npm 5 install folder without using symlink

Question

Before publishing my node library, I could use the advice the npm documentation wrote about:

To test a local install, go into some other folder, and then do:

cd ../some-other-folder

npm install ../my-package

Prior to version 5 of npm, I had no problem as it produce what I expected, ie a folder with the output of what I will publish.

However, using npm 5, it now creates a symlink to my local project as described in the npm documentation:

npm install :

Install the package in the directory as a symlink in the current project. Its dependencies will be installed before it's linked. If sits inside the root of your project, its dependencies may be hoisted to the toplevel node_modules as they would for other types of dependencies.

How can I use the "old" way to install local project? Or is there a new way to check if my library is correct?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Use npm pack + npm install (as suggested by install-local package)

npm pack <path-to-local-package> npm install <package-version.tgz> 

This will effectively copy your local package to node_modules. Note that this will package only production relevant files (those listed in the files section of your package.json). So, you can install it in a test app under the package own directory. Something like this:

my-package   package.json   test     test-app       package.json       node_modules         my-package 

Assuming that test dir is not included in the files in my-package/package.json.

This works the same way with npm 5 and older versions.