delete contents of node_modules but keep the dir itself

[tareksha]

Keep node_modules directory but delete its contents.

In some CI setups node_modules is a special directory, e.g. a mounted folder or a symbolic link. For these setups simply deleting node_modules won't work, or worse will work but break the CI setup. Deleting node_modules is a also a non-trivial deviation from the expected behavior of npm install which means the existing CI setups that are explained above are blocked from migrating to npm ci.

npm ci should minimize violent changes and concentrate on the fact we want to reset the installed dependencies and proceed with the regular flow. Keep node_modules untouched, doesn't matter how it was created.

[zkat]

This seems like a reasonable enough idea! Thanks for this patch! I've made a comment about the change itself, and I'm wondering if you could make the patch even better by writing a test that verifies this?

[zkat]

You probably want this to be BB.all() instead, since that's the one that awaits an array of promises.

There's also an alternative implementation you can do: since rimraf supports glob out of the box, rimraf('foo/*') should delete the contents of foo without removing the directory itself. It might be slightly easier to read the code that way.

[tareksha]

thanks for the suggestion!

[surgeboris]

This should fix npm/npm#21007
I'll try to write a test for this PR once I'd be able to spare some time for that.

[surgeboris]

@tareqhs @zkat Added test, created PR into original fork: tareksha#1

[tareksha]

thanks for the tests @surgeboris !

[mcfedr]

Came here to make this PR, and its already here, awesome!

To add to case for this change, I'm building a docker image, where I have created the node_modules dir and given npm user access to the folder, but not the containing dir, so it crashes when trying to use npm ci when it tries to delete node_modules

RUN mkdir /srv/project/node_modules \
    && chown -R node /srv/project/node_modules

USER node
RUN npm ci

[bgaillard]

Hi, came here just to indicate I reported the same need on our side here : https://npm.community/t/running-npm-ci-without-deleting-old-node-modules-folder-20104/3152.

In our case we cannot remove the node_modules folder because its mounted as a Docker tmpfs volume to speed-up installs (this is a thing I would advise to everybody to speed-up their installs in CI environments ;-)).

Other posts about this subject :

• Running npm ci without deleting old node_modules folder npm/npm#20104
• npm ci and CI cache npm/npm#20575

So I agree with this PR 👍 and wait it to be merged and integrated inside npm / cli.

Thanks,

Baptiste

[tareksha]

Hi @zkat , any progress here ?

[tareksha]

@zkat a gentle reminder - you are completely ignoring this PR :)

[lnikell]

Would be great to see it in npm, have issues described above, so can't use npm ci at all.

[tareksha]

@lnikell the authors are completely ignoring this PR although many devs need the fix

[lnikell]

@tareqhs that's very sad, at least I would like to hear some feedback even if it "you should not use it like this, that's why script deletes the whole folder"

[kumarrishav]

Any update on this? While mounting node_modules as docker volume. npm ci is crashing saying: resource is busy while deleting node_modules folder.

[OldrichKruchna]

Hello there, any update on this?

[joewood]

With the new vscode support for devcontainers this fix has become more urgent. Right now the examples use a full install rather than a "ci" after setting up the container: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-try-node/blob/master/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json#L8

[ErikHumphrey]

ping

[MrWako]

Out team could really do with this fix for our containerised build too please.

[pioneer32]

Any update on this?

[zkat]

Please file this PR over at https://github.com/npm/libcipm, as this repo is no longer in use, and I am no longer employed at NPM