Background
We're having issues with a Windows build system hitting the file path too long error when the node modules folder has items within it that have paths which are over 260 characters.
We've discovered adding a deeply nested dependency to the top of the devDependencies section fixes this issue. The assumption is that when npm sees a nested dependency C.1 require package A, which is already declared and available in devDependencies, npm will not add dependency A to dependency C.1's node_modules directory.
Issue
The problem I'm seeing on my local machine is that running npm install <package> --save-dev reorders the packages in devDependencies alphabetically, but the order npm process packages and their dependencies matters. If I check this in, then the build system will hit the same file path too long error.
ie If package A comes after package C and dependency C.1 requires package A, then npm will add package A to the node_modules folder of dependency C.1.
I'm not sure if this reordering is only on my machine since I haven't seen npm reorder dependencies on my home machine before.
Has anyone seen this before or know how to stop this behavior?
Versions
Node: v0.10.32
NPM: v1.4.28
Side note: I've read that npm 2.0 or future versions will analyze the dependency hierarchy, find duplicated packages, and only reference them once on the file system, but the upgrade to npm 2.0 is not in the picture at this time.
The only way I see this working is to have some sort of preinstall script which [hopefully] will run after the dependencies file has been updated but before the package is installed. From the npm site:
In the current version of node, the standard way to do this is using a
.gyp file. If you have a file with a .gyp extension in the root of
your package, then npm will run the appropriate node-gyp commands
automatically at install time
If that doesn't work, you will need to use MakeFile and rewrite the package.json file. This is not too out of the ordinary as some projects require some sort of pre-compilation - you would just instruct your team to run a separate command for installing npm packages.
Related
I am just starting with node/npm and I have a lot of trouble with
the path to install the package
loading the package in node
I would like to have a package folder (no matter its path) with only the packages needed for my current project (I don't use a package.json just the normal npm install...). So instead of installing the package in the folder given by npm root, I thought I would install all the packages in a local folder with npm install --prefix ./node_modules pck_name.
If I install the packages globally, I am able to load the packages in Node with require('pck-nam'), but when I install in the local folder, I am unable to load the package in Node even by adding the folder path to node_path or with the full path of the packages in require:
const pck = require('C:/Users/Me/myproject/my_modules/node_modules/pck-name');
The error is Cannot find module 'pck-name'
Because I was stuck on this for a long time without finding a solution, I though of renaming the folder given by npm root and then doing a global install : because the folder is will be recreated from scratch, then I will just have the packages for my project. But after the install, I did npm list, and all my previous package are listed, including the one for current project.
I have read many questions/answers and many tuto but I am still unable to use npm/node the way I would like (I am used to python and I regularly use import for global/local modules so I may be thinking too much in a python way).
I can at least partially answer my question as I understand know why the previous package where still there after I renamed the folder. Although I didn't install from a package.json, npm install do create a package.json, or in my case a package-lock.json. And apparently when running a npm install package-name it will check package-lock.json re-install all the missing packages.
So it's not enough to rename the folder indicated by npm root, I also add to rename the package-lock.json. Now I am clear. I still think that I haven't found the best way to go but at least I have what I need.
I'm trying to set up a development environment with several packages, and as a result I need to manually install some dependencies. More specifically, I have some local changes in several packages which I need to test before I can push them to github, so I can't just npm install the top level because it won't pick up those change. So I run the first npm install manually on packages which are missing, and then try to run my node code and see which package it is still missing, then try to npm install what it says is missing.
However, when I go to install the second package, it ends up with this message:
added 3 packages from 4 contributors, removed 799 packages and audited 3 packages in 4.197s
The second install removed practically every package that was already installed! I didn't notice this until about the third time, when I realized that I seemed to be installing the same thing over and over.
However can I prevent this particularly naughty behavior and force npm to only install what I tell it to and leave everything else alone?
Have a look at npm link if you need to test against modified packages.
From npm link:
This is handy for installing your own stuff, so that you can work on it and test it iteratively without having to continually rebuild.
Say b is a dependency of a. You made changes to b and want to check if a still works with those changes. Instead of using b in node_modules installed from npm, use your local, modified version:
cd ~/projects/b # go into the package directory
npm link # creates global link
cd ~/projects/a # go into some other package directory.
npm link b # link-install the package
Now, any changes to ~/projects/b will be reflected in ~/projects/a/node_modules/b/.
If your development flow involves updating in parallel packages which depend on one another, you might consider switching your project's package manager to from npm to yarn to take advantage of yarn's workspaces feature.
