npm install-将现有文件保留在node_modules中

Question

I have taken over a NodeJS project where, for convenience, some symlinks have been placed in the node_modules directory, which has been version controlled (just with the symlinks, not with any packages).

Upon running npm install to install the packages, the entire directory is replaced and those files are deleted, causing the script that runs after the install to fail as it depends on those files existing.

  "dependencies": {},
  "scripts": {
    "prepublish": "deployment/prepublish"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "browserify": "^9.0.8",
    "bulk-require": "^0.2.1",
    "bulkify": "^1.1.1",
    "deasync": "^0.1.4",
    "del": "^1.1.1",
    "gulp": "^3.8.11",
    "gulp-angular-gettext": "^2.1.0",
    "gulp-compass": "^2.0.4",
    "gulp-concat": "^2.5.2",
    "gulp-merge": "^0.1.0",
    "gulp-replace": "^0.5.3",
    "gulp-rev-all": "^0.8.18",
    "gulp-uglify": "^1.2.0",
    "gulp-util": "^3.0.4",
    "gulp-watch": "^4.2.4",
    "jshint": "*",
    "lodash": "*",
    "merge-stream": "^0.1.7",
    "q": "*",
    "request": "*",
    "run-sequence": "^1.0.2",
    "stringify": "^3.1.0",
    "vinyl-buffer": "^1.0.0",
    "vinyl-source-stream": "^1.1.0",
    "vinyl-transform": "^1.0.0"
  }

How do I ensure that these files are preserved upon npm install ? I know for a fact this used to work in earlier versions of npm but I haven't seen anything in the changelogs.

• NodeJS Version = v5.4.1
• NPM Version = 3.3.12

Thanks in advance for the help!

Answer 1

When npm install is run, it will examine the package.json file and attempt to install any dependencies listed that are not already installed to the node_modules directory. If there are no dependencies listed, it replaces the entire node_modules directory.

To preserve the files in the node_modules directory, you can do the following:

1. Install a module and have it added to the dependencies list in the package.json .
2. Move the symlink files into the module's folder.