Use different versions of the same package in dev or prod? - npm

(not a native speaker, sorry if things don't seems clear)
We are devs for a clients and we work with others devs from another company. The other devs make us a package that we sometimes change this in it, then submit the changes in a pull request.
So we end up having a local version of the package and the official version. And so we want to use the local version in dev (where we might make little changes in the package to match what the client want), and the official in prod (where our changes and other devs changes are merges).
I will show an example that don't work but that can help understand the idea:
[...]
"dependencies"{
[...]
"package":"prod-package"
},
"devDependencies"{
[...]
"package":"local/version/of/package"
},
and so, we should have this:
npm build # use local/version/of/package
npm build --prod # use prod-package
I'm not really good with npm (in fact, beside npm install and npm remove, I basically know nothing), so I might ask something obvious, but I can't find the answer anywere.

Have you tried using npm-link to link to the local version of the package you are consuming? That way, you could still commit your changes to the package back to the vendor.
https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v8/commands/npm-link
You would essentially run npm link in the checked-out-from-VCS (git?) package folder, then you switch back to your project where you are consuming that package and run npm link {name-of-npm-package}
This would allow you to develop on that version locally, make your changes (and they will show up on VCS for easy pull request management).

Related

How to get the version of a remote npm package using a bin script

I'm trying to set up an npx script to create a template project.
In package.json I have:
"bin": {
"init": "bin/init"
}
In the init script I'm using tag='v'$(npm pkg get version | tr -d '"') to get the version of the package. I then use git clone --depth 1 --branch $tag https://github.com/matriarx/typescript.git to clone that specific repository for that specific tag.
When I do yarn link and try use it locally, from within that specific project, it works because it's able to correctly pick up the package.json version. So the above only works if it's run inside an existing project. However that's not what I want to do.
I want to enable someone to run it even if they have nothing locally, by simply doing npx #matriarx/typescript init and it should create the new project by cloning it. More than that I want them to be able to clone any specific version by using npx #matriarx/typescript#0.0.1 init in order to clone a specific version.
However it seems that anything I try is only able to get the version from a local package.json that already exists.
I could just clone the current existing repository without specifying any tag, but that would defeat the point of having releases, then it would just clone any current code completely disregarding the release. So it has to clone the tagged release.
How can I get the remote package version stored on npm from the bin script without having anything locally before hand?
Alternatively is there a better way to do what I'm trying to do?
EDIT: I ended up just hardcoding the version in the script, which works but it sucks because it's tedious to have to update it every time I bump the version. Though for now I still don't know a better way to do it.
After some more time messing around I figured out there is a standard way of doing it, at least since npm 7.
If you have a project like example then you can create a completely separate project called create-example with a bin script.
When you use npm init example, npm will automatically search for a package prefixed with "create-" and execute its main bin script. So when running npm init example it will search for that create-example package and execute the bin script, which will install the example package.
This is how most of the bigger packages like react and next do it.
This approach comes with some disadvantages that I really don't like, for example it will show the incorrect dependencies on npm and it will cause you to have to maintain multiple projects and semvers on different projects. However it will also allow you to create a clean separation between the actual project and the installation of that project.
For some projects it might also make a lot more sense. For example if you have a project that doesn't have a package.json at all and you want to create a setup for it, it wouldn't make sense to create an npm package inside that project just for that. Instead you can create a separate "create-project" package just to set it up and keep npm out of the actual project. In other words it gives you a neat way to create bin scripts for a completely separate project that doesn't have anything to do with npm.
You could also just have created a normal shell script and execute it using curl but I guess npm just gives you another way to do it.
You still have to hardcode the version in that "create-project" package, I still have not seen a way to automatically determine the version from a remote package. The only way I've managed to do that is to completely download the package, get the version, then delete it, but that would be terrible for people with a slower internet connection or limited data.

Permanent fix for lockfileVersion of npm-shrinkwrap to lockfileVersion#1, it automatically makes lockfileversion#2?

