[BUG] npm install doesn't install local scripts for the top-level project.

[NfNitLoop]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Current Behavior

When I run npm install in a project that has a "bin" section in package.json, the binary(s) specified doesn't get created in node_modules/.bin.

Expected Behavior

I'd expect a script to be created in node_modules/.bin/ since that's the behavior documented at
https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v7/configuring-npm/package-json#bin

To use this, supply a bin field in your package.json which is a map of command name to local file name. On install, npm will symlink that file into prefix/bin for global installs, or ./node_modules/.bin/ for local installs.

A user on StackOverflow seems to have found that this case is excluded intentionally in code, but couldn't find a reason.

The code and the documentation are mismatched currently, in a way that eats developer time. One or the other should probably be updated so that they match. (IMO, I'd prefer a script be installed in this case, because sometimes I want to use a package's script without installing it globally!)

Steps To Reproduce

1. In any environment, AFAICT, with a simple script like example.js:

#!/usr/bin/env node

console.log("Hello, world!")

2. And a package.json that references it:

{
  "name": "npm-bug",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "example.js",
  "bin": "example.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC"
}

3. Run npm install

4. And observe that there's no script created in node_modules/.bin/

---

Aha. Recreating this fresh, I may have found the reasoning behind this exception -- if you have no dependencies, there isn't a node_modules/ or node_modules/.bin/ directory to install the script into.

However, that's probably the rare case. Often, such packages will have dependencies, so node_modules/.bin/ will exist, which makes the script's absence from it all the more confusing.

Environment

• OS: Windows 10
• Node: v14.17.0
• npm: 7.19.0 (But I also observed this behavior on 6.14.x)

[zackw]

if you have no dependencies, there isn't a node_modules/ or node_modules/.bin/ directory to install the script into.

... but then why not just create node_modules/.bin/ if it hasn't been created yet?

[NfNitLoop]

@zackw I agree. That seems like the least surprising behavior. Definitely less surprising than silently not installing a binary anywhere.

[wraithgar]

Duplicate of #3446

[NfNitLoop]

@wraithgar i did find #3446 when I did my initial bug search, but this appears to be a separate case.

1. In that issue, the user says the example works in v6, but breaks in v7. This issue is broken in both.
2. In that issue, the user is adding a dependency to an existing package. This issue details a problem with “bin” being ignored for the top-level package.

[wraithgar]

You're right this seems to be a separate issue. However I'm not sure this is a bug. A module is not going to need itself installed in its own node_modules/.bin is it? The entries in there will be available to npm while you're in that package:

~/D/n/gar-create-test (main↑1|…) $ cat package.json|jq .bin
{
  "create-test": "index.js"
}
~/D/n/gar-create-test (main↑1|…) $ npm run create-test

> @gar/create-test@2.0.0 create-test
> node index.js

Gar's test create script version 2.0.0

That /.bin is only needed (and thus created) when you install the package somewhere else.

[wraithgar]

In the docs https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v7/configuring-npm/package-json#bin "On install" means "when the package is installed" not "when npm install is ran for the package itself". We can make the docs more clear there.

[NfNitLoop]

1. If this is intended behavior, then at a minimum it would seem a bug that the docs read as if this should work.

2. But even if you don’t consider it a bug, it seems like an odd inconsistency to keep and document as an exception instead of just making it work like the other cases.

For an example use case, I’m using/debugging a plugin for the protocol buffer compiler, protoc. Protoc allows you to specify the path to a plug-in, but it must be a single executable/script. So “npm run …” doesn’t work in this case.

[NfNitLoop]

… (but would work if I had installed the plug-in as a dependency. Which is an odd inconsistency!)

[wraithgar]

Docs will be clarified #3491. It is intended. Referring manually to the things in node_modules/.bin (or anything in node_modules is not recommended.