates in parallel (see https://www.sitepoint.com/yarn-vs-npm/ for a good comparison).
npm install githubname/reponame -- Repository Name you can try
I just set up a new project using NPM, like normal:
npm init
npm install gulp --save-dev
npm install gulp-sass gulp-clean-css gulp-autoprefixer gulp-sourcemaps gulp-uglify gulp-concat --save-dev
etc.
But then I realized, like a numpty, I'd installed it in the directory above the one I intended.
I've looked through the documentation and can't see any clear indication if there's some central repository on my system that will become upset if I start manually moving things around.
Can I just move the files I created (package.json, node_modules/*) to the right folder, or do I need to "un-init"/remove NPM from the folder and start over? (If so, how do I do this?)
Thanks.
Move the package.json to the right directory and delete the NPM stuff from the subfolder, then execute:
npm install
Because you used
--save-dev
before, the names of the packages installed are in your package.json file and used during the (second) installation.
A typical approach to handle private npm modules is to put them to a Git repository, and then use npm install with the path to that repository to install the module.
If you enter the dependency into your package.json file, you can even install using npm install without the need to specify the repository url every time. I.e., if you add
"myPrivateModule": "git+ssh://git#github.com:myGitHubAccount/myPrivateModule.git"
as a dependency, you can install using
$ npm install myPrivateModule
and everything works fine :-).
Now I have a problem in that myPrivateModule is private, yes, but not a dependency. Instead, it's a dependency only for development time, hence I put it into the section devDependencies in the package.json file.
Once you do this,
$ npm install myPrivateModule
does not work any longer, as it now searches the public registry instead of using the registered path to the repository.
Is there a possibility to make this work, without the need to specify the full-blown path each and every time?
Just npm install with no arguments should read package.json and install it.
As I started to develop my first nodejs express application, I added many packages with npm.
I would like to know if there is a way to generate a package.json file containing all the current dependencies or the list of the current packages under the nodes_modules directory.
Just run npm init in the same directory as your project.
You'll be asked a list of questions (name, version, description, etc.) and once complete, it will generate a package.json file with all of the dependencies as currently installed in the node_modules directory.
Run npm list to see what you have installed. Run npm shrinkwrap to build a npm-shrinkwrap.json file, which you can use as a starting reference to build a proper package.json. My workflow is always to update package.json and then run npm install. I never run npm install foo to get some package because it creates risk of forgetting to add it to package.json and then having your application fail to start on deployment.
Updated to add: These days I do run npm install --save foo or npm install --save-dev foo since I have now decided the ~0.4.3 version numbers it adds to package.json are better than my former preference for 0.4.x since the ~ gives you a more precise minimum version number.