doc: remove FAQ

It is hostile, not helpful, and in some instances straight up incorrect.

Fixes: #10546
Credit: @ashleygwilliams
Reviewed-By: @othiym23
PR-URL: https://github.com/npm/npm/pull/10547

1 files changed, 0 insertions, 393 deletions

diff --git a/doc/misc/npm-faq.md b/doc/misc/npm-faq.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 2f8ae32a8..000000000
--- a/doc/misc/npm-faq.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,393 +0,0 @@
-npm-faq(7) -- Frequently Asked Questions
-========================================
-
-## Where can I find these docs in HTML?
-
-<https://docs.npmjs.com/>, or run:
-
-    npm config set viewer browser
-
-This command will set the npm docs to open in your default web browser rather than `man`.
-
-## It didn't work.
-
-Please provide a little more detail, search for the error via [Google](https://google.com) or [StackOverflow npm](https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=npm) to see if another developer has encountered a similar problem.
-
-## Why didn't it work?
-
-I don't know yet.
-
-Try reading the error output first, ensure this is a true npm issue and not a package issue. If you are having an issue with a package dependency, please submit your error to that particular package maintainer.
-
-For any npm issues, try following the instructions, or even retracing your steps. If the issue continues to persist, submit a bug with the steps to reproduce, please include the operating system you are working on, along with the error you recieve.
-
-## Where does npm put stuff?
-
-See `npm-folders(5)`
-
-tl;dr:
-
-* Use the `npm root` command to see where modules go, and the `npm bin`
-  command to see where executables go
-* Global installs are different from local installs. If you install
-  something with the `-g` flag, then its executables go in `npm bin -g`
-  and its modules go in `npm root -g`.
-
-## How do I install something on my computer in a central location?
-
-Install it globally by tacking `-g` or `--global` to the command.  (This
-is especially important for command line utilities that need to add
-their bins to the global system `PATH`.)
-
-## I installed something globally, but I can't `require()` it
-
-Install it locally.
-
-The global install location is a place for command-line utilities
-to put their bins in the system `PATH`.  It's not for use with `require()`.
-
-If you `require()` a module in your code, then that means it's a
-dependency, and a part of your program.  You need to install it locally
-in your program.
-
-## Why can't npm just put everything in one place, like other package managers?
-
-Not every change is an improvement, but every improvement is a change.
-This would be like asking git to do network IO for every commit.  It's
-not going to happen, because it's a terrible idea that causes more
-problems than it solves.
-
-It is much harder to avoid dependency conflicts without nesting
-dependencies.  This is fundamental to the way that npm works, and has
-proven to be an extremely successful approach.  See `npm-folders(5)` for
-more details.
-
-If you want a package to be installed in one place, and have all your
-programs reference the same copy of it, then use the `npm link` command.
-That's what it's for.  Install it globally, then link it into each
-program that uses it.
-
-## Whatever, I really want the old style 'everything global' style.
-
-Write your own package manager.  You could probably even wrap up `npm`
-in a shell script if you really wanted to.
-
-npm will not help you do something that is known to be a bad idea.
-
-## Should I check my `node_modules` folder into git?
-
-Usually, no. Allow npm to resolve dependencies for your packages.
-
-For packages you **deploy**, such as websites and apps,
-you should use npm shrinkwrap to lock down your full dependency tree:
-
-<https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/shrinkwrap>
-
-If you are paranoid about depending on the npm ecosystem,
-you should run a private npm mirror or a private cache.
-
-If you want 100% confidence in being able to reproduce the specific bytes
-included in a deployment, you should use an additional mechanism that can
-verify contents rather than versions. For example,
-Amazon machine images, DigitalOcean snapshots, Heroku slugs, or simple tarballs.
-
-## Is it 'npm' or 'NPM' or 'Npm'?
-
-npm should never be capitalized unless it is being displayed in a
-location that is customarily all-caps (such as the title of man pages.)
-
-## If 'npm' is an acronym, why is it never capitalized?
-
-Contrary to the belief of many, "npm" is not in fact an abbreviation for
-"Node Package Manager".  It is a recursive bacronymic abbreviation for
-"npm is not an acronym".  (If it was "ninaa", then it would be an
-acronym, and thus incorrectly named.)
-
