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Bonus points: npm install username/repo#semver:^1.2.3 The big problem is that lots of Node.js modules don't push their tags, so there are issues on lots o

Bonus points: npm install username/repo#semver:^1.2.3 The big problem is that lots of Node.js modules don't push their tags, so there are issues on lots of repos begging maintainers to push their Git tags so that we don't have to use the npm registry. JavaScript is an interpreted language -- as long as you're only downloading source code from the registry there's really no reason to use a registry instead of the plain old Git repository.

sneak 7y ago
There is a build/transpilation step.
lioeters 7y ago
A common issue I've had with using Git repos directly as Node.js modules, is that many projects are transpiled/built before publishing to NPM. Depending on specifics of that build process, it may not work out of the box (or at all) from a node_modules folder. With NPM acquired by GitHub, I can imagine them "filling in some steps" by leveraging the fairly new Actions feature, so that repos can provide built artifacts, the same ones as published on NPM. The deeper integration will be an interesting development to watch.
- oefrha 7y ago
  Repos have been able to provide artifacts since forever ago; they just don’t sit in the tree. While you can commit from an action, I’m not sure that’s a great idea.
  - lioeters 7y ago
    You're right, artifacts in GitHub repos have been around a long time. I suppose what I was missing was a way to point to a specific built artifact (like a tar.gz from a release) as a dependency, from package.json. As far as I know, it's not possible yet with npm. I can imagine that will be covered somehow with deeper integration of GitHub and the NPM package repository.
    - IsaacSchlueter 7y ago
      Yes, this has always been possible. Just specify the tarball url instead of a version or range.
      - lioeters 7y ago
        Thank you, learned something new - from none other than the founder of npm! :) Congratulations on the acquisition, bright future ahead for the whole ecosystem.

sneak 7y ago

There is a build/transpilation step.

lioeters 7y ago

A common issue I've had with using Git repos directly as Node.js modules, is that many projects are transpiled/built before publishing to NPM. Depending on specifics of that build process, it may not work out of the box (or at all) from a node_modules folder. With NPM acquired by GitHub, I can imagine them "filling in some steps" by leveraging the fairly new Actions feature, so that repos can provide built artifacts, the same ones as published on NPM. The deeper integration will be an interesting development to watch.

oefrha 7y ago
Repos have been able to provide artifacts since forever ago; they just don’t sit in the tree. While you can commit from an action, I’m not sure that’s a great idea.
- lioeters 7y ago
  You're right, artifacts in GitHub repos have been around a long time. I suppose what I was missing was a way to point to a specific built artifact (like a tar.gz from a release) as a dependency, from package.json. As far as I know, it's not possible yet with npm. I can imagine that will be covered somehow with deeper integration of GitHub and the NPM package repository.
  - IsaacSchlueter 7y ago
    Yes, this has always been possible. Just specify the tarball url instead of a version or range.
    - lioeters 7y ago
      Thank you, learned something new - from none other than the founder of npm! :) Congratulations on the acquisition, bright future ahead for the whole ecosystem.