Option to add in base path to require call

[u01jmg3]

When using gulp I instead choose to install all my components globally. This means in order to load my gulp plugins I must specify a base path along with the name of the gulp plugin.

e.g.

var base = 'C:/Users/username/AppData/Roaming/npm/node_modules/';
var uglifyjs = require(base + 'gulp-uglify');

Could gulp-load-plugins be extended to allow this path to be passed in? No worries if it's not what you want your plugin to do.

[jackfranklin]

To me, it seems very odd that you do things that way - and certainly something that isn't common at all - to that end it's also not something that I will be adding to the plugin, I'm afraid.

[u01jmg3]

For each project I use gulp for, I am re-using the exact same plugins along with a template gulpfile.js. It therefore made sense to install the plugins globally to save re-loading them each time for each new project. It also makes updating simpler as you do it only once.

I'd be glad to hear your comments if my logic is flawed...

[adam-lynch]

@u01jmg3 sounds like you just need to add ;C:/Users/username/AppData/Roaming/npm/node_modules to the end of your PATH environment variable. Then you can just var uglifyjs = require('gulp-uglify'); and it'll work.

[u01jmg3]

Thanks @adam-lynch

I've already tried that and gulp just complains it cannot find the module

[jackfranklin]

@u01jmg3 I would really recommend not using this approach - the entire idea of modules and dependencies is they are done on a per project basis - even if you happen to have some projects that share the same set. Why not create your template gulpfile and a package.json with all the dependencies, and then all you need to do is run a quick npm install and you have everything local to the project and all ready to go?

@adam-lynch I don't think that would work, as require only looks locally, and doesn't take $PATH into it, as far as I'm aware.

[u01jmg3]

Thanks @jackfranklin - appreciate your reply

I know I am breaking the normal way of doings things but we're not talking about some projects that share the same set; we're talking about all my projects using the exact same gulp plugins each time to do the same tasks of minifying, obfuscating, etc.

Also the quick run you mention isn't quick for me. At the moment I'm using 21 gulp plugins which take around 5-7 minutes to install. One might argue that 21 is on the high side and it probably is. I believe installing locally is an unnecessary duplication of data which can be removed by going global and installing just the once. What benefits do I get from going local other than it being the normal way?

Alternatively, with bower dependencies I agree local is the only approach because projects will use different libraries and unlike gulp, bower dependencies are installed and used in your web app.

[jackfranklin]

But you only have to do the npm install once though, right, when you first create the new project? The fact that require doesn't look globally should be your biggest clue that local installs are the way to go.

Anyway, I can see we have totally different opinions here, so there's not too much point continuing - but I'm afraid I can't see this option being supported anytime soon.

Jack.

[adam-lynch]

@jackfranklin I'm probably only thinking of CLI stuff like gulp (not using require)

[u01jmg3]

@jackfranklin yes once per project. If you install globally though it's once, period, no matter how many projects you create. I know require doesn't currently look globally but libraries evolve over time and if nobody ever questioned how we work we'd never move onto different ways of doing things.

Agreed - no worries