CODEWITHSUNDEEP
npmwebpacknpm-installpackage.jsonpackage-lock.json
woodykiddy
woodykiddy

Reputation: 6455

why the ^ symbol before the version is removed from package-lock.json

I noticed that whenever I did npm install --save, my package-lock.json file got modified and the ^ symbol removed from the version.

For example, 

"@babel/core": {
      "version": "7.7.2",
      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@babel/core/-/core-7.7.2.tgz",
      "integrity": "sha512-eeD7VEZKfhK1KUXGiyPFettgF3m513f8FoBSWiQ1xTvl1RAopLs42Wp9+Ze911I6H0N9lNqJMDgoZT7gHsipeQ==",
      "dev": true,
      "requires": {
        "@babel/code-frame": "^7.5.5",
        "@babel/generator": "^7.7.2",
        "@babel/helpers": "^7.7.0",
        "@babel/parser": "^7.7.2",
        "@babel/template": "^7.7.0",
        "@babel/traverse": "^7.7.2",
        "@babel/types": "^7.7.2",
        "convert-source-map": "^1.7.0",
        "debug": "^4.1.0",
        "json5": "^2.1.0",
        "lodash": "^4.17.13",
        "resolve": "^1.3.2",
        "semver": "^5.4.1",
        "source-map": "^0.5.0"
      }

changed to 

"@babel/core": {
  "version": "7.7.2",
  "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@babel/core/-/core-7.7.2.tgz",
  "integrity": "sha512-eeD7VEZKfhK1KUXGiyPFettgF3m513f8FoBSWiQ1xTvl1RAopLs42Wp9+Ze911I6H0N9lNqJMDgoZT7gHsipeQ==",
  "dev": true,
  "requires": {
    "@babel/code-frame": "7.5.5",
    "@babel/generator": "7.7.2",
    "@babel/helpers": "7.7.0",
    "@babel/parser": "7.7.3",
    "@babel/template": "7.7.0",
    "@babel/traverse": "7.7.2",
    "@babel/types": "7.7.2",
    "convert-source-map": "1.7.0",
    "debug": "4.1.1",
    "json5": "2.1.1",
    "lodash": "4.17.15",
    "resolve": "1.12.0",
    "semver": "5.7.1",
    "source-map": "0.5.7"
  }

I couldn't figure out the reason why it happened like this. Understand that by providing --no-package-lock flag would prevent modifying the existing package-lock.json file. But is there a way to retain the ^ while still keeping package-lock.json up-to-date?

Update: My installed npm version is 5.6.0.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 677

Answers (1)

felixmosh
felixmosh

Reputation: 35503

The whole idea behind package-lock file is that you will get a consistent installs no matter what environment you are installing it. That means the installed versions must be fixed to a specific version.

Upvotes: 1

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