Option to output shrinkwrap to stdout instead of npm-shrinkwrap.json

[cvrebert]

What's the feature?

A flag for npm shrinkwrap to have it output the shrinkwrap JSON to stdout (or alternatively, to a given filepath; either would satisfy my use-case).

What problem is the feature intended to solve?

Being able to output the npm-shrinkwrap.json to a directory other than the CWD.
I want to use a shrinkwrap to lock down my dependency versions when testing on Travis, but I don't want to force my package's dependents to use such exact versions. Thus, I generate a shrinkwrap, but don't keep it in the root of my repository. Since npm shrinkwrap is currently only capable of writing to npm-shrinkwrap.json in the current directory, my "update test npm shrinkwrap" npm script has to include an extra awkward "move npm-shrinkwrap.json" step. If this feature existed, I could get rid of this extra step and just use the shell's output redirection.

Is the absence of this feature blocking you or your team? If so, how?

The lack of this feature means I have to use and depend on an additional tool (currently shx) in my npm scripts just to move the shrinkwrap file to a different directory.
(I can't just use mv since that doesn't work on Windows.)

Is this feature similar to an existing feature in another tool?

Yes, in that unix CLI tools typically either output to stdout by default, or support outputting to stdout by specifying - as filename argument.

Is this a feature you're prepared to implement, with support from the npm CLI team?

Yes.

[npm-robot]

We're closing this issue as it has gone thirty days without activity. In our experience if an issue has gone thirty days without any activity then it's unlikely to be addressed. In the case of bug reports, often the underlying issue will be addressed but finding related issues is quite difficult and often incomplete.

If this was a bug report and it is still relevant then we encourage you to open it again as a new issue. If this was a feature request then you should feel free to open it again, or even better open a PR.

For more information about our new issue aging policies and why we've instituted them please see our blog post.

[cvrebert]

Protip: Just use https://yarnpkg.com if you care about shrinkwrapping.