I am getting this when I am trying to push my code into github actions or building dockerimage.
shell: /usr/bin/bash -e {0}
npm WARN read-shrinkwrap This version of npm is compatible with lockfileVersion#1, but package-lock.json was generated for lockfileVersion#2. I'll try to do my best with it!
I tried to implement this Link it works but again after some commit I am getting the same error and I have to repeat the same procedure again and again.
Any fix for that?
Look in your .gitignore if you have the lines :
package-lock.json
node_modules/
if not,then add them,
after that look in your Github repository and delete the package-lock.json file and the node_modules directory (if any)
Important Edit :
My bad, Kevin Martin is right the official documentation tell us to add it to the repository for CI/CD.
This file is intended to be committed into source repositories, and
serves various purposes:
Describe a single representation of a dependency tree such that
teammates, deployments, and continuous integration are guaranteed to
install exactly the same dependencies.
Provide a facility for users to "time-travel" to previous states of
node_modules without having to commit the directory itself.
To facilitate greater visibility of tree changes through readable
source control diffs.
And optimize the installation process by allowing npm to skip repeated
metadata resolutions for previously-installed packages.
But for my case (Azure Devops) i had a lot of trouble with it.

Switching from NPM to GitHub Packages

I have a NPM package with a small user base, yesterday I created a new version and wanted to release it. I thought that I might as well make use of the new GitHub Packages and so I setup everything as GitHub suggested and released!
Now the problem is that I still have the old NPM page running on version 2.0.2 while everyone currently uses this as their dependency while the new GitHub package is on 2.0.4, Is there a way to 'synchronize' these two. Of course the GitHub Packages uses the <USER>/<PACKAGE> labeling while NPM just uses <NAME>.
Is the only thing I can do to publish on GitHub Packages and on NPM and just try to move users away from the NPM page?
If your publishing a public package, your better off just publishing it on NPM, as that is what most developers are used to.
I use GitHub Packages at work and the only advantage is that is effective free for hosting internal packages, as we are already paying for GitHub anyway. If it wasn’t for the zero price we wouldn’t be using it.
If you really want to force all your users to migrate to GitHub packages, and have to set up npm to work with it you could mark you old version npm deprecated and use that to point people to the new version.
https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v6/commands/npm-deprecate
Here is another solution, but there is a catch.
Change your registry.npmjs.org package content to
index.js
export * from '#schotsl/my-package';
Now your registry.npmjs.org package is (almost) pointing to your npm.pkg.github.com package.
Only almost because any development directory for a project downstream of registry.npmjs.org/my-package, must configure the scope-to-server mapping for #schotsl/my-package to npm.pkg.github.com in a package manager config file.
In the case of package managers 'npm' and 'yarn' (v1) that can be done in
an .npmrc file at the same level as package.json.
The required .npmrc content is
#schotsl:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com
# Github PAT token, packages:read authorization only ok
//npm.pkg.github.co/:_authToken="ghp_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
The first line is the scope to server mapping.
The second line is a Github personal authorization token (PAT) with at least package:read permission. It is actually pretty liberal. A PAT with package:read issued from any github account will allow read access to every github accounts packages.
For the 'yarn' v2 package, the .npmrc file does not work, and instead a couple of keys need to be set in .yarnrc.yml.
Unfortunately there is no way to set the scope-to-server mapping and the token inside the registry.npmjs.org/my-package package itself.
Putting the .npmrc file in there doesn't work, it is ignored. And that wouldn't be a good solution anyway, because not all package managers read .npmrc files.
That is the 'catch' - using npm.pkg.github.com packages requires package manager specific config settings to be made by every downstream developer.
In addition, what if two different upstream packages have colliding scope names, each mapping to a different server? The current config methodology fails in that case.
Feature Proposal not current behavior
Ideally, there would be a common interface agreed upon by all package managers inside package.json - and the scope-to-server mapping would be defined in the package that directly references the scope. For example, in the package.json of my-package on registry.npmjs.org
{
dependencies:{
"#schotsl/my-package":"1.0.0"
},
registries:{
"#schotsl/my-package":"https://npm.pkg.github.com",
},
auths:{
"https://npm.pkg.github.com":"ghp_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
},
}
Then downstream users would not need to config for each scope, and predictable (and risky) problems with scope name or package name collisions would not occur.
But that is not the way it is. Therefore Github Packages (npm.pkg.github.com) doesn't really seem to be a feasible way to provide public packages which may become dependencies of other public packages. No problem for private packages though.

