I want to use latest distribution tag in my package.json for internal packages. This allows me to always get their latest versions when I npm install in local environment, without updating all external 3rd parties.
The issue comes when I'm hotfixing deployed verion:
For hotfix purpose I generate and save package-lock.json for each deployed version of the application.
But when I npm install during hotfix preparation, there is a conflict between versions of internal package in package.json and package-lock.json: package-lock.json points to version that was used in deployed application, but package.json point to latest distribution tag, which itself points to later version.
Since version specified in package-lock.json doesn't suit to version range specified in package.json (which is very specific - only the latest version will suit), npm install ignores package-lock.json and installs the latest version.
I searched through documentation and internet and didn't find any existing solution for the issue:
I didn't find any npm install flag that would treat package-lock.json versions with higher priority than distribution tag in package.json
I dind't find any tool that would reconstruct package.json from package-lock.json, or at least replace aliases (distribution tags) in package.json with specific versions from package-lock.json.
Is there any solution for my issue (besides writing a tool that will implement last approach)?
Sandbox:
https://github.com/maxlk/npm-lock-version-should-override-latest (clone and run npm install or its alternative)
I found a solution - to use npm ci instead of npm install.
It doesn't exit with error, despite the claim in the documentation: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/ci
If dependencies in the package lock do not match those in package.json, npm ci will exit with an error, instead of updating the package lock.
Related
In case an application has a package-lock.json or shripkwrap.json, both npm install/npm ci command would honor the dependencies versions (in package-lock.json or shripkwrap.json), what purpose would tilde(~) and caret(^) serve in package.json?
Tilde ~ and caret ^ are used in package.json to say that your software is compatible with new patch or minor versions of a specific dependency.
But as you've identified, npm install ignores new patch or minor versions when a package-lock.json file is present.
Instead, run npm update.
This installs the latest version of any dependencies, based on how you've defined the version in package.json. It also updates package-lock.json accordingly.
TL;DR How do I update package.json and package-lock.json version number without updating dependencies?
We have a problem where we want to uptick our version number after development and before deployments.
However if I uptick the version in my package.json and then npm install it could change versions of dependencies which could cause issues of production running with different dependencies than what developers tested their code with.
We use npm ci in our ci system, and my understanding that it would build off the package-lock.json file. The issue comes in if our package-lock.json has a version that previously was built the ci system will just use what it has previously built. I can't update our ci System.
I could manually update the version in package-lock.json but that feels wrong. Is there a best practice for this situation?
This question is almost a year old, but
npm install --package-lock-only
should do the trick.
The --package-lock-only argument will only update the package-lock.json, instead of checking node_modules and downloading dependencies.
https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/install
It's buried near the bottom of the docs page.
A better way would be using npm version command to update the version in both package.json and package-lock.json
npm version <version> --workspace=<package-name>
I'm currently setting up pre-releases (under the dev tag) for a new npm package of mine.
In my staging environment, I want npm to always install the latest pre-release version of the 2.0.0 version. Therefore, I specified "<packagename>": ">=2.0.0-dev.0" in the package.json, but npm somehow always installs the 2.0.0-dev.20180806T153307Z.3eaa718.HEAD, even if I do a clean install with removed package-lock.json.
According to the semver-checker my constraint matches the pre-releases published to npm.
I finally found the problem. Because there was no previous non-dev release published to npm for this package, npm always installed the pre-release version connected to the latest tag (see the image above in the question). The solution is to simply publish a fake release under an older version, e.g. 1.9.9. Now, a clean npm install works like expected.
I use yarn to install packages directly from the companies' GitLab:
yarn add git+ssh://<user>#<host>:<repo>
For first-level dependencies, I use yarn --pure-lockfile to reconstruct my node_modules according to the yarn.lock.
However, for second level dependencies yarn seems to always install the latest version.
So let's say I depend on A which is tested with a specific version of B. In A's package.json I don't specify the version, but it is contained in the yarn.lock.
When I now install package A yarn will get the latest version of B despite the entry in A/yarn.lock
I know that I might resolve this by passing a specific version in A/package.json (at least I think).
But is there an option to tell yarn to look at the yarn.lock of dependencies?
TLDR:
When you install dependencies in your
application, only your own yarn.lock file is respected. Lockfiles
within your dependencies will be ignored. Reference
Let's get some things cleared first:
--pure-lockfile is same as normal yarn install except that it won't generate a yarn.lock file or update one if present.
Yarn always reads from the yarn.lock by default for resolving dependencies while installing unless supplied with --no-lockfile. So, there is no need to tell it to read from yarn.lock.
What is yarn.lock used for?
yarn.lock is used for resolving what version should be fetched
given the semver version of a module in package.json. It is not used to determine what semver version should a module be resolved to. That is simply not its use-case.
As mentioned in yarn DOCS: In order to get consistent
installs across machines, Yarn needs more information than the
dependencies you configure in your package json.. Yarn needs to store
exactly which versions of each dependency were installed.
To do this Yarn uses a yarn.lock file in the root of your project.
So, for resolving semver version of a dependency, yarn always depends on package.json. For a given semver version, yarn checks the yarn.lock file to see what version should it fetch. This is what makes yarn Deterministic (Same tecknique is used by npm which uses npm-shrinkwrap.json).
Example: Semver Versions like ^1.2.4 can resolve to any version number which is >= 1.2.3 and < 2.0.0. Without yarn, npm would install 1.2.4 in one machine but 1.9.9 in some other machine, depending on the latest version present at the time of install. This is the problem that yarn solves using yarn.lock.
The semver version is determined by the
package.json file. The yarn.lock file is only a lookup for which
version and commit hash to install for the given semver version number.
How does yarn resolve version of a module given its semver version?
Suppose currently our yarn.lock file looks like this:
bluebird#2.9.6:
version "2.9.6"
resolved "https://<...>/bluebird-2.9.6.tgz#1fc3a6b1685267dc121b5ec89b32ce069d81ab7d"
bluebird#^2.9.30:
version "2.11.0"
resolved "https://<...>/bluebird-2.11.0.tgz#534b9033c022c9579c56ba3b3e5a5caafbb650e1"
...
myModule#5.1.0:
version "5.1.0"
resolved "https://<...>/moduleA-5.1.0.tgz#ce97130858add59d616ee80675383b0c127290a0"
dependencies:
bluebird "^1.0.0"
If package.json has bluebird: "^2.9.30", yarn looks for an entry bluebird#^2.9.30 in the lockfile. It is present and hence is resolved to version=2.11.0.
If package.json has bluebird: "^2.9.0", yarn looks for an entry bluebird#^2.9.0 in the lockfile. It is not present. Suppose the latest stable version which satisfies semver criteria is 2.13.0, then yarn adds an entry for bluebird#^2.9.0, resolved to 2.13.0. While resolving version for a given semver version of bluebird, it does not matter what entry is present for bluebird in moduleA's dependencies in the lockfile.
Semver Version is not affected by what entries are
present in the dependencies map for a module in yarn.lock file.
So, if package.json has bluebird: "", yarn looks for an entry bluebird# in the lockfile but is unable to find it. Hence, it resolves bluebird: "" to the latest version, suppose 3.5.0. Now, yarn will add an entry for bluebird# resolved to 3.5.0.
bluebird#:
version "3.5.0"
resolved "https://<...>/bluebird-3.5.0.tgz#d9551f9de98f1fcda1e683d17ee91a0602ee2eb9"
Form now on whenever yarn encounters {bluebird: ""}, it will find an entry for bluebird# in the lockfile and hence will always resolve it to 3.5.0.
Solution to your problem
To resolve B: "" to version say 1.0.0, you need to have an entry for B# in yarn.lock resolved to 1.0.0. Once, yarn.lock has an entry for B#, all the successive installs will always fetch version 1.0.0 for B="".
Following are the steps you need to take to accomplish the same:
Approach 1 (Recommended)
If you want B to resolve to latest version:
Add B:"" in A's package.json
Run yarn install. This will add an entry for B# resolved to latest version.
Push yarn.lock file.
Form now on, whoever runs yarn install will get the same version.
Approach 2
If you want B to have an older version: (Highly Not Recommended)
Add B: 1.0.0 in A's package.json.
Run yarn install. This will add an entry B#1.0.0 in the lockfile.
Add B# alongside B#1.0.0 in yarn.lock. B#, B#1.0.0: ...
Change B's version to "" in A's package.json.
Push yarn.lock file.
Form now on, whoever runs yarn install will get the B's version as 1.0.0.
This approach is highly dangerous as you can break something easily. Your yarn.lock file should always be managed by yarn.
Approach 3 (Recommended)
If you want B to stay at 1.0.0
Fix B's version to 1.0.0 in A's package.json.
Run yarn install. This will add an entry B#1.0.0 in the lockfile.
Push yarn.lock file
Form now on, whoever runs yarn install will get the B's version as 1.0.0.
Edit: Using the yarn.lock file present in the dependencies
If you check this doc:, they have clearly mentioned that yarn will use only the top level yarn.lock file and ignore the lock files present in the dependencies.
There is currently no way of locking down second level dependencies using yarn.lock present in them. I don’t see any need for it. In fact the creators of yarn explain here why that is the case. The reasons being:
The versions to be installed for second level dependencies can be
captured well by the top-level yarn.lock file, as I have explained
above.
You would never be able to update the versions of sub-dependencies in your own application when using them directly because they would be locked by other yarn.lock files. You can verify this point by my explanation of how yarn resolves dependencies.
Yarn would never be able to fold (de-duplicate) dependencies so that compatible version ranges only install a single version.
Also, as in your use-case, if A has a dependency B which works only with version 1.0.0, A’s package.json should have version mentioned for B as 1.0.0 and not “”. You can always fix your top-level yarn.lock to add an entry for B# resolved to 1.0.0 but it is not recommended to manually fix a yarn.lock file as I have mentioned above.
Hope this helped! Please ping me in the comments for any doubts.
I have an npm package with a fixed version that has an update.
Example package.json extract:
devDependencies: {
"someFixedVersionPackage": "1.0.0", //1.1.0 is latest
"anotherFixedVersionPackage": "2.3.2", //2.3.4 is latest
}
Does an npm command exist which installs the latest version of that package and updates the package.json, preferably all packages at once?
To be clear, I want the package.json snippet above to be updated to this, in addition to the packages themselves being updated:
devDependencies: {
"someFixedVersionPackage": "1.1.0", //latest
"anotherFixedVersionPackage": "2.3.4", //latest
}
Thank you.
Why doesn't npm update work here?
As per the documentation on npm update:
This command will update all the packages listed to the latest version (specified by the tag config), respecting semver.
It will also install missing packages. As with all commands that install packages, the --dev flag will cause devDependencies to be processed as well.
Since your packages are defined with a fixed version, the update sub-command will not update those to respect semantic versioning. Therefore, it will only automatically update your packages if you specify a greater version range for each package. Note that it is actually typical in an npm project to specify a loose range version; one that is meant to avoid breaking changes but still leaves room for improvements and fixes.
Still, why shouldn't I fix dependency versions in my package.json?
But they are fixed because I wanted them so. After testing newer versions, I want to update them via command line as were created.
Having a list of dependencies with a fixed version does not mean that the dependencies installed will always be the same, because the dependencies of your dependencies will most likely also be defined with a version range. In order to keep track of a list of tested version-tagged dependencies, npm provides another mechanism: package locks.
Before version 5 of npm, you can create a "npm-shrinkwrap.json" file with the shrinkwrap command:
npm shrinkwrap
This command locks down the versions of a package's dependencies so that you can control exactly which versions of each dependency will be used when your package is installed.
Since npm 5, a "package-lock.json" is automatically generated when an npm operation modifies the "node_modules" tree or "package.json".
Rather than modifying package.json, either one of these package locks will override the default behaviour of npm install, installing dependencies with the versions specified by the lock, right when they were created or manually updated. With that out of the way, your dependencies can now be expanded without the risk of dependents installing untested package versions.
Shrinkwraps are used for publishing packages. To shrinkwrap a package:
Run npm install in the package root to install the current versions of all dependencies.
Validate that the package works as expected with these versions.
Run npm shrinkwrap, add npm-shrinkwrap.json to git, and publish your package.
At this point, dependency versions can be loosened in your package.json (this will hopefully be done only once every major dependency update), so that later on they can be updated at will with npm update:
"devDependencies": {
"someFixedVersionPackage": "^1.0.0",
"anotherFixedVersionPackage": "^2.3.2",
}
The package-lock.json file can be used instead of a shrinkwrap, and is more suitable for reproducing a development environment. It should also be committed to the repository.
So how do I update my dependencies?
Calling npm update will do what's mentioned above: update dependencies while respecting semantic versioning. To add or upgrade a dependency in a package:
Run npm install in the package root to install the current versions of all dependencies.
Add or update dependencies. npm install --save each new or updated package individually to update the package.json, as well as the existing package locks ("package-lock.json" and "npm-shrinkwrap.json"). Note that they must be explicitly named in order to be installed: running npm install with no arguments will merely reproduce the locked dependencies.
Validate that the package works as expected with the new dependencies.
Commit the new package locks.
Moreover, here are a few tips for a smooth transition from a project with fixed dependencies:
If you haven't done so, expand the version range by adding a tilde (~) before the version specifier, or a caret (^). npm update will then attempt to install all patch revisions and minor revisions, respectively (major version 0 is a corner-case, see the documentation). For instance, "^1.0.0" can now be updated to "^1.1.0", and "~2.3.2" can be updated to "~2.3.4". Adding the --save or --save-dev flags will also update the "package.json" with the installed version (while keeping the previous range specifiers).
Run npm outdated to check which packages are outdated. Entries in red will be updated automatically with npm update. Other entries will require a manual intervention.
For packages with major version bumps, install that package with a version specification (e.g. npm install browserify#11.2.0 --save-dev). Further issues that may arise with the update will have to be handled manually. It usually helps to read the news feed or the release history on that package to further understand what has changed from previous versions.
This is not simple enough, is there another way to do this?
Before continuing, it is always worth mentioning that packages have a SemVer-compliant version definition for a reason. One should avoid blindly installing the latest version of every single package. Although such a full update can be done and tools are available for that, some caution is advised. For instance, you would not want to install React 15 if the remaining React components and libraries are not compatible with react#15.x.x. See also npm's blog post: Why use SemVer?
I'll take my chances. What other tools are there?
To name a few:
npm-check-updates will do what was initially asked in the question: install and update the versions of all dependencies, regardless of the given range constraint. This would be the least recommended tool for the job, however.
updtr will update dependencies one by one and roll back to the previous version if the project's tests fail, which may save time in projects with good test coverage.
npm-check provides an interactive command-line interface, which allows you to easily select which packages to update.
Is this any different with npm 5?
Since major version 5, npm will automatically create a "package-lock.json", which will fill the role of specifying the dependency tree when a shrinkwrap does not exist. A more detailed description can be found in the package-locks documentation. In general, npm-shrinkwrap.json is meant to be used when publishing, whereas package-lock.json is to be used in development. This is why you should also commit "package-lock.json" to the repository.
What about with Yarn?
Yarn, an npm-compatible dependency manager, creates a lock file automatically on use, which behaves similarly to the npm shrinkwrap. Calling yarn upgrade «package» will update one dependency to the version in the latest tag, regardless of the version range recorded in the package.json or the lock file. Using yarn upgrade-interactive also allows you to selectively upgrade packages to the latest version, not unlike npm-check.
$ yarn outdated
yarn outdated v0.16.1
Package Current Wanted Latest
babel-eslint 7.0.0 7.0.0 7.1.0
chai 3.0.0 3.0.0 3.5.0
Done in 0.84s.
$ yarn upgrade babel-eslint chai
yarn upgrade v0.16.1
[1/4] Resolving packages...
[2/4] Fetching packages...
[3/4] Linking dependencies...
[4/4] Building fresh packages...
success Saved lockfile.
success Saved 2 new dependencies.
├─ babel-eslint#7.1.0
└─ chai#3.5.0
Running the following command will do what you want:
npm install someFixedVersionPackage#latest anotherFixedVersionPackage#latest --save-dev --save-exact
Breakdown:
npm install someFixedVersionPackage#latest will install the latest version of the package
The --save-dev flag will cause it to update the version in your package.json's devDependencies
The --save-exact flag will cause it to save a fixed version instead of a semver range operator
Link to the npm install docs
I've been looking for an easy way to update npm dependencies for a long time. Then I found this tool: https://github.com/dylang/npm-check
It shows you which dependencies are out of date in a nice ui and allows you to update them. It even tells you which ones are likely to break due to major changes and warns you of unused dependencies.