npm config loading should not require shelling out to npm

[rmg]

I haven't looked yet to see if this bit of functionality has already been extracted from npm core or whether it is planned or not, but it sure would be nice!

[zkat]

This is a somewhat tricky bit to extract, because the npm config stuff is so tangled right now -- but really looking forward to not having to shell out

[rmg]

After opening this it started feeling annoyingly familiar.. then I re-discovered the npmconf module I used to use and see it was deprecated and the functionality rolled back in. Now I'm wondering if an extracted npm config module would work out. I suspect the re-integration was only meant as a temporary measure in the grand scheme of refactorings.

[kaicataldo]

Hi! @mikesherov was talking to me about extracting npm's config loading behavior into its own module so that it can be consumed by both npm and cipm, and I'm interested in working on this. This was the closest issue I could find - so hopefully I'm commenting in the right place - but was wondering what the status on this is. Is this still an acceptable strategy for the npm team? Is anyone else working on this? Thanks!

[zkat]

@kaicataldo the config extraction project is not small, and I'm currently working on some refactoring for cipm that would conflict with any work you start doing -- join us over at https://package.community and we can have a conversation about this! Help would be great!