Peer dependency that is also dev dependency of linked npm module is acting as a separate instance

In my app, I have these dependencies:
TypeORM
typeorm-linq-repository AS A LOCAL INSTALL ("typeorm-linq-repository": "file:../../../IRCraziestTaxi/typeorm-linq-repository"), who has a dev dependency AND a peer dependency of TypeORM
The reason I use a "file:" installation of typeorm-linq-repository is that I am the developer and test changes in this app prior to pushing releases to npm.
I was previously using node ~6.10 (npm ~4), so when I used the "file:" installation, it just copied the published files over, which is what I want.
However, after upgrading to node 8.11.3 (npm 5.6.0), it now links the folder rather than copying the published files.
Note, if it matters, that my environment is Windows.
The problem is this: since both my app and the linked typeorm-linq-repository have TypeORM in their own node_modules folders, TypeORM is being treated as a separate "instance" of the module in each app.
Therefore, after creating a connection in the main app, when the code that accesses the connection in typeorm-linq-repository is reached, it throws an error of Connection "default" was not found..
I have searched tirelessly for a solution to this. I have tried --preserve-symlinks, but that does not work.
The only way for me to make this work right now is to manually create the folder in my app's node_modules and copy applicable files over, which is a huge pain.
How can I either tell npm to NOT symlink the "file:" installation or get it to use the same instance of the TypeORM module?
I made it work pretty easily, although I feel like it's kind of a band-aid. I will post the answer here to help anybody else who may be having this issue, but if anybody has a more proper solution, feel free to answer and I will accept.
The trick was to link my app's installation of TypeORM to the TypeORM folder in my other linked dependency's node_modules folder.
...,
"typeorm": "file:../../../IRCraziestTaxi/typeorm-linq-repository/node_modules/typeorm",
"typeorm-linq-repository": "file:../../../IRCraziestTaxi/typeorm-linq-repository",
...

NPM on LEMP cannot find module, wrong path

Total Linux noob here. I am trying to configure a Pleroma development environment on DO droplet. Installed LEMP, installed SSL, installed PostgreSQL, installed Pleroma, so far so good.
Then I installed Node, NPM, cloned Pleroma-FE (apparently it installs in /user/pleroma-fe folder). I am following the very brief build instructions here:
https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/pleroma-fe
When I get to the command in those build instructions: npm run build
I am getting error: Error: Cannot find module '/user/build/build.js'
It's because actual path to the build file is /user/pleroma-fe/build/build.js
Apologies if this is a duplicate. I see other questions about this.
Fixing npm path in Windows 8 and 10
and the reply seems to set the PATH. This answer might apply to my situation. But my question is: it is clearly already looking in a well defined path (which is different from all the other questions, which don't seem to have well defined path in the error message). But it is the wrong path. How do I make it look in the correct path?
I tried the npm command and specified the complete path, and every variation. and none worked. So it seems fixing the path won't fix this problem.
Sorry I do not currently know enough Linux to be able to fix this. I tried to tag this with Pleroma but I don't have enough reputation to create a new tag. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I continued to work on this with some help of a Linux admin on Fiverr and the Pleroma developers chat with success, thanks to all.
The solution did not involve changing the path. There were several different things going on. First, I needed to change directory into the development project source folder:
cd pleroma-fe
Once I did that, npm found the build module. Next issue was Node was very old and I needed to get the latest version. I used the instruction here for NodeJS (10):
https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/#debian-and-ubuntu-based-linux-distributions
Next issue was npm was missing some modules. This was fixed with:
npm install
After that the build completed with no errors.
npm run build
After a successful build, you will see a list of files that have changed as a result of the build.
Next issue is that simple changes in HTML text were not live, ie. not reflected in the refreshed web page. This is fixed by copying all the resulting build files to the production folder using rsync. In my case the command was:
rsync -av /user/pleroma-fe/dist/ /home/pleroma/pleroma/priv/static/
Pleroma is a neat Twitter-like user interface to ActivityPub fediverse, it includes a Mastodon UI as well, and thanks to the developers for making it free and open source.