Yarns's workspaces allow you to easily setup a single monorepo containing all your interconnected dependencies, and let yarn thinking how to link them together in your dev environment.
i had a similar problem today , & thought this might help someone in the future and l have found out that if you install simultaneouly it
npm install --save package1 package2 package3 ...
it worked as l had
npm install xlsx angular-oauth2-oidc
but if you install separately it will have issues
Edit 2 More infor by #Michael
installing multiple packages in the same command also prevents hooks from being installed multiple times
Remove "package-lock.json" file befor installing the new package.
Are you saving the dependencies to package.json?
To Save : npm install --save {package_name}. This will save the package to package.json and install using npm install.
You can't particularly control the dependencies(fully). The dependencies which you have installed might be using dependencies themselves.So when you remove a package, npm deletes all the package's dependencies and the package.
Using Visual Studio code as IDE but lately when I run the command - npm install from the app folder of the solution it installs around 374 items under "node_modules" instead of just installing the packages from the package.json file.
Can someone please provide some pointers for this behavior?
My versions:
node -v
v6.9.1
npm -v
3.10.8
Go to your node_modules folder and find one of the folders matching the libraries from your package.json file. Inside you will find another package.json which describes this library. It is most likely it will also have at least a couple of entries in dependencies section.
When you run npm install npm builds so-called 'dependency tree'. It starts with your top-level package.json and checks what dependencies needs to be installed, then (using its registry) it checks what are the dependencies of these dependencies and then their dependencies and so on...
It is prudent (but often neglected) to check what are the dependencies of the libraries you decide to use. Some of them might have licenses incompatible with yours. Some of them might need a ton of code to perform a simple thing. Many will use deprecated versions, which will spam your npm install log with warnings and might actually cause some conflicts with your other dependencies.
When I am in a Node.js project and run npm install, npm installs both, dependencies and dev dependencies. If I do not want to install the dev dependencies, I can run npm install --production.
Question 1: If I do not provide --production: Are the dependencies' dev dependencies installed, too, or only their actual dependencies?
Now, what if I am in a Node.js project and install a new dependency, something such as:
npm install foo
This installs foo's dependencies, of course.
Question 2: But what about its dev dependencies? Are they installed, too, or are they skipped?
Answers to your questions:
Yes dev dependencies will be installed in npm install only way it wont install dev dependencies is when NODE_ENV is set to production
No dev dependencies of your external modules won't be installed see here
When you run npm install by default both dependencies and devDependency dependencies are also installed. Because if once is going to develop a package, we would download it e.g. from git and go to root folder and run.
npm install
so you would expect to have devDependencies to.
npm install "$package"
doesn't install the devDependencies by default. But if you really want to install development packages in that case, you can set the dev config option to true:
npm install "$package" --dev
Node applications use multiple methods to maintain dependency versioning up to date but there are multiple dependency types that need to be considered. Dependencies are found in a node application's root directory within the package.json file. I will go through the different dependency types and list some defining features or characteristics:
Dependencies:
These are specified in a simple object that maps a package name to a version range. The version range is a string which has one or more space-separated descriptors. Dependencies can also be identified with a tarball or git URL.
npm install from a directory that contains package.json
npm install $package on any other directory
dependencies are required to run
Installed transitively: if A requires B, and B requires C. then C gets installed, otherwise B could not work, and neither would A.
devDependencies:
If someone is planning on downloading and using module in their program, then they probably don't want or need to download and build the external test or documentation framework that you use. In this case it's best to map these additional items in a devDependencies object, which is not installed when the user is installing the package unless specifically passing in --dev. These are typically installed when doing a traditional npm install from the root of the package.
npm install on a directory that contains package.json, unless the developer passes the --production flag.
not installed on npm install "$package" on any other directory, unless you give it the --dev option
Are not installed transitively
Other Dependency types:
These are less commonly used but may serve a purpose.
peerDependencies
optionalDependencies
I've been using ember for a while and when I wanted to install the node dependencies of a project, I just needed to use npm install to create the folder node_modules with all the dependencies (as it's described in http://ember-cli.com/user-guide/).
Since I was using an old version of node I unisntalled node and npm and installed nvm with the versions node v5.0.0 and npm v3.3.6but now, when I try to use npm install to install the dependencies of a project as I used to do before, instead of the dependencies of the package.json file, I get many, many more from things I'm not sure where they come (I think they are dependencies that npm handles by itself in a globally way but now it's adding them to my project locally, but I'm not sure).
Why am I getting all those unknown (for me) dependencies?
Notice that, when I run ember new it generates the correct dependencies in node_modules but if I delete this folder and run npm install happens the same.
That's one of the changes introduced by npm v3.0:
Your dependencies will now be installed flat - by default. If
possible, all of your dependencies, and their dependencies, and their
dependencies will be installed in your project's node_modules folder
without nesting. Nesting will only occur when two or more modules have
conflicting dependencies.
Read more at http://www.felixrieseberg.com/npm-v3-is-out-and-its-a-really-big-deal-for-windows/