pnpm link status message

[vjpr]

There should be a message after a pnpm link X or pnpm link command to show what has been linked where.

It should also show a warning that the linked module will not be able to use peer dependencies from the current module (as discussed in #604). It should search the linkee's package.json file to check for peer deps.

pnpm version: 0.53.0

[zkochan]

Message regarding what linked where added here 9bab641

Does npm print messages about peer deps in this situation?

[vjpr]

npm@2

➜  foo npm link
npm WARN peerDependencies The peer dependency bar included from foo will no
npm WARN peerDependencies longer be automatically installed to fulfill the peerDependency
npm WARN peerDependencies in npm 3+. Your application will need to depend on it explicitly.
/Users/Vaughan/nvm/versions/node/v6.5.0/lib/node_modules/foo -> /Users/Vaughan/dev-scratch/foo

npm@4

➜  foo npm link
npm WARN foo@1.0.0 No description
npm WARN foo@1.0.0 No repository field.
/Users/Vaughan/nvm/versions/node/v7.5.0/lib/node_modules/foo -> /Users/Vaughan/dev-scratch/foo

{
  "name": "foo",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "peerDependencies": {
    "bar": "*"
  }
}

[vjpr]

So npm doesn't, but I think we should show a message because with npm you can use --preserve-symlinks to ensure the same cached module is used for a npm linked peer dependency, but with pnpm it is impossible to use the same cached module of a npm linked peer dep, amongst dependencies.

[vjpr]

Thes message should be something like this:

pnpm link foo

Prints:

---

The package foo, which you have just pnpm linked has the following peerDependencies specified in its package.json:

• bar@*

Warning: Whilst foo is linked, when a peer dependency is required inside package foo, this peer dependency will refer to foo's local version, not your project's version. This can cause issues if there should be only one instance of the peer dependency during runtime (e.g. react). It may also increase your project's startup time because you would have multiple versions of a package and all its dependencies being evaulated.

To workaround this issue, in Node.js you can modify the internal require resolver by monkey-patching Module._resolveFilename. Or when using webpack you can use resolve.alias or resolve.modules config settings to acheive the same behaviour. See <TODO: Some FAQ entry on the wiki>.

---

Its a long message, but pnpm link X is not used that often, and if users don't understand this limitation they will encounter crazy bugs.

If we can create a good FAQ article about this, and maybe a blessed require-hack module to ensure the correct peer dep is resolved (I have already written a POC), then there would be no one who can say that pnpm's non-standard hardlinking breaks framework development.

[chpio]

there is still no message when linking to packages with a peerDep. It's not even installing a local instance of the peerDep at the moment.

[vjpr]

Bump. I always think its a bug.

[DylanCulfogienis]

Bump.

[rickstaa]

This is a reasonable feature request since the current behaviour is confusing.

[zkochan]

It is possible to link dependencies so that they reuse the peer dependencies of the project.

Use injected: https://pnpm.io/package_json#dependenciesmetainjected