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PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/36487 Reviewed-By: Myles Borins <myles.borins@gmail.com> Reviewed-By: Ruy Adorno <ruyadorno@github.com> Reviewed-By: Luigi Pinca <luigipinca@gmail.com> Reviewed-By: Daijiro Wachi <daijiro.wachi@gmail.com> Reviewed-By: Ruben Bridgewater <ruben@bridgewater.de> Reviewed-By: Colin Ihrig <cjihrig@gmail.com>
110 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
110 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: npm-link
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section: 1
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description: Symlink a package folder
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---
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### Synopsis
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```bash
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npm link (in package dir)
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npm link [<@scope>/]<pkg>[@<version>]
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alias: npm ln
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```
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### Description
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This is handy for installing your own stuff, so that you can work on it and
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test iteratively without having to continually rebuild.
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Package linking is a two-step process.
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First, `npm link` in a package folder will create a symlink in the global
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folder `{prefix}/lib/node_modules/<package>` that links to the package
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where the `npm link` command was executed. It will also link any bins in
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the package to `{prefix}/bin/{name}`. Note that `npm link` uses the global
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prefix (see `npm prefix -g` for its value).
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Next, in some other location, `npm link package-name` will create a
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symbolic link from globally-installed `package-name` to `node_modules/` of
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the current folder.
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Note that `package-name` is taken from `package.json`, _not_ from the
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directory name.
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The package name can be optionally prefixed with a scope. See
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[`scope`](/using-npm/scope). The scope must be preceded by an @-symbol and
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followed by a slash.
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When creating tarballs for `npm publish`, the linked packages are
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"snapshotted" to their current state by resolving the symbolic links, if
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they are included in `bundleDependencies`.
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For example:
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```bash
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cd ~/projects/node-redis # go into the package directory
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npm link # creates global link
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cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into some other package directory.
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npm link redis # link-install the package
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```
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Now, any changes to `~/projects/node-redis` will be reflected in
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`~/projects/node-bloggy/node_modules/node-redis/`. Note that the link
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should be to the package name, not the directory name for that package.
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You may also shortcut the two steps in one. For example, to do the
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above use-case in a shorter way:
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```bash
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cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into the dir of your main project
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npm link ../node-redis # link the dir of your dependency
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```
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The second line is the equivalent of doing:
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```bash
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(cd ../node-redis; npm link)
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npm link redis
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```
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That is, it first creates a global link, and then links the global
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installation target into your project's `node_modules` folder.
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Note that in this case, you are referring to the directory name,
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`node-redis`, rather than the package name `redis`.
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If your linked package is scoped (see [`scope`](/using-npm/scope)) your
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link command must include that scope, e.g.
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```bash
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npm link @myorg/privatepackage
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```
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### Caveat
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Note that package dependencies linked in this way are _not_ saved to
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`package.json` by default, on the assumption that the intention is to have
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a link stand in for a regular non-link dependency. Otherwise, for example,
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if you depend on `redis@^3.0.1`, and ran `npm link redis`, it would replace
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the `^3.0.1` dependency with `file:../path/to/node-redis`, which you
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probably don't want! Additionally, other users or developers on your
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project would run into issues if they do not have their folders set up
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exactly the same as yours.
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If you are adding a _new_ dependency as a link, you should add it to the
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relevant metadata by running `npm install <dep> --package-lock-only`.
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If you _want_ to save the `file:` reference in your `package.json` and
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`package-lock.json` files, you can use `npm link <dep> --save` to do so.
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### See Also
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* [npm developers](/using-npm/developers)
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* [package.json](/configuring-npm/package-json)
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* [npm install](/commands/npm-install)
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* [npm folders](/configuring-npm/folders)
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* [npm config](/commands/npm-config)
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* [npmrc](/configuring-npm/npmrc)
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