Specifying a forked npm package is not possible

[patmoore]

(You can also answer it over here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30466824/in-meteor-how-to-use-a-npm-library-that-should-be-pulled-from-a-repository )

In my packages.json file, I have:

{
    "sendwithus":"git+https://git@github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs.git#enable_testing_server"
}

because I need to use a forked ( and fixed version of the library). The above syntax works in straight node. How to do this in meteor?

This is the error I get:

=> Started proxy.                             
=> Errors prevented startup:                  
While reading package from `src/packages/npm-container`:
package.js:14:7: must declare exact version of dependency:
   sendwithus@git+https://git@github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs.git#enable_testing_server
Update:

I tried removing the line and using meteor add to get the package included:

Failed:

$ meteor add sendwithus@2.9.1@https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4

=> Errors while parsing arguments:           

While adding package sendwithus@2.9.1@https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4:
error: Package names can only contain lowercase ASCII alphanumerics, dash, dot, or colon, not "@".

Failed:

$ meteor add sendwithus@2.9.1_https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4
 => Errors while parsing arguments:           

While adding package sendwithus@2.9.1_https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4:
error: Can't have two _ in version: 2.9.1_https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4

Failed:

$ meteor add server:sendwithus@2.9.1@https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4
 => Errors while parsing arguments:           

While adding package server:sendwithus@2.9.1@https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4:
error: Package names can only contain lowercase ASCII alphanumerics, dash, dot, or colon, not "@".

Failed:

$ meteor add sendwithus@https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithusnodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4
=> Errors while parsing arguments:           

While adding package sendwithus@https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithusnodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4:
error: Version string must look like semver (eg '1.2.3'), not 'https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithusnodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4'.

[glasser]

"How can I do this?" questions are best posed on StackOverflow or the Meteor forums, not our bug tracker.

meteod add doesn't currently work with npm packages; specifying with Npm.depends is what you want. We wanted to encourage people to make their Meteor packages reproducible by always declaring explicit versions, so URLs need to contain the 40-character hash in it. (This may have been misguided but it is the status quo.)

So

Npm.depends({sendwithus: "https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithusnodejs/commit/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4"});

should do the trick.

[patmoore]

I did ask this question over on stackoverflow. (no response)

Plus the error message indicated that it may not be possible to directly reference the npm fork/branch.

Npm.depends() does not exist in the main code base. Npm.depends() only exists when processing a meteor package.

It looks like you are saying that I need to create a fake meteor package to wrap the the forked npm package.

So I can't just point the packages.json at the location like I can in package.json in a plain node project?

[glasser]

Because that is how the Meteor platform's npm integration was designed.

[patmoore]

Just to use a fork of a npm library requires:

1. main.js:

SendWithUs = Npm.require('sendwithus');

1. package.js:

Package.describe({
  summary: 'Wrapped sendwithus library',
  version: '2.9.1',
  name: 'sendwithus'
});
Npm.depends({sendwithus: "https://github.com/whalepath/sendwithus_nodejs/tarball/41b0d177f6eabf02de2daec9bb2b36daebbfbef4"});
Package.onUse(function(api){
    api.addFiles('main.js', 'server');
    api.export('SendWithUs');
});

1. removing the reference in the packages.json
2. meteor add sendwithus

Maybe this could be improved?