npm install from Git in a specific version

Question

Assumed that I have written a module for Node js which I would like to keep private  I know that I can  should  add the line    private    true    to the package json file  and I also know that I can npm install this module using a file system path or a link to a git repository  including GitHub   I also know that I can put such a file system path or a link to a git repo into package json  so that the dependencies part may look somewhat like this    dependencies        myprivatemodule    git github com          What I now want is not to link to the latest version  but to a specific one  The only possibility I know of is to link to a specific commit using its ID  But this is way less readable and worse maintainable than using a version number such as 0 3 1   So my question is  Is it possible to specify such a version number anyway and make npm search the git repository for the latest commit that includes this version   If not  how do you resolve this issue in your projects  Do you live with commit IDs or is there a better solution to this

User · Answer

I needed to run two versions of tfjs-core and found that both needed to be built after being installed.

package.json:

"dependencies": {
  "tfjs-core-0.14.3": "git://github.com/tensorflow/tfjs-core#bb0a830b3bda1461327f083ceb3f889117209db2",
  "tfjs-core-1.1.0": "git://github.com/tensorflow/tfjs-core#220660ed8b9a252f9d0847a4f4e3c76ba5188669"
}

Then:

cd node_modules/tfjs-core-0.14.3 && yarn install && yarn build-npm && cd ../../
cd node_modules/tfjs-core-1.1.0  && yarn install && yarn build-npm && cd ../../

And finally, to use the libraries:

import * as tf0143 from '../node_modules/tfjs-core-0.14.3/dist/tf-core.min.js';
import * as tf110 from '../node_modules/tfjs-core-1.1.0/dist/tf-core.min.js';

This worked great but is most certainly #hoodrat

User · Answer

If you re doing this with more than one module and want to have more control over versions  you should look into having your own private npm registry   This way you can npm publish your modules to your private npm registry and use package json entries the same way you would for public modules   https   docs npmjs com files package json dependencies

User · Answer

My example comment to  qubyte above got chopped  so here s something that s easier to read     The method  surjikal described above works for branch commits  but it didn t work for a tree commit I was trying include     The archive mode also works for commits  For example  fetch   a2fbf83  npm   npm install  https   github com github fetch archive a2fbf834773b8dc20eef83bb53d081863d3fc87f tar gz   yarn   yarn add  https   github com github fetch archive a2fbf834773b8dc20eef83bb53d081863d3fc87f tar gz   format    https   github com  lt owner gt   lt repo gt  archive  lt commit-id gt  tar gz    Here s the tree commit that required the  archive  mode   yarn add  https   github com vuejs vuex archive c3626f779b8ea902789dd1c4417cb7d7ef09b557 tar gz   for the related vuex commit

User · Answer

This command installs npm package username package from specific git commit   npm install https   github com username package 3d0a21cc   Here 3d0a21cc is first 8 characters of commit hash

User · Answer

A dependency has to be available from the registry to be installed just by specifying a version descriptor   You can certainly create and use your own registry instead of registry npmjs org if your projects shouldn t be shared publicly   But  if it s not in a registry  it ll have to be referenced by URL or Git URL  To specify a version with a Git URL  include an appropriate  lt commit-ish gt   such as a tag  at the end as a URL fragment   Example  for a tag named 0 3 1    dependencies        myprivatemodule    git github com     0 3 1         Note  The above snippet shows the base URL the same as it was posted in the question       The snipped portion       should be filled in    myprivatemodule    git github com  owner   project  git 0 3 1        And  a different address format will be needed when SSH access isn t available    myprivatemodule    git   github com  owner   project  git 0 3 1       Depending on your OS  you may also be able to link to the dependency in another folder where you have it cloned from Github

User · Answer

If by version you mean a tag or a release  then github provides download links for those  For example  if I want to install fetch version 0 3 2  it is not available on npm   then I add to my package json under dependencies    fetch    https   github com github fetch archive v0 3 2 tar gz     The only disadvantage when compared with the commit hash approach is that a hash is guaranteed not to represent changed code  whereas a tag could be replaced  Thankfully this rarely happens   Update   These days the approach I use is the compact notation for a GitHub served dependency    dependencies        package    github username package commit      Where commit can be anything commitish  like a tag  In the case of GitHub you can even drop the initial github  since it s the default

User · Answer

The accepted answer did not work for me  Here s what I m doing to pull a package from github   npm install --save  git   github com username package git commit    Or adding it manually on package json    dependencies        package    git   github com username package git commit

User · Answer

I describe here a problem that I faced when run npm install - the package does not appear in node modules   The issue was that the name value in package json of installed package was different than the name of imported package  key in package json of my project     So if your installed project name is some-package  name value in its package json  then in package json of your project write   some-package    owner some-repo tag

[node.js] npm install from Git in a specific version

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