link-package

No more require("./../../../../../../../../some/other/file.js").

In large node.js applications, relative require() can be really annoying. You probably already know code like this:

var moduleA = require("./../../../../../../../../path/to/moduleA.js");
var moduleB = require("./../../../../../../../../path/to/moduleB.js");
var moduleC = require("./../../../../../../../../path/to/moduleC.js");

This module allows you to write code like this:

var moduleA = require("your-app/path/to/moduleA.js");
var moduleB = require("your-app/path/to/moduleB.js");
var moduleC = require("your-app/path/to/moduleC.js");

link-package just creates a symlink in your project's node_modules pointing to your project folder.

Sub-folders and aliases

You can even link multiple domains of your application via sub-folders and aliases like this:

var linkPackage = require("link-package");

linkPackage("app/shared/models", "models");
linkPackage("app/client/views", "views");
linkPackage("app/client/routes", "routes");

var User = require("models/user");
var UserView = require("views/user");
var auth = require("routes/auth");

Please note

Consider splitting your app into multiple projects before using this module. Non-monolithic architectures tend to be better maintainable on the long run. However, I think there are still use-cases where this module comes in handy, that's why I've written it :)

Installation

Usage

You can use link-package in two ways:

• npm scripts
• node API

npm scripts

Add this to the scripts-section of your package.json:

"scripts": {
    ...
    "prestart": "link-package",
    "pretest": "link-package",
    ...
}

This will create the symlink before you run npm start or npm test.

Subfolders

If you want the symlink to point to a subfolder like app or lib you can also pass an argument to link-package:

    "prestart": "link-package some/sub/folder",
    "pretest": "link-package some/sub/folder",

Aliases

link-package uses the name attribute of the project's package.json as link name. If you want to override that behavior, just pass a second argument.

    "prestart": "link-package ./ my-alias",
    "pretest": "link-package ./ my-alias",

node API

If you don't want to use npm scripts you can also use the node API like this:

var linkPackage = require("link-package");

linkPackage();
// or if you want to link a subfolder with an alias
linkPackage("some/sub/folder", "my-alias");

You don't need to check if there is already a symlink, link-package does that for you.

Compatibility

Against popular beliefs, symlinks are well supported on Windows.

License

Unlicense