readme!

1 files changed, 47 insertions, 3 deletions

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@@ -4,10 +4,51 @@ npm is a little package manager for the Node javascript library.
 
 For now, this README is more of a task list/roadmap than a proper "how to use this" type doc.
 
+## Version - 0.0.3
+
+3 isn't a very big number.  0 is even smaller, and there's 2 of those.
+
+This thing is a baby yet.  But these kids grow up before you know it!  Pretty soon, you'll be all tapping out your pipe on the front porch, saying in your withered old man voice, <q>I remember back before the war with the machines, when that npm thing couldn't even install itself, and didn't know what a version was.  We used promises for everything and the global object was called 'node'.  Movies were a nickel when we downloaded them from from the micro torrents, and soda pop had corn syrup of the highest fructose imaginable.  You youngins don't know how good you got it.</q>
+
+This isn't even beta, it's alpha.  When most of the core functionality is working, I'll make an announcement on the [node.js](http://groups.google.com/group/nodejs) list.
+
+Here's what I mean by "core functionality":
+
+1. Install packages by name, and get the stable version.
+2. Install packages by supplying a name and version, and get the version specified.
+3. Install more than one package at a time by specifying them all on the command line.
+4. Install pre-requisites automatically, pulling the stable versions of the dependencies.
+5. Talk to a centralized repository to do all this package/version lookup magic.
+6. Install more than one version of a package, and optionally select an "active" version.
+7. Safely uninstall packages, not removing them unless they have no dependents.  (Override with a `--force` flag, of course.)
+8. Provide a utility for uploading a package.json to a js-registry repository.
+9. Handle circular dependencies nicely.
+10. Install and activate automatically.
+11. Read settings from a .npmrc file.
+12. Be much smarter about cli arguments.
+13. Help topics.
+14. Install a "link" to a dev directory, so that it links it in rather than doing the moveIntoPlace step.
+
+## Principles
+
+Put the files where they need to be so that node can find them using the methods it already uses.
+
+Be easy, not clever.
+
+The file system is the database.
+
+Sync with the habits that are already in use.
+
+Packages should be maintained by their authors, not by the package manager author.  (Especially if that's me, because I'm lazy.)
+
+Run it on node.  Cuz a node package manager should be written in evented javascript.
+
 ## Contributing
 
 If you're interested in helping, that's awesome!  Please fork this project, implement some of the things on the list, and then let me know.  You can usually find me in #node.js on freenode.net, or you can reach me via <i@izs.me>.
 
+If you have strong feelings about package managers, I'd love to hear your opinions.
+
 ## Installation
 
 To install npm, do this:
@@ -62,10 +103,13 @@ Objects are flattened following this format, so if you had `{"scripts":{"install
 
 If the script exits with a code other than 0, then this will abort the process.
 
+Note that these script files don't have to be nodejs or even javascript programs.  They just have to be some kind of executable file.
+
 ## Todo
 
+All the "core functionality" stuff above.  Most immediately:
+
+* Keep track of what depends on what.
+* Safely uninstall packages, failing if anything depends on it.
 * Install packages from the registry
 * Install missing dependencies.  This, with the registry, will make it so that circular dependencies are supported.
-* Safely uninstall packages, failing if anything depends on it.
-* Keep track of what depends on what.
-* Add an "activate" step.  Now that the deps are all included into the package, this isn't any big deal, really.  But the list command should show which one is active.