How to make a forked dependency in package.json run its prepare script during npm install? - npm

Question

I forked a NPM module and modified it in my fork. In my fork, the command gulp needs to be run to compile the module. Running this command will output the file ical-expander-dist.js into the dist folder. This file should become part of the fork package.
The adjusted package.json in my fork looks like this:
{
"name": "ical-expander",
"version": "1.1.1",
"description": "ICS / iCal / iCalendar parser / expander",
"main": "dist/ical-expander-dist.js", // adjusted path
"scripts": {
"prepare": "gulp" // added script
},
// [SNIP] - excluded irrelevant lines
"files": [
"dist/ical-expander-dist.js" // adjusted path
]
}
Now I want to make my fork a dependency of another project.
{
"name": "otherproject",
"title": "Other Project",
// [SNIP] - excluded irrelevant lines
"dependencies": {
"ical-expander": "github:haukepribnow/ical-expander"
}
// [SNIP] - excluded irrelevant lines
}
After executing npm install in otherproject's root folder, the path ./node_modules/ical-expander will contain the files LICENSE, README.md and package.json. It will however not contain dist/ical-expander-dist.js.
It looks like the prepare script of my ical-expander fork is not being run during npm install in otherproject.
So my question boils down to: How can I make sure that preparation scripts for compiling my fork are being run when executing npm install in a project that has my fork as one of its dependencies?

Answer 1

Sometimes it's very simple: Make sure to use npm version 5.0.0 or higher.
According to the npm changelog, npm install will run dependencies' prepare scripts correctly from 5.0.0 on.