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": "[e-mail]:..."
}

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?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<commit-id>.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

Answer 4

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

Answer 5

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 <commit-ish>, such as a tag, at the end as a URL fragment.

Example, for a tag named 0.3.1:

"dependencies": {
  "myprivatemodule": "[e-mail]:...#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": "[e-mail]:{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.

Answer 6

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"
}