How to npm publish specific folder but as package root
I have the same desire but I think there is no way of accomplishing this with only using npm tooling. Another script/tool could be used to arrange your package.
Alternative Solution
Currently I am copying my package.json
into the dist
folder and then running npm pack
inside the dist
folder. I think this essentially provides the desired arrangement of our package.
Here is some relevant reading on this npm design: Why no Directories.lib in Node.
It's also interesting to note that jspm DOES respect the directories.lib
option in package.json
and rearranges the files when resolving the npm package. This all has come about for me because I am wanting to build a common library which can be consumed by jspm or npm/webpack.
I have a similar problem to the original poster (@robsonrosa). In my case I use typecript which compiles to a dist
directory. While I could make typescript compile to the root directory I think the best solution is to generate a separate package.json
file in the dist directory.
This is similar to @scvnc suggestion of copying the package.json
but with a twist:
As part of the packaging process you should generate a package.json
for the package which is based on but distinct from the main package.json
file in the root directory
The rationale:
- The root
package.json
file is the development file. It may contain scripts or development dependencies that are of no use to the package user, but may pose security concerns for you. Your packaging procedure may include code that strips that information from the productionpackage.json
. - You may want to deploy your package to different environments which may require different package files (e.g. you may want to have different versions or dependencies).
--- EDIT ---
I was asked for a solution in the comments. So here is some code I am using. This should be considered as an example it is not meant to be generic and is specific to my projects.
My setup:
package.json - main package.json with dev dependencies and useful scripts.
.npmignore - files to ignore; copied to 'dist' directory as part of the setup.
/src - directory where my typescript code resides.
/src/SetupPackage.ts - bit of code used to setup the package.
/dist - destination directory for the compiled javascript files.
I want to package only the dist
directory and the directory should be the root directory in the package.
The file SetupPackage.ts
in my src
directory will be compiled to SetupPackage.js
in the dist
directory by typescript:
import fs from "fs";
// DO NOT DELETE THIS FILE
// This file is used by build system to build a clean npm package with the compiled js files in the root of the package.
// It will not be included in the npm package.
function main() {
const source = fs.readFileSync(__dirname + "/../package.json").toString('utf-8');
const sourceObj = JSON.parse(source);
sourceObj.scripts = {};
sourceObj.devDependencies = {};
if (sourceObj.main.startsWith("dist/")) {
sourceObj.main = sourceObj.main.slice(5);
}
fs.writeFileSync(__dirname + "/package.json", Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(sourceObj, null, 2), "utf-8") );
fs.writeFileSync(__dirname + "/version.txt", Buffer.from(sourceObj.version, "utf-8") );
fs.copyFileSync(__dirname + "/../.npmignore", __dirname + "/.npmignore");
}
main();
This file:
- Copies the root
package.json
but removes the scripts and dev dependencies which are not needed in the package. It also fixes the main entry point to the package. - Writes the version of the package from
package.json
to a file calledversion.txt
. - Copies the
.npmignore
file from the root.
The .npmignore content is:
*.map
*.spec.*
SetupPackage.*
version.txt
I.e. unit tests (spec files) and typescript map files are ignored as well as the SetupPackage.js
file and the version.txt
file it creates. This leaves a clean package.
Finally the main package.json
file has the following scripts for use by the build system (assumes sh
is used as the shell).
"scripts": {
"compile": "tsc",
"clean": "rm -rf dist",
"prebuildpackage": "npm run clean && npm run compile && node dist/SetupPackage.js",
"buildpackage": "cd dist && npm pack"
},
To build the package the build system clones the repo, does npm install
and then runs npm run buildpackage
which in turn:
- Deletes the
dist
directory ensuring a clean compile. - Compiles the typescript code to javascript.
- Executes the
SetupPackage.js
file which preparesdist
for packaging. - cds to the
dist
directory and builds the package there.
I use the version.txt
file as an easy way to get the version in package.json and to tag my repo. There are countless other ways to do this or you may want to auto-increment the version. Remove this from SetupPackage.ts
and .npmignore
if it is not useful to you.
If you are (and I recommend) using semantic-release, add the pkgRoot
option in the .releaserc.json
file. (You should also install rjp):
{
"pkgRoot": "dist",
"plugins": [
"@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
"@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
"@semantic-release/npm",
[
"@semantic-release/exec",
{
"prepareCmd": "npx rjp package.json version nextRelease.version"
}
],
[
"@semantic-release/git",
{
"message": "Release <%= nextRelease.version %> [skip ci]",
"assets": ["package.json", "CHANGELOG.md"]
}
],
"@semantic-release/changelog"
],
}
That'll take care of the problem. Just make sure your dist
folder contains a package.json
file. You can easily do that by adding a cp
to your postbuild
script:
{
"scripts": {
"postbuild": "cp package.json dist"
}
}