Allow Require Me

Adds package self reference into node_modules

Stability: Stable, used by toubkal.

Why

To allow testing by providing a symbolic link reference to the current package that can be used in tests using require( 'foobar' ).

Whithout this link you cannot require your package in tests and have to use relative paths to require your package which is unpractical, error prone, #ugly, and makes it hard to move your tests around to different directories.

It's any wonder why node does not allow this by default. Until then we need to do it either manually or with the use of tools like this.

One reason it is hard to automate is that creating symbolic links is different on different platforms, Linux and Windows. Also it has to work for Continuous Integration tools such as Travis.ci.

Also because npm install renoves links in the node_modules, directory, you have to set the link again each time you install or uninstall a package or run npm link.

This tool allows to reset the link after each install or uninstall by creating a postinstall script in package.json.

Installation

For this to work, the current directory must contain a valid package.json file with its name attribute set.

You also need to run this in a console as administraor on Windows and Cygwin.

Assuming that the current package name is foobar:

$ npm install allow-require-me --save

> [email protected] postinstall /allow/require/me/path
> node allow-require-me.js install

allow-require-me.js, package: foobar, action: install, created self link: ../foobar
allow-require-me.js, package: foobar, action: install, configuration saved to package.json
+ [email protected]
added 1 package from 1 contributor in 12.492s

Adds a symbolic link in node_modules/foobar -> .. to the current working package directory.

Details

The postinstall script is automatically saved into the current package.json if npm_config_save environement variable is set to true:

{
  "scripts": {
    "postinstall": "node node_modules/allow-require-me/allow-require-me.js add"
  }
}

If the postinstall script already has something, the command is added after previous commands and if they succeed, e.g.:

{
  "scripts": {
    "postinstall": "previous_command && node node_modules/allow-require-me/allow-require-me.js add"
  }
}

This works on Linux, Windows, and Cygwin and is compatible npm link on these platforms.

For this to work on Windows and Cygwin you need to run your shell "as administrator", otherwise you will get a permission error (EPERM) that could look like this:

  { [Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, symlink '..' -> 'node_modules/foobar']
    errno: -4048,
    code: 'EPERM',
    syscall: 'symlink',
    path: '..',
    dest: 'node_modules/foobar' }

Or while running npm link:

  npm ERR! Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, symlink '/your/cwd' -> '/your/module/path'
  npm ERR!     at Error (native)
  npm ERR!  { [Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, symlink '/your/cwd' -> '/your/module/path'
  npm ERR!   errno: -4048,
  npm ERR!   code: 'EPERM',
  npm ERR!   syscall: 'symlink',
  npm ERR!   path: '/your/cwd',
  npm ERR!   dest: '/your/module/path' }
  npm ERR!
  npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

Additional CLI commands

To see if the self-reference link is active on Linux:

$ ls -l node_modules/foobar
lrwxrwxrwx 1 User None 2 Oct 24 15:34 node_modules/foobar -> ..

To remove the self-referemce link on Linux:

$ rm node_modules/foobar

To check is the link is active on all platforms:

$ ./node_modules/.bin/allow-require-me
allow-require-me.js, package: foobar, action: show, self link is a symbolic link: node_modules/foobar

To recreate the self-referemce link, same on all platforms:

$ ./node_modules/.bin/allow-require-me add
allow-require-me.js, package: foobar, action: add, created self link: node_modules/foobar

To remove the self-referemce link, sane on all platforms:

$ ./node_modules/.bin/allow-require-me remove
allow-require-me.js, package: foobar, action: remove, removed self link: node_modules/foobar which was a synlink

To reinstall the postinstall script into package.json:

$ ./node_modules/.bin/allow-require-me install
allow-require-me.js, package: foobar, action: install, created self link: node_modules/foobar
allow-require-me.js, package: foobar, action: install, configuration saved to package.json

Licence

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2018, Reactive Sets

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.