Use an alternate dependency list for Node.JS + NPM

Question

Is it possible to have two package.json files for a single NodeJS project?

In a project I'm working on, there is an optional and experimental feature which requires some node packages of its own. For every day development, I do not want to force all developers to install those packages.

What I'd like, essentially, is a file which just lists npm dependencies in the a similar format as package.json, and then use npm install to install all of them.

eg:

// package.json:
{
    "dependencies": {
        "underscore": "1.1.7",
        "connect": "1.7.0"
    }
}

// alt.json
{
    "dependencies": {
        "experimental_package": "0.0.1",
        "and_another_one": "1.33.7"
    }
}

And then, something like:

$ npm install
// install the regular package.json stuff
$ npm install alt.json
// install the other ones

Please note that this is not the same as devDependencies

That seems like an ideal situation for using a branch in your source control repository. — Dave Ward
– Dave Ward, Commented Dec 12, 2011 at 22:39
the "experimental feature" exists alongside the regular application. It's just that I don't want to force other developers into installing extra dependencies and adding barriers to getting started just for this. — nickf
– nickf, Commented Dec 14, 2011 at 0:05

alessioalex · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-12 18:39:05Z

3

You could make a small script (even in Node.js) so that it executes 'npm install .' twice: one for the original package.json and then for alt.json (package.json gets renamed to _package.json and alt.json gets renamed to package.json; after that's finished rename the files as they were).

I'm not sure about this I've never tried, but I think it could work.

answered Dec 12, 2011 at 18:39

alessioalex

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