[BUG] npm link removes other links

[Gopikrishna19]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Current Behavior

Linking package1

$ npm link @myscope/package1 

changed 1 package, and audited 603 packages in 10s
found 0 vulnerabilities

$ ll node_modules/@myscope
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 Gopi 123 32 Sep 13 10:35 package1 -> /d/Projects/Websites/package1/
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 10 12:09 package2/
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 13 10:35 package3/

Linking package2

$ npm link @myscope/package2

changed 2 packages, and audited 603 packages in 10s
found 0 vulnerabilities

$ ll node_modules/@myscope
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 32 Sep 13 10:35 package1/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 10 12:09 package2 -> /d/Projects/Websites/package2/
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 13 10:35 package3/

Expected Behavior

Linking package1

$ npm link @myscope/package1 

changed 1 package, and audited 603 packages in 10s
found 0 vulnerabilities

$ ll node_modules/@myscope
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 Gopi 123 32 Sep 13 10:35 package1 -> /d/Projects/Websites/package1/
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 10 12:09 package2/
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 13 10:35 package3/

Linking package2

$ npm link @myscope/package2

changed 1 package, and audited 603 packages in 10s
found 0 vulnerabilities

$ ll node_modules/@myscope
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 32 Sep 13 10:35 package1 -> /d/Projects/Websites/package1/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 10 12:09 package2 -> /d/Projects/Websites/package2/
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 13 10:35 package3/

Steps To Reproduce

1. Start a project with multiple sibling dependencies
2. Link a sibling package
3. LInk another sibling package
4. The first sibling is no longer linked

Environment

• OS: Windows 10
• Node: v16.3.0
• npm: 7.15.1

[Gopikrishna19]

This works:

$ npm link @myscope/package1 @myscope/package2
$ ll node_modules/@myscope
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 Gopi 123 32 Sep 13 10:35 package1 -> /d/Projects/Websites/package1/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 10 12:09 package2 -> /d/Projects/Websites/package2/
drwxr-xr-x 1 Gopi 123 0 Sep 13 10:35 package3/

Is the new behaviour intentional? I surely remember multiple links working in previous versions of npm. Although I have only attempted it on a posix env.

[Gopikrishna19]

Upgraded node to v16.9.1 with npm v7.21.1 and still not working. I see there was a fix 40829ec made which is available from 7.18. But it is not working on Windows.

Tagging #3399 #2554

[trusktr]

This has been an issue for forever. I've reported this before (but probably those are lost in archived repos or forums).

[barisusakli]

Just ran into this as well after upgrading to npm 7.x. I used to run a script to link 10+ dependencies like

npm link <dep1>
npm link <dep2>
npm link <dep3>
npm link <dep4>

@Gopikrishna19 thanks for the suggestion npm link <dep1> <dep2> ... <depn> works.

[wraithgar]

40829ec should have fixed this. What does the error state look like now in windows?

[Gopikrishna19]

will test it now @wraithgar

[Gopikrishna19]

Its still not working in Windows:

D:\Projects\test> md app1 ; cd app1 ; npm init -y ; npm link ; cd ..
D:\Projects\test> md app2 ; cd app2 ; npm init -y ; npm link ; cd ..
D:\Projects> md app3 ; cd app3 ; npm init -y

D:\Projects\app3> npm link app1 
D:\Projects\app3> npm link app2

D:\Projects\app3> ls node_modules
Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d----l         3/17/2022   3:20 PM                app2
-a----         3/17/2022   3:20 PM            366 .package-lock.json

Again, as mentioned a combined link works.

D:\Projects\app3> npm link app1 app2
D:\Projects\app3> ls node_modules
Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d----l         3/17/2022   3:18 PM                app1
d----l         3/17/2022   3:18 PM                app2
-a----         3/17/2022   3:18 PM            387 .package-lock.json

However, something did change. If I link both deps and link one again, it is not unlinking others anymore:

D:\Projects\app3> npm link app1 app2
D:\Projects\app3> npm link app2
D:\Projects\app3> ls node_modules
Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d----l         3/17/2022   3:18 PM                app1              # Still available
d----l         3/17/2022   3:18 PM                app2
-a----         3/17/2022   3:18 PM            387 .package-lock.json

[Gopikrishna19]

Works in mac though:

~/Developer/npm-test                                                                                                                                                                  
❯ mkdir app1 && cd app1 && npm init -y && npm link && cd ..                                                                                                                                       
❯ mkdir app2 && cd app2 && npm init -y && npm link && cd ..                                                                                                                                                            
❯ mkdir app3 && cd app3 && npm init -y                   

~/Developer/npm-test/app3                                                                                                                                                 
❯ npm link app1                                                                                                                                                          
❯ npm link app2

~/Developer/npm-test/app3                                                                                                                                                     
❯ ll node_modules 
total 8
drwxr-xr-x  5 Gopi  123  160 Mar 17 15:26 .
drwxr-xr-x  4 Gopi  123  128 Mar 17 15:26 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 Gopi  123  403 Mar 17 15:26 .package-lock.json
lrwxr-xr-x  1 Gopi  123   10 Mar 17 15:26 app1 -> ../../app1
lrwxr-xr-x  1 Gopi  123   10 Mar 17 15:26 app2 -> ../../app2

[Gopikrishna19]

Versions:

~/Developer/npm-test/app3
❯ npm --version
8.5.5
❯ node --version
v16.14.1

D:\Projects\app3> npm --version
8.5.4
D:\Projects\app3> node --version
v16.14.1

I guess I missed the v8.5.5, released 2 hours ago, on Windows. Your comment about the fix was from yesterday, so I guess v8.5.4 is still valid. Please let me know if you want me to test with 8.5.5 on Windows.