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| <h1><a href="../cli/npm-install.html">npm-install</a></h1> <p>Install a package</p> |
| |
| <h2 id="SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</h2> |
| |
| <pre><code>npm install (with no args in a package dir) |
| npm install <tarball file> |
| npm install <tarball url> |
| npm install <folder> |
| npm install <name> [--save|--save-dev|--save-optional] |
| npm install <name>@<tag> |
| npm install <name>@<version> |
| npm install <name>@<version range> |
| npm i (with any of the previous argument usage)</code></pre> |
| |
| <h2 id="DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</h2> |
| |
| <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 <a href="../cli/npm-shrinkwrap.html">npm-shrinkwrap(1)</a>.</p> |
| |
| <p>A <code>package</code> is:</p> |
| |
| <ul><li>a) a folder containing a program described by a package.json file</li><li>b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)</li><li>c) a url that resolves to (b)</li><li>d) a <code><name>@<version></code> that is published on the registry with (c)</li><li>e) a <code><name>@<tag></code> that points to (d)</li><li>f) a <code><name></code> that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)</li><li>g) a <code><git remote url></code> that resolves to (b)</li></ul> |
| |
| <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).</p> |
| |
| <ul><li><p><code>npm install</code> (in package directory, no arguments):</p><p>Install the dependencies in the local node_modules folder.</p><p>In global mode (ie, with <code>-g</code> or <code>--global</code> appended to the command), |
| it installs the current package context (ie, the current working |
| directory) as a global package.</p><p>By default, <code>npm install</code> will install all modules listed as |
| dependencies. With the <code>--production</code> flag, |
| npm will not install modules listed in <code>devDependencies</code>.</p></li><li><p><code>npm install <folder></code>:</p><p>Install a package that is sitting in a folder on the filesystem.</p></li><li><p><code>npm install <tarball file></code>:</p><p>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 <code>npm link</code>.</p><p>Example:</p><pre><code> npm install ./package.tgz</code></pre></li><li><p><code>npm install <tarball url></code>:</p><p>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://"</p><p>Example:</p><pre><code> npm install https://github.com/indexzero/forever/tarball/v0.5.6</code></pre></li><li><p><code>npm install <name> [--save|--save-dev|--save-optional]</code>:</p><p>Do a <code><name>@<tag></code> install, where <code><tag></code> is the "tag" config. (See |
| <code><a href="../misc/npm-config.html">npm-config(7)</a></code>.)</p><p>In most cases, this will install the latest version |
| of the module published on npm.</p><p>Example:</p><p> npm install sax</p><p><code>npm install</code> takes 3 exclusive, optional flags which save or update |
| the package version in your main package.json:</p><ul><li><p><code>--save</code>: Package will appear in your <code>dependencies</code>.</p></li><li><p><code>--save-dev</code>: Package will appear in your <code>devDependencies</code>.</p></li><li><p><code>--save-optional</code>: Package will appear in your <code>optionalDependencies</code>.</p><p>Examples:</p><p> npm install sax --save |
| npm install node-tap --save-dev |
| npm install dtrace-provider --save-optional</p><p><strong>Note</strong>: If there is a file or folder named <code><name></code> 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.</p></li></ul></li><li><p><code>npm install <name>@<tag></code>:</p><p>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.</p><p>Example:</p><pre><code> npm install sax@latest</code></pre></li><li><p><code>npm install <name>@<version></code>:</p><p>Install the specified version of the package. This will fail if the version |
| has not been published to the registry.</p><p>Example:</p><pre><code> npm install sax@0.1.1</code></pre></li><li><p><code>npm install <name>@<version range></code>:</p><p>Install a version of the package matching the specified version range. This |
| will follow the same rules for resolving dependencies described in <code><a href="../files/package.json.html">package.json(5)</a></code>.</p><p>Note that most version ranges must be put in quotes so that your shell will |
| treat it as a single argument.</p><p>Example:</p><p> npm install sax@">=0.1.0 <0.2.0"</p></li><li><p><code>npm install <git remote url></code>:</p><p>Install a package by cloning a git remote url. The format of the git |
| url is:</p><p> <protocol>://[<user>@]<hostname><separator><path>[#<commit-ish>]</p><p><code><protocol></code> is one of <code>git</code>, <code>git+ssh</code>, <code>git+http</code>, or |
| <code>git+https</code>. If no <code><commit-ish></code> is specified, then <code>master</code> is |
| used.</p><p>Examples:</p><pre><code> git+ssh://git@github.com:isaacs/npm.git#v1.0.27 |
| git+https://isaacs@github.com/isaacs/npm.git |
| git://github.com/isaacs/npm.git#v1.0.27</code></pre></li></ul> |
| |
| <p>You may combine multiple arguments, and even multiple types of arguments. |
| For example:</p> |
| |
| <pre><code>npm install sax@">=0.1.0 <0.2.0" bench supervisor</code></pre> |
| |
| <p>The <code>--tag</code> 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> |
| |
| <p>The <code>--force</code> argument will force npm to fetch remote resources even if a |
| local copy exists on disk.</p> |
| |
| <pre><code>npm install sax --force</code></pre> |
| |
| <p>The <code>--global</code> argument will cause npm to install the package globally |
| rather than locally. See <code><a href="../files/npm-folders.html">npm-folders(5)</a></code>.</p> |
| |
| <p>The <code>--link</code> argument will cause npm to link global installs into the |
| local space in some cases.</p> |
| |
| <p>The <code>--no-bin-links</code> argument will prevent npm from creating symlinks for |
| any binaries the package might contain.</p> |
| |
| <p>The <code>--no-optional</code> argument will prevent optional dependencies from |
| being installed.</p> |
| |
| <p>The <code>--no-shrinkwrap</code> argument, which will ignore an available |
| shrinkwrap file and use the package.json instead.</p> |
| |
| <p>The <code>--nodedir=/path/to/node/source</code> argument will allow npm to find the |
| node source code so that npm can compile native modules.</p> |
| |
| <p>See <code><a href="../misc/npm-config.html">npm-config(7)</a></code>. Many of the configuration params have some |
| effect on installation, since that's most of what npm does.</p> |
| |
| <h2 id="ALGORITHM">ALGORITHM</h2> |
| |
| <p>To install a package, npm uses the following algorithm:</p> |
| |
| <pre><code>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)</code></pre> |
| |
| <p>For this <code>package{dep}</code> structure: <code>A{B,C}, B{C}, C{D}</code>, |
| this algorithm produces:</p> |
| |
| <pre><code>A |
| +-- B |
| `-- C |
| `-- D</code></pre> |
| |
| <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> |
| |
| <p>See <a href="../files/npm-folders.html">npm-folders(5)</a> for a more detailed description of the specific |
| folder structures that npm creates.</p> |
| |
| <h3 id="Limitations-of-npm-s-Install-Algorithm">Limitations of npm's Install Algorithm</h3> |
| |
| <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> |
| |
| <pre><code>A -> B -> A' -> B' -> A -> B -> A' -> B' -> A -> ...</code></pre> |
| |
| <p>where <code>A</code> is some version of a package, and <code>A'</code> is a different version |
| of the same package. Because <code>B</code> depends on a different version of <code>A</code> |
| than the one that is already in the tree, it must install a separate |
| copy. The same is true of <code>A'</code>, which must install <code>B'</code>. Because <code>B'</code> |
| depends on the original version of <code>A</code>, which has been overridden, the |
| cycle falls into infinite regress.</p> |
| |
| <p>To avoid this situation, npm flat-out refuses to install any |
| <code>name@version</code> 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.</p> |
| |
| <h2 id="SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</h2> |
| |
| <ul><li><a href="../files/npm-folders.html">npm-folders(5)</a></li><li><a href="../cli/npm-update.html">npm-update(1)</a></li><li><a href="../cli/npm-link.html">npm-link(1)</a></li><li><a href="../cli/npm-rebuild.html">npm-rebuild(1)</a></li><li><a href="../misc/npm-scripts.html">npm-scripts(7)</a></li><li><a href="../cli/npm-build.html">npm-build(1)</a></li><li><a href="../cli/npm-config.html">npm-config(1)</a></li><li><a href="../misc/npm-config.html">npm-config(7)</a></li><li><a href="../files/npmrc.html">npmrc(5)</a></li><li><a href="../misc/npm-registry.html">npm-registry(7)</a></li><li><a href="../files/npm-folders.html">npm-folders(5)</a></li><li><a href="../cli/npm-tag.html">npm-tag(1)</a></li><li><a href="../cli/npm-rm.html">npm-rm(1)</a></li><li><a href="../cli/npm-shrinkwrap.html">npm-shrinkwrap(1)</a></li></ul> |
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| <p id="footer">npm-install — npm@1.3.21</p> |
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