npm-dedupe-symlinks

ATTENTION: this command messes with your directory structure. In its current state it should be used with caution. Make a backup of your project first.

npm dedupe ignores modules that are symbolic links (e. g. when using npm link) resulting in incomplete deduplication.

Thus npm-dedupe-symlinks was created to dedupe the current working directory, even if the node_modules folder contains symbolic links. It does so by creating a directory structure without any symbolic links, then using npm dedupe and recreating the symbolic links.

It can handle the following constellations:

• my-package/node_modules/symlinkedModule
• my-package/node_modules/@symlinkedScope/module
• my-package/node_modules/@scope/symlinkedModule

It currently does not work for symbolic links that are nested deeper in the directory hierarchy than one level (except for linked modules inside @scopes).

Usage

npm install -g npm-dedupe-symlinks

cd /to/the/package/i/want/to/dedupe

npm-dedupe-symlinks

If the command fails, you may need to re-create your symbolic links. Dependencies might be lost as well.

Be warned: if you have one module symlinked into multiple projects, not all of those projects may work due to missing (deduped) dependencies.

Development

# after cloning, run once
npm run build

# there's also a watcher
npm run watch:build

FAQ

How does it work?

1. unlink linked modules (only on the first level)
2. create an empty directory in its place
3. copy the package.json from the link's target to the empty directory
4. move the node_modules directory from the link's target to the empty directory
5. run npm dedupe
6. move the module's deduped node_modules directory (if it still exists) back to the link target
7. delete the directory, which is now empty again
8. re-link the modules (create symbolic links)

It uses RxJS internally.

Moving the node_modules directory is slow

Make sure everything is on the same volume.

TODO

• write some tests