How to publish an npm package with distribution files?
node.jsGitGithubNpmnode.js Problem Overview
I would like to publish a npm package that contains my source as well as distribution files. My Github repository contains src
folder which contains JavaScript source files. The build process generates dist
folder that contains the distribution files. Of course, the dist
folder is not checked into the Github repository.
How do I publish a npm package in a way that when someone does npm install
, they get src
as well as dist
folder? Currently when I run npm publish
from my git repository, it results in only src
folder being published.
My package.json looks like this:
{
"name": "join-js",
"version": "0.0.1",
"homepage": "https://github.com/archfirst/joinjs",
"repository": {
"type": "git",
"url": "https://github.com/archfirst/joinjs.git"
},
"main": "dist/index.js",
"scripts": {
"test": "gulp",
"build": "gulp build",
"prepublish": "npm run build"
},
"dependencies": {
...
},
"devDependencies": {
...
}
}
node.js Solutions
Solution 1 - node.js
When you npm publish
, if you don't have an .npmignore
file, npm will use your .gitignore
file (in your case you excluded the dist
folder).
To solve your problem, create a .npmignore
file based on your .gitignore
file, without ignoring the dist folder.
Soure : https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/developers#keeping-files-out-of-your-package
Solution 2 - node.js
Take a look at the "files" field of package.json file https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json#files
From the documentation:
> The "files" field is an array of files to include in your project. If you name a folder in the array, then it will also include the files inside that folder. (Unless they would be ignored by another rule.)
Solution 3 - node.js
Minimal example of how to use data files from a script
Another common use case is to have data files that your scripts need to use.
This can be done easily by using the techniques mentioned at: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10111163/in-node-js-how-can-i-get-the-path-of-a-module-i-have-loaded-via-require-that-is
The full example can be found at:
- source: https://github.com/cirosantilli/linux-kernel-module-cheat/tree/008bd8000234d74e00845939ea6c47d302a26706/npm/data-files
- published: https://www.npmjs.com/package/cirosantilli-data-files
With this setup, the file mydata.txt
gets put into node_modules/cirosantilli-data-files/mydata.txt
after installation because we added it to our files:
entry of package.json
.
Our function myfunc
can then find that file and use its contents by using require.resolve
. It also just works on the executable ./cirosantilli-data-files
of course.
package.json
{
"bin": {
"cirosantilli-data-files": "cirosantilli-data-files"
},
"license": "MIT",
"files": [
"cirosantilli-data-files",
"mydata.txt",
"index.js"
],
"name": "cirosantilli-data-files",
"repository": "cirosantilli/linux-kernel-module-cheat",
"version": "0.1.0"
}
mydata.txt
hello world
index.js
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
function myfunc() {
const package_path = path.dirname(require.resolve(
path.join('cirosantilli-data-files', 'package.json')));
return fs.readFileSync(path.join(package_path, 'mydata.txt'), 'utf-8');
}
exports.myfunc = myfunc;
cirosantilli-data-files
#!/usr/bin/env node
const cirosantilli_data_files = require('cirosantilli-data-files');
console.log(cirosantilli_data_files.myfunc());
The is-installed-globally
package is then useful if you want to generate relative paths to the distributed files depending if they are installed locally or globally: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26104276/how-to-tell-if-npm-package-was-installed-globally-or-locally/60486676#60486676