npm-install.1 10 KB
Newer Older
Nicolas Widart's avatar
Nicolas Widart committed
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351
.TH "NPM\-INSTALL" "1" "October 2014" "" ""
.SH "NAME"
\fBnpm-install\fR \- Install a package
.SH SYNOPSIS
.P
.RS 2
.nf
npm install (with no args in a package dir)
npm install <tarball file>
npm install <tarball url>
npm install <folder>
npm install [@<scope>/]<name> [\-\-save|\-\-save\-dev|\-\-save\-optional] [\-\-save\-exact]
npm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<tag>
npm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<version>
npm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<version range>
npm i (with any of the previous argument usage)
.fi
.RE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.P
This command installs a package, and any packages that it depends on\. If the
package has a shrinkwrap file, the installation of dependencies will be driven
by that\. See npm help shrinkwrap\.
.P
A \fBpackage\fR is:
.RS 0
.IP \(bu 2
a) a folder containing a program described by a package\.json file
.IP \(bu 2
b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)
.IP \(bu 2
c) a url that resolves to (b)
.IP \(bu 2
d) a \fB<name>@<version>\fR that is published on the registry (see npm help 7 \fBnpm\-registry\fR) with (c)
.IP \(bu 2
e) a \fB<name>@<tag>\fR that points to (d)
.IP \(bu 2
f) a \fB<name>\fR that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)
.IP \(bu 2
g) a \fB<git remote url>\fR that resolves to (b)

.RE
.P
Even if you never publish your package, you can still get a lot of
benefits of using npm if you just want to write a node program (a), and
perhaps if you also want to be able to easily install it elsewhere
after packing it up into a tarball (b)\.
.RS 0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install\fR (in package directory, no arguments):
  Install the dependencies in the local node_modules folder\.
  In global mode (ie, with \fB\-g\fR or \fB\-\-global\fR appended to the command),
  it installs the current package context (ie, the current working
  directory) as a global package\.
  By default, \fBnpm install\fR will install all modules listed as
  dependencies\. With the \fB\-\-production\fR flag,
  npm will not install modules listed in \fBdevDependencies\fR\|\.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install <folder>\fR:
  Install a package that is sitting in a folder on the filesystem\.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install <tarball file>\fR:
  Install a package that is sitting on the filesystem\.  Note: if you just want
  to link a dev directory into your npm root, you can do this more easily by
  using \fBnpm link\fR\|\.
  Example:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    npm install \./package\.tgz
.fi
.RE
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install <tarball url>\fR:
  Fetch the tarball url, and then install it\.  In order to distinguish between
  this and other options, the argument must start with "http://" or "https://"
  Example:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    npm install https://github\.com/indexzero/forever/tarball/v0\.5\.6
.fi
.RE
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install [@<scope>/]<name> [\-\-save|\-\-save\-dev|\-\-save\-optional]\fR:
  Do a \fB<name>@<tag>\fR install, where \fB<tag>\fR is the "tag" config\. (See
  npm help 7 \fBnpm\-config\fR\|\.)
  In most cases, this will install the latest version
  of the module published on npm\.
  Example:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    npm install sax
.fi
.RE
  \fBnpm install\fR takes 3 exclusive, optional flags which save or update
  the package version in your main package\.json:
.RS 0
.IP \(bu 2
\fB\-\-save\fR: Package will appear in your \fBdependencies\fR\|\.
.IP \(bu 2
\fB\-\-save\-dev\fR: Package will appear in your \fBdevDependencies\fR\|\.
.IP \(bu 2
\fB\-\-save\-optional\fR: Package will appear in your \fBoptionalDependencies\fR\|\.
When using any of the above options to save dependencies to your
package\.json, there is an additional, optional flag:
.IP \(bu 2
\fB\-\-save\-exact\fR: Saved dependencies will be configured with an
exact version rather than using npm's default semver range
operator\.
\fB<scope>\fR is optional\. The package will be downloaded from the registry
associated with the specified scope\. If no registry is associated with
the given scope the default registry is assumed\. See npm help 7 \fBnpm\-scope\fR\|\.
Note: if you do not include the @\-symbol on your scope name, npm will
interpret this as a GitHub repository instead, see below\. Scopes names
must also be followed by a slash\.
Examples:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
npm install sax \-\-save
npm install githubname/reponame
npm install @myorg/privatepackage
npm install node\-tap \-\-save\-dev
npm install dtrace\-provider \-\-save\-optional
npm install readable\-stream \-\-save \-\-save\-exact
.fi
.RE

.RE

.RE
.P
.RS 2
.nf
**Note**: If there is a file or folder named `<name>` in the current
working directory, then it will try to install that, and only try to
fetch the package by name if it is not valid\.
.fi
.RE
.RS 0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<tag>\fR:
  Install the version of the package that is referenced by the specified tag\.
  If the tag does not exist in the registry data for that package, then this
  will fail\.
  Example:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    npm install sax@latest
    npm install @myorg/mypackage@latest
.fi
.RE
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<version>\fR:
  Install the specified version of the package\.  This will fail if the
  version has not been published to the registry\.
  Example:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    npm install sax@0\.1\.1
    npm install @myorg/privatepackage@1\.5\.0
.fi
.RE
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<version range>\fR:
  Install a version of the package matching the specified version range\.  This
  will follow the same rules for resolving dependencies described in npm help 5 \fBpackage\.json\fR\|\.
  Note that most version ranges must be put in quotes so that your shell will
  treat it as a single argument\.
  Example:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    npm install sax@">=0\.1\.0 <0\.2\.0"
    npm install @myorg/privatepackage@">=0\.1\.0 <0\.2\.0"
.fi
.RE
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install <githubname>/<githubrepo>\fR:
  Install the package at \fBhttps://github\.com/githubname/githubrepo" by
  attempting to clone it using\fRgit`\.
  Example:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    npm install mygithubuser/myproject
.fi
.RE
 To reference a package in a git repo that is not on GitHub, see git
 remote urls below\.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnpm install <git remote url>\fR:
  Install a package by cloning a git remote url\.  The format of the git
  url is:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    <protocol>://[<user>@]<hostname><separator><path>[#<commit\-ish>]
.fi
.RE
  \fB<protocol>\fR is one of \fBgit\fR, \fBgit+ssh\fR, \fBgit+http\fR, or
  \fBgit+https\fR\|\.  If no \fB<commit\-ish>\fR is specified, then \fBmaster\fR is
  used\.
  Examples:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
    git+ssh://git@github\.com:npm/npm\.git#v1\.0\.27
    git+https://isaacs@github\.com/npm/npm\.git
    git://github\.com/npm/npm\.git#v1\.0\.27
.fi
.RE

.RE
.P
You may combine multiple arguments, and even multiple types of arguments\.
For example:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
npm install sax@">=0\.1\.0 <0\.2\.0" bench supervisor
.fi
.RE
.P
The \fB\-\-tag\fR argument will apply to all of the specified install targets\. If a
tag with the given name exists, the tagged version is preferred over newer
versions\.
.P
The \fB\-\-force\fR argument will force npm to fetch remote resources even if a
local copy exists on disk\.
.P
.RS 2
.nf
npm install sax \-\-force
.fi
.RE
.P
The \fB\-\-global\fR argument will cause npm to install the package globally
rather than locally\.  See npm help 5 \fBnpm\-folders\fR\|\.
.P
The \fB\-\-link\fR argument will cause npm to link global installs into the
local space in some cases\.
.P
The \fB\-\-no\-bin\-links\fR argument will prevent npm from creating symlinks for
any binaries the package might contain\.
.P
The \fB\-\-no\-optional\fR argument will prevent optional dependencies from
being installed\.
.P
The \fB\-\-no\-shrinkwrap\fR argument, which will ignore an available
shrinkwrap file and use the package\.json instead\.
.P
The \fB\-\-nodedir=/path/to/node/source\fR argument will allow npm to find the
node source code so that npm can compile native modules\.
.P
See npm help 7 \fBnpm\-config\fR\|\.  Many of the configuration params have some
effect on installation, since that's most of what npm does\.
.SH ALGORITHM
.P
To install a package, npm uses the following algorithm:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
install(where, what, family, ancestors)
fetch what, unpack to <where>/node_modules/<what>
for each dep in what\.dependencies
  resolve dep to precise version
for each dep@version in what\.dependencies
    not in <where>/node_modules/<what>/node_modules/*
    and not in <family>
  add precise version deps to <family>
  install(<where>/node_modules/<what>, dep, family)
.fi
.RE
.P
For this \fBpackage{dep}\fR structure: \fBA{B,C}, B{C}, C{D}\fR,
this algorithm produces:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
A
+\-\- B
`\-\- C
    `\-\- D
.fi
.RE
.P
That is, the dependency from B to C is satisfied by the fact that A
already caused C to be installed at a higher level\.
.P
See npm help 5 folders for a more detailed description of the specific
folder structures that npm creates\.
.SS Limitations of npm's Install Algorithm
.P
There are some very rare and pathological edge\-cases where a cycle can
cause npm to try to install a never\-ending tree of packages\.  Here is
the simplest case:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
A \-> B \-> A' \-> B' \-> A \-> B \-> A' \-> B' \-> A \-> \.\.\.
.fi
.RE
.P
where \fBA\fR is some version of a package, and \fBA'\fR is a different version
of the same package\.  Because \fBB\fR depends on a different version of \fBA\fR
than the one that is already in the tree, it must install a separate
copy\.  The same is true of \fBA'\fR, which must install \fBB'\fR\|\.  Because \fBB'\fR
depends on the original version of \fBA\fR, which has been overridden, the
cycle falls into infinite regress\.
.P
To avoid this situation, npm flat\-out refuses to install any
\fBname@version\fR that is already present anywhere in the tree of package
folder ancestors\.  A more correct, but more complex, solution would be
to symlink the existing version into the new location\.  If this ever
affects a real use\-case, it will be investigated\.
.SH SEE ALSO
.RS 0
.IP \(bu 2
npm help 5 folders
.IP \(bu 2
npm help update
.IP \(bu 2
npm help link
.IP \(bu 2
npm help rebuild
.IP \(bu 2
npm help 7 scripts
.IP \(bu 2
npm help build
.IP \(bu 2
npm help config
.IP \(bu 2
npm help 7 config
.IP \(bu 2
npm help 5 npmrc
.IP \(bu 2
npm help 7 registry
.IP \(bu 2
npm help tag
.IP \(bu 2
npm help rm
.IP \(bu 2
npm help shrinkwrap

.RE