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335 lines
7.3 KiB
335 lines
7.3 KiB
.\" Generated with Ronnjs 0.3.8
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.\" http://github.com/kapouer/ronnjs/
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.
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.TH "NPM\-DEVELOPERS" "7" "October 2013" "" ""
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.
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.SH "NAME"
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\fBnpm-developers\fR \-\- Developer Guide
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.
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.SH "DESCRIPTION"
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So, you\'ve decided to use npm to develop (and maybe publish/deploy)
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your project\.
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.
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.P
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Fantastic!
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.
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.P
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There are a few things that you need to do above the simple steps
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that your users will do to install your program\.
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.
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.SH "About These Documents"
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These are man pages\. If you install npm, you should be able to
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then do \fBman npm\-thing\fR to get the documentation on a particular
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topic, or \fBnpm help thing\fR to see the same information\.
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.
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.SH "What is a "
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A package is:
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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a) a folder containing a program described by a package\.json file
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.
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b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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c) a url that resolves to (b)
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.
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d) a \fB<name>@<version>\fR that is published on the registry with (c)
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.
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e) a \fB<name>@<tag>\fR that points to (d)
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.
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f) a \fB<name>\fR that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)
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.
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g) a \fBgit\fR url that, when cloned, results in (a)\.
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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Even if you never publish your package, you can still get a lot of
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benefits of using npm if you just want to write a node program (a), and
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perhaps if you also want to be able to easily install it elsewhere
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after packing it up into a tarball (b)\.
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.
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.P
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Git urls can be of the form:
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.
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.IP "" 4
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.
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.nf
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git://github\.com/user/project\.git#commit\-ish
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git+ssh://user@hostname:project\.git#commit\-ish
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git+http://user@hostname/project/blah\.git#commit\-ish
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git+https://user@hostname/project/blah\.git#commit\-ish
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.
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.fi
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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The \fBcommit\-ish\fR can be any tag, sha, or branch which can be supplied as
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an argument to \fBgit checkout\fR\|\. The default is \fBmaster\fR\|\.
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.
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.SH "The package\.json File"
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You need to have a \fBpackage\.json\fR file in the root of your project to do
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much of anything with npm\. That is basically the whole interface\.
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.
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.P
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npm help See \fBpackage\.json\fR for details about what goes in that file\. At the very
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least, you need:
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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name:
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This should be a string that identifies your project\. Please do not
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use the name to specify that it runs on node, or is in JavaScript\.
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You can use the "engines" field to explicitly state the versions of
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node (or whatever else) that your program requires, and it\'s pretty
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well assumed that it\'s javascript\.
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.
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.IP
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It does not necessarily need to match your github repository name\.
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.
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.IP
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So, \fBnode\-foo\fR and \fBbar\-js\fR are bad names\. \fBfoo\fR or \fBbar\fR are better\.
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.
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version:
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A semver\-compatible version\.
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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engines:
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Specify the versions of node (or whatever else) that your program
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runs on\. The node API changes a lot, and there may be bugs or new
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functionality that you depend on\. Be explicit\.
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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author:
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Take some credit\.
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.
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scripts:
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If you have a special compilation or installation script, then you
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should put it in the \fBscripts\fR hash\. You should definitely have at
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least a basic smoke\-test command as the "scripts\.test" field\.
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npm help See npm\-scripts\.
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.
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main:
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If you have a single module that serves as the entry point to your
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program (like what the "foo" package gives you at require("foo")),
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then you need to specify that in the "main" field\.
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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directories:
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This is a hash of folders\. The best ones to include are "lib" and
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"doc", but if you specify a folder full of man pages in "man", then
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they\'ll get installed just like these ones\.
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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You can use \fBnpm init\fR in the root of your package in order to get you
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npm help started with a pretty basic package\.json file\. See \fBnpm\-init\fR for
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more info\.
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.
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.SH "Keeping files "
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Use a \fB\|\.npmignore\fR file to keep stuff out of your package\. If there\'s
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no \fB\|\.npmignore\fR file, but there \fIis\fR a \fB\|\.gitignore\fR file, then npm will
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ignore the stuff matched by the \fB\|\.gitignore\fR file\. If you \fIwant\fR to
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include something that is excluded by your \fB\|\.gitignore\fR file, you can
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create an empty \fB\|\.npmignore\fR file to override it\.
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.
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.P
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By default, the following paths and files are ignored, so there\'s no
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need to add them to \fB\|\.npmignore\fR explicitly:
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fB\|\.*\.swp\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fB\|\._*\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fB\|\.DS_Store\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fB\|\.git\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fB\|\.hg\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fB\|\.lock\-wscript\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fB\|\.svn\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fB\|\.wafpickle\-*\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fBCVS\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fBnpm\-debug\.log\fR
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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Additionally, everything in \fBnode_modules\fR is ignored, except for
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bundled dependencies\. npm automatically handles this for you, so don\'t
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bother adding \fBnode_modules\fR to \fB\|\.npmignore\fR\|\.
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.
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.P
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The following paths and files are never ignored, so adding them to \fB\|\.npmignore\fR is pointless:
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fBpackage\.json\fR
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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\fBREADME\.*\fR
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.SH "Link Packages"
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\fBnpm link\fR is designed to install a development package and see the
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changes in real time without having to keep re\-installing it\. (You do
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need to either re\-link or \fBnpm rebuild \-g\fR to update compiled packages,
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of course\.)
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.
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.P
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npm help More info at \fBnpm\-link\fR\|\.
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.
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.SH "Before Publishing: Make Sure Your Package Installs and Works"
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\fBThis is important\.\fR
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.
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.P
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If you can not install it locally, you\'ll have
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problems trying to publish it\. Or, worse yet, you\'ll be able to
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publish it, but you\'ll be publishing a broken or pointless package\.
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So don\'t do that\.
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.
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.P
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In the root of your package, do this:
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.
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.IP "" 4
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.
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.nf
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npm install \. \-g
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.
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.fi
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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That\'ll show you that it\'s working\. If you\'d rather just create a symlink
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package that points to your working directory, then do this:
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.
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.IP "" 4
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.
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.nf
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npm link
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.
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.fi
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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Use \fBnpm ls \-g\fR to see if it\'s there\.
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.
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.P
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To test a local install, go into some other folder, and then do:
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.
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.IP "" 4
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.
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.nf
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cd \.\./some\-other\-folder
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npm install \.\./my\-package
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.
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.fi
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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to install it locally into the node_modules folder in that other place\.
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.
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.P
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Then go into the node\-repl, and try using require("my\-thing") to
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bring in your module\'s main module\.
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.
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.SH "Create a User Account"
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Create a user with the adduser command\. It works like this:
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.
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.IP "" 4
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.
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.nf
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npm adduser
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.
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.fi
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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and then follow the prompts\.
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.
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.P
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npm help This is documented better in npm\-adduser\.
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.
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.SH "Publish your package"
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This part\'s easy\. IN the root of your folder, do this:
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.
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.IP "" 4
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.
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.nf
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npm publish
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.
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.fi
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.
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.IP "" 0
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.
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.P
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You can give publish a url to a tarball, or a filename of a tarball,
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or a path to a folder\.
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.
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.P
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Note that pretty much \fBeverything in that folder will be exposed\fR
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by default\. So, if you have secret stuff in there, use a \fB\|\.npmignore\fR file to list out the globs to ignore, or publish
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from a fresh checkout\.
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.
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.SH "Brag about it"
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Send emails, write blogs, blab in IRC\.
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.
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.P
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Tell the world how easy it is to install your program!
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.
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.SH "SEE ALSO"
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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npm help faq
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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npm help npm
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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npm help init
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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npm help package\.json
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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npm help scripts
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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npm help publish
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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npm help adduser
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.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
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npm help registry
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.
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.IP "" 0
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