npm / npm/rfcs

[RRFC] `npm explain` should accept `--only`

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#529 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
777
Forks
267
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

Motivation ("The Why")

I want to know if and how a dep foo came to be in my tree - but, i want to ignore dev deps.

Example

A transitive dep published a breaking change in a non-major, causing my tests for fail. I wanted to figure out whether this would break consumers, or, whether it was only breaking my tests.

How
Current Behaviour

I was able to simulate what I wanted with npm prune --production && npm explain foo, but then i had to reinstall after, which is annoying.

Desired Behaviour

npm explain foo --only=production should work.

(this should work in concert with #523)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with this RFC and the related #523 discussion; the payload names no files, tests, or implementation entry points. Done means agreeing on and implementing support for npm explain foo --only=production without requiring npm prune, with behavior consistent with the linked proposal.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, node.js
Domain
cli
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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