Make file:../x/x.tgz copy the content into node_modules instead of hardlinking it to the store

[Zwyx]

Contribution

• I'd be willing to implement this feature (contributing guide)

Describe the user story

We often want to install a local dependency as a one off, and be done with it.

This was trivial with npm, it is impossible with pnpm.

Describe the solution you'd like

Running pnpm i ../xx/xx.tgz would simply extract the content of the tgz into node_modules.

Describe the drawbacks of your solution

None.

Describe alternatives you've considered

• Problem with pnpm link:

  • For Task 1, I run pnpm link ../A in repo B,
  • Task 2 comes up and is high priority, I jump on it and start working in repo C,
  • I pnpm link ../A in C and start making changes in A.

  → The changes I make in repo A for Task 2 are also active in repo B, which I didn't want.

• Problem with pnpm i:

  • Same problem as above.
  • Plus, making changes in repo A and re-running pnpm i ../A/A.tgz does not pick up the new changes, because the package.json's version field hasn't changed. As a workaround, we need to silly-increment like 1.0.0-change1, 1.0.0-change2, etc. before every pnpm i ../A/A.tgz, which is quite frustrating.

Thank you for considering this matter 🙏