npm should not forcibly replaces symlinked node_modules

[vicary]

This behavior is introduced between npm 7.15 and 7.21.

The new npm install behavior is to always replace a symlinked node_modules with an actual directory, which breaks the usage of node_modules.nosync and a few existing npm modules that favors this behavior, e.g. nosync-icloud

If this breaking change is intended, it should be introduced with a major version upgrade, shouldn’t it?

[MylesBorins]

if you think the npm CLI has introduced an unexpected breaking change you should open an issue reporting a bug at https://github.com/npm/cli

[vicary]

Thanks for the reply, there is an existing issue tracking this one. npm/cli#3669

[MylesBorins]

Thanks for sharing. in general there isn't anything that can be accomplished via this feedback process if there is an existing issue in another related npm repository

[trusktr]

This is not a new issue, this issue has plagued us since the beginning of (npm's) time. This is what I always have to currently do to mitigate the issue when not using a tool like Lerna:

• take note of all symlinked packages (f.e. with find node_modules -type l | grep -v .bin)
• remove all the links, otherwise not only will npm replace those, it will first clobber the node_modules in those linked packages (ouch).
• run npm install, which effectively replaces the links your own way, without clobbering
• based on the links you tracked, re-link everything.

It is really painful. But luckily there are tools that help with this. With Lerna, my process is:

• rm -rf node_modules in the project that has linked packages.
• run npm install
• go up to the root and run lerna bootstrap which automatically re-links everything

With the new npm 7 workspaces, using npm install might be an alternative solution to Lerna assuming you make use of a workspaces config in your package.json. So then the steps could be the following,

• rm -rf node_modules in the project that has linked packages.
• go up to the root and run npm install which automatically re-links everything

and maybe there's no need to delete node_modules with npm 7 if workspaces are configured, but I haven't verified.

I've reported this bug in multiple issue trackers that npm had before, but they have closed those systems and I haven't bothered to open yet another issue.

I think the team even claimed that npm 7 would finally get rid of this problem back in one of those trackers, and if they did, then this is a regression, but I haven't verified this either. I just use the above steps knowing it always works.

[vicary]

TBH Isaacs has a tendency to close issues outright since the early days of npm, leaving little rooms for reasoning. I have no hope for npm as a company. You have my appreciation for at least tried multiple occasions, also thanks for your workarounds!