Quickfix
Dev tools
package management patching
SHOW HN2017
61points
33comments
#696of 2,242 in 2017
Top 32%of 2017 by points
How HN took it
RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical
2 positive, 3 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 5 critical, out of 10 comments about the project. Thread score -0.20.
Idea: 2 for, 3 againstDesign: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clever and funny idea that could be useful in practice
From 3 comments
Clever and funny. I might find this useful for broken Typescript typings that have been somehow included in the package.
rendall on HNThat's basically all this is, but with fewer commands to remember and modify. I think that's quite useful, especially when under lots of time pressure.
zbentley on HNThat is a very concise way of saying something I've struggled to articulate well in the past. Sometimes stuff like this is a horrible idea. Sometimes you need it. If you lock out…
zbentley on HN
Objections
Patches to node_modules are fragile and break when dependencies change
From 2 comments
A safer way in my opinion is to: 0. read module license 1. checkout the module to be patched 2. modify it 3. do "npm pack" to save a tarball 4. set the dependency version in your…
partycoder on HNThis is a terrible idea and I encourage you to consider the slipperiness of this slope
arthurcolle on HN
Committing or forking dependencies is a safer approach
From 3 comments
Check in your node_modules. You are badly correcting the wrong problem. npm repo should not be hit for every checkout, deploy, and CI test. Just commit your dependencies - and if…
limsup on HNOne of the really nice things about NPM (and other modern source-level dependency managers) is that it's trivial to fork dependencies and reference commits in remote Git…
Benjamin_Dobell on HNYou have three options: 1. Fork every dependency in the chain. Which typically isn't more than two or three dependencies. 2. Fork the distant dependency, and specify it as a…
Benjamin_Dobell on HN
Promotes bad practices and licensing risk
From 2 comments
A safer way in my opinion is to: 0. read module license 1. checkout the module to be patched 2. modify it 3. do "npm pack" to save a tarball 4. set the dependency version in your…
partycoder on HNOh, that's terrible, awful, the worst idea ever! You're promoting bad practices, the quality of code will only get worse from now on! Someone needs to delete this thread! You…
fiatjaf on HN
Questions
How does it work for transitive dependencies?
From 1 comment
How (well) does this work in a dependency of a dependency of a dependency?
Sujan on HN
Alternatives named
pnpm hooks and overrides
From 2 comments
Leaving aside the comedic factor, albeit problem-solving, if you want a sane alternative check out pnpm. It will not only make the installation of deps faster but it will also…
andreineculau on HNActually, I have written an article about this when the feature was added to pnpm: Why package managers need hook systems…
zkochan on HN
Yarn resolutions field
From 1 comment
That’s an interesting approach to it (modifying how the package.json is processed). If anyone is wondering if their current package manager supports this, it does if you are…
exogen on HN
diff and patch, or npm pack tarballs
From 2 comments
We had same issue and we used diff and patch.
nautical on HNA safer way in my opinion is to: 0. read module license 1. checkout the module to be patched 2. modify it 3. do "npm pack" to save a tarball 4. set the dependency version in your…
partycoder on HN
Forking dependencies via git references
From 1 comment
One of the really nice things about NPM (and other modern source-level dependency managers) is that it's trivial to fork dependencies and reference commits in remote Git…
Benjamin_Dobell on HN