I can't find this documented anywhere, but I'm working on a node package that will be installed via npm install -g. This includes a binary and also several other sub packages that will be yeoman generators. As far as I can tell, these also have to be installed via npm install -g (or npm link). There doesn't seem to be any other way to use a generator. If there is, it would be fine to point yeoman to one of the generators relative to this project too.
When my package is installed, I want all of the generators to be installed as well since my script will ultimately end up calling yo one-of-my-generators.
Is there anything I can do to make npm install of my project also install/link all of the generators it contains in one step?
add them as peerDependencies in your package.json file. See the blog at http://blog.nodejs.org/2013/02/07/peer-dependencies/
Its also how we install things like mocha
Related
I just setup a test, and tried to npm install express even though express already exists globally on my system. To my surprise, instead of using the global version, it ended up re-installing a version locally!? Isn't it supposed to use the global version... Or am I suppose to use -g every time, even when I only want to use the existing global version. Otherwise, what's the point of installing anything locally!?
The answer is "NO". It isn't supposed to use your global version.
If you want to use your global version, then you doesn't need to execute npm install at all because it is already installed.
If you do it then, obviously, you are saying "I want to install it locally to my project". And more than that: "I want to install its latest version unless it is declared in my package.json with other explicitly specified version".
In fact, the actual question is: Why in the hell would you want to not install a dependency of your project locally? To have more version mismatch issues?
As #anshuman_singh says, best practice is to always do an npm install --save.
You are able to use globally installed packages, of course. It could be handy for fast testing code that you will drop just after a few hours or so.
But, anyway: If you doesn't have really hard disk or network bandwidth issues, installing all dependencies locally will avoid you too much trouble in the future.
On the other hand, uploading that modules to your code repository is also a bad idea (maybe that is what you were trying to avoid) because, with different versions of node, most native modules won't work if not rebuild. But most VCS support ignoring files and or directories that must not be uploaded.
For example, in git (.gitignore file):
**/node_modules
In summary:
npm init (if you didn't already it).
npm install --save for all your project dependencies.
npm install --save-dev for dependencies not needed in production (testing stuff).
Don't upload node_modules to your VCS.
After new checkout: npm install or npm install --production (to not install dev-dependencies).
npm install -g only for tools you will use in console.
This way, you are sure that you will have in production (or other dev environments) the exact same version of each package.
And, finally, if you ever want to upgrade some package to its latest version, simply run:
npm install --save <pagkage_name>#latest.
If you’re installing something that you want to use in your program, using require('whatever'), then install it locally, at the root of your project.
If you’re installing something that you want to use in your shell, on the command line or something, install it globally, so that its binaries end up in your PATH environment variable.
The first option is the best in my opinion. Simple, clear, explicit. The second is really handy if you are going to re-use the same library in a bunch of different projects
Install locally-
npm install moduleName
install locally and save in package.json-
npm install moduleName --save
install globally-
npm install moduleName -g
I need to use a package on npm, so I'm trying to learn how to use npm. The tutorials are fine, but I feel like they're assuming I know node.js, which I don't, and I'm having a hard time finding a tutorial for npm that doesn't also assume I know node.js. Do I need to learn node.js to use npm?
you don't need to know anything about node to use npm, its just a package manager. Install npm and then npm install all the packages you want. You will need to learn the npm toolchain, however, and it also helps to know which options are available for the various commands.
At the very least you should know the difference between installing a package globally and installing a package locally, i.e npm install -g vs. npm install respectively.
I'm using JointsWP (an excellent Foundation 6 port to Wordpress).
I'm using the Sass version and it's working great. However, I seem to have to install npm with every project. Is this nessesary?
Is there a way to install npm globally and link to it from my project? Or have the project find it automatically?
I think you are confused about what the command npm install actually does. npm install installs all the npm dependencies for your project into the node_modules directory. It doesn't actually install npm. To run npm install you have to have Node.js installed (npm is included with node).
So to answer your question, yes it is necessary to run npm install for every project.
Relevant Article: Global vs Local installation
The article above shared by Colin Marshall is great and sums up the answer perfectly.
In general, the rule of thumb is:
If you’re installing something that you want to use in your program,
using require('whatever'), then install it locally, at the root of
your project. If you’re installing something that you want to use in
your shell, on the command line or something, install it globally, so
that its binaries end up in your PATH environment variable.
So to answer your question, is it possible? Yes.
Is it recommended? No.
https://nodejs.org/en/blog/npm/npm-1-0-global-vs-local-installation/
You can install gulp sass globally with the command:
npm install -g gulp-sass
I have used to install my nodejs on D:\ drive instead of C and have set environment variables to D drive node & npm folders.
Then i changed npm installation path as "prefix=D:\node\node_modules\npm
" on "npmrc" file. So i could confirm that all user based modules are pointing on D drive npm folder instead of appdata.
I tried to install express js globally and i used to check the package tree on my cli as mentioned below,
npm ll -g
while trying this command am getting npm extraneous ERR,
Please suggest me that which way i have to use npm path and installation stuffs.
Thanks in advance.
It might seem like a good idea to install packages globally, but this is one great reason not to.
Often used packages like express, and cookies should be kept local to a package. Mostly because of versioning issues. You might have one package using express2, but your new one wants to use express3. You would have trouble if it was a global install. When in doubt leave off that -g, and use a --save instead. (This adds the package to your npm dependencies list.)
On the other hand, command line tools like mocha, yeoman, and uh not much else that I know of should be installed with the -g flag.
I'm not much of a windows person, so you'll have to look a little yourself, but I would also recommend not installing Node by hand, but instead using a version manager like nvm to do that stuff. Here's an nvm port for windows: https://github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows
I've noticed that yo angular generates a GruntFile containing all of the instructions, but typically does not include grunt.loadNpmTasks('<package>') statements, which may or may not be indicative of globally installed packages (?).
So, what is the correct way to add additional NPM packages to a yo-angular generated project?
the yo angular generator uses load-grunt-tasks, which prevents the gruntfile from becoming to bloated:
This module will read the
dependencies/devDependencies/peerDependencies in your package.json and
load grunt tasks that match the provided patterns.
the generator uses load-grunt-tasks without a pattern provided
require('load-grunt-tasks')(grunt);
which means that it will simply try to load everything (with the pattern grunt-*, for more info see comments below) you install via npm.
long story short, just npm install it (grunt tasks should be installed with the --save-dev option, to automatically move it to the devDependencies)
$ npm install your-grunt-task --save-dev