CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.js
Deke
Deke

Reputation: 4649

How can I unflatten the node module?

My current npm version is 3.7.3 . Previously, only the required packages were getting installed in my node modules. But right now they have all flattened and have 100 + folders visible when I look into node modules. I prefer the older way where you could go into individual folders and see their dependencies. here is a similar thread: Why does npm install many packages into "/node_modules" instead of only one?

I tried running npm uninstall without much success.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 250

Answers (2)

cmroanirgo
cmroanirgo

Reputation: 7447

Now that node js' LTS doesn't include an NPMv2 I found myself stuck with this issue again. For those of you also caught out, the link that @KevinBurdett mentioned, also has some answers.

You can force downgrade npm using npm itself (using sudo or equivalent for this). From https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/9809#issuecomment-179702479:

as root I simply do npm install -g 'npm@<3' on my system every time I a new version of Node comes out; your mileage might vary, but it's fairly trivial to "downgrade" :-)

Another alternative is to use the Node Version Manager (NVM): https://github.com/creationix/nvm. Your mileage may vary depending upon personal config/preferences/platform.

That said, npm 3 and the issue of flat dependency trees will be with us from hereafter... It's probably high time to start accepting that change.

My personal grudge with this is that it makes the node_modules folder incredibly difficult to work with in an IDE, especially when you need to look at the implementation of your immediate dependent modules, without first wading through 100's of sub-sub modules that are irrelevant to me. It seems that I'm not alone in this matter when you read the comments in the issue. It only leads me to question the viability of npm itself when such changes are made without a proper migration from old to new systems. For me, npm2 will always be king.

Upvotes: 0

Kevin Burdett
Kevin Burdett

Reputation: 2982

Basically, you are out of luck... NPM does not provide any configuration options regarding this. It will nest dependencies if it must in order to resolve version conflicts, but only in this case. Your only option is to downgrade NPM (not recommended). However, if you just need to see the dependencies nested for informational reasons, you can use npm ls. It will draw you a graph.

See this relevant NPM issue for more discussion: https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/9809

Upvotes: 3

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