Package-link NPM

package-link

So you might wonder, what on earth is this and why would I need this? It fixes a particulary annyoing feature of npm, which is the automatic deletion of every npm link in your project once a npm install is called.

This module, or cli provides a solution for that. It has the ability to automatically (or manually) restore all symlinks of your project.

Installation

As this is a cli application, it needs to be installed globally:

npm install -g package-link

This will install the npm-link cli on your system.

Usage

`--add`

To add a new link, use the --add [name] CLI flag.

npm-link --add react

This will:

Automatically call npm link react to symlink it.
Register the package for restore using npm-link --restore (or npm-list --setup)

`--remove`

To remove a link, use the --remove [name] CLI flag.

npm-link --remove react

This will:

Unregister the package for restoration.
Install the normal version using npm install instead.

`--setup`

Enables fully automated restoration of the symlinks when an npm install happens in your local project. So you no longer have to manually --restore after an installation.

npm-link --setup

This will:

Add a postinstall hook to node_modules/.hooks
The postinstall hook will call npm-link --restore each time it's called.

`--restore`

Used to restore the symlinks that got utterly destroyed by npm after an npm install. This would either be automatically when you used the --setup command, or can be invoked manually.

npm-link --restore

This will:

Read all previously stored npm-link --add <name> calls.
Iterate over them, and call npm link <name>

How does it work

The automation, voodoo or black magic of this module is powered by little known feature of npm. You can create .hooks file in your node_modules folder and npm will automatically execute files that are named after the lifecycle events. So all we need to do is create a postinstall hook that will restore the symlinks.

All added symlinks are automatically saved by this library in the .hooks folder in a dedicated restore-npm-link.json file.

How do I disable `npm-link`

The easiest way is to just nuke your node_modules folder and do another install:

rm -rf node_modules && npm install .

The packages are cached by npm on your disk anyways so re-installation will be fast. Alternatively you can delete the contents of the node_modules/.hooks folder so the postinstall and restore-npm-link.json files are deleted.