[FEATURE] Do not remove node_modules on npm ci

[Zenuka]

What / Why

I would really like to see a flag like npm ci --keep to do an incremental update on our buildserver as this would speed up our deployments a lot. Like suggested before on github and on the community. The last update was on the 7th of October that this was being reviewed by the cli team. Could someone post an update on this? :-)

[DanielRuf]

This is not what ci / cleaninstall is meant to do. The current behaviour is correct. What you want to use is npm shrinkwrap.

[claudiahdz]

We added an update to avoid deleting the node_modules folder but not its contents (as originally requested on that post). The npm ci command purpose is to delete everything to start from a clean slate. If you want to keep your old node_modules what you need is npm i.

[Zenuka]

Thanks for your replies! Sorry for my late reply. I've looked at npm shrinkwrap but is this intended to run on our build server for continuous integration? When running this command it renames my package-lock.json to npm-shrinkwrap.json but what should I then run during CI? Just npm install to have an incremental update? Or should I run npm ci but that will delete all packages again :-( What I'm looking for is a command that does an incremental update but will install exactly what is in our package-lock.json

@claudiahdz; My understanding is that running npm install during CI will update the package-lock.json and that could mean that running the same build a couple of weeks later would install different packages. Is that incorrect?

P.s. I thought npm ci was short for Continuous Integration

[khalwat]

As referenced here: npm/npm#20104 (comment)

The current behavior is problematic if you're using npm ci inside of a Docker container (which is quite common for Continuous Integration) and you have a bind mount on node_modules

It causes the following error:

webpack_1   | npm ERR! path /var/www/project/docker-config/webpack-dev-devmode/node_modules
webpack_1   | npm ERR! code EBUSY
webpack_1   | npm ERR! errno -16
webpack_1   | npm ERR! syscall rmdir
webpack_1   | npm ERR! EBUSY: resource busy or locked, rmdir '/var/www/project/docker-config/webpack-dev-devmode/node_modules'

which then results in aborting the Docker container.

It'd be lovely to have a --no-delete flag or if npm ci could delete the contents of node_modules but not the directory itself.

[DanielRuf]

ci = clean install

This is expected. Why don't you use the normal npm i with a lockfile?

[DanielRuf]

It'd be lovely to have a --no-delete flag or if npm ci could delete the contents of node_modules but not the directory itself.

rm -rf node_modules/* && npm i

[khalwat]

ci = clean install

This is expected. Why don't you use the normal npm i with a lockfile?

...because: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/ci.html

This command is similar to npm-install, except it’s meant to be used in automated environments such as test platforms, continuous integration, and deployment – or any situation where you want to make sure you’re doing a clean install of your dependencies. It can be significantly faster than a regular npm install by skipping certain user-oriented features. It is also more strict than a regular install, which can help catch errors or inconsistencies caused by the incrementally-installed local environments of most npm users.

The faster installs and clean slate approach make this ideal for CI environments such as the one I mentioned above.

[khalwat]

rm -rf node_modules/* && npm i

This is what I do now, but see above for the desire to use npm ci

[ljharb]

It seems reasonable to me to file an RFC asking for a config flag that makes npm ci remove the contents of node_modules and not the dir itself. This is also an issue for me, in that i've set up Dropbox to selectively ignore a node_modules dir, but if i delete it, that selective setting goes away, and the next time node_modules is created, it syncs.

[DanielRuf]

It seems reasonable to me to file an RFC asking for a config flag that makes npm ci remove the contents of node_modules and not the dir itself. This is also an issue for me, in that i've set up Dropbox to selectively ignore a node_modules dir, but if i delete it, that selective setting goes away, and the next time node_modules is created, it syncs.

Isn't this also what another issue described, to allow npm to create files to ignore the dir (for OSX spotlight and others)? I think there were also others who need this feature.

[Zenuka]

ci = clean install

This is expected. Why don't you use the normal npm i with a lockfile?

npm i would be a great but only if it wouldn't change the lock file. I've seen the package-lock.json been updated during an npm i or should that not happen?

[DefiCake]

I support this feature. As stated, npm i modifies package-lock.json. A flag would be the ideal solution.