Use different filename for npm than "package.json" - node.js

Question

Is there a way to tell npm from the command line to use a different file than "package.json"?
Edit:
Thank you for your answers. I already checked the docs and hoped there was a workaround or a non-documented way to achieve that. I'll think of something else then.

Answer 1

Using only client-space tools, it seems pretty straightforward you can't. npm doc is positive about this :
A package is:
a) a folder containing a program described by a package.json file
b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)
c) a url thatresolves to (b)
d) a <name>#<version> that is published on theregistry with (c)
e) a <name>#<tag> that points to (d)
f) a <name>that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)
g) a git url that, when cloned,results in (a).
[...]
You need to have a package.json file in the root of your project to do
much of anything with npm. That is basically the whole interface.
source : npm doc
As you can see, they make it really clear a package.json is required for anything to work.
You'd have to dig into the code, for a result which would not be reusable. If it's what you want, please make it clear in your question for others to understand why it's necessary.

Answer 2

Nope. As described in the npm-install docs, this is the only syntaxes you can use :
npm install (with no args in a package dir)
npm install <tarball file>
npm install <tarball url>
npm install <folder>
npm install [#<scope>/]<name> [--save|--save-dev|--save-optional] [--save-exact]
npm install [#<scope>/]<name>#<tag>
npm install [#<scope>/]<name>#<version>
npm install [#<scope>/]<name>#<version range>
npm i (with any of the previous argument usage)
With no args, the command will install a folder containing a program described by a package.json file.

Answer 3

I've end up with following bash script which I've included in $PATH
#!/bin/bash
# npm.sh - script will symlik pkg.json to package.json and execute specified npm commands
#
# usage:
# npm.sh <pkg.json> <npm commands>
#
# example:
# npm.sh some.package.json install
# npm.sh some.other.package.json run build
package_json=$1
if [ "$#" -lt 2 ]; then
echo "Illegal number of parameters"
exit 1
fi
if [ ! -e "${package_json}" ]; then
echo "Non existing file"
exit 1
fi
if [ "${package_json}" = "package.json" ]; then
echo "Cannot link to same file"
exit 1
fi
if [ -f "package.json" ]; then
if [ ! -L "package.json" ]; then
cp "package.json" "package.json.bak"
fi
fi
ln -fs "${package_json}" package.json
npm ${#:2}