CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptlinuxnode.jsgruntjs
Dan
Dan

Reputation: 57891

Why does grunt not work when installed globally?

I have installed grunt and grunt-cli globally using sudo npm install -g grunt... commands.

My working folder is `/opt/web', please don't ask why :)

Checking grunt version inside `/opt/web' works:

$ grunt --version
grunt-cli v0.1.13

However, I can't actually run a grunt task from there:

$ grunt
grunt-cli: The grunt command line interface. (v0.1.13)

Fatal error: Unable to find local grunt.

If you're seeing this message, either a Gruntfile wasn't found or grunt
hasn't been installed locally to your project.

If I install grunt locally, it then asks to install all it's dependencies locally (that are already installed globally (!)).

This behavior seems strange to me.

My question is:

Is this a bug or a feature? Is this by design that grunt wants to work with locally installed things only?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 894

Answers (1)

Matthew Bakaitis
Matthew Bakaitis

Reputation: 11990

This is by design. See the grunt-cli readme.

The cli doesn't do anything except find and run a local copy of grunt.

This means that each project can use a version of grunt that the project specifies and is know/tested to work correctly. Given the number of critical things grunt can do, this compatibility promise is a big deal.

There is also a good blog post on the node site that talks a bit more about module installation locations.

Upvotes: 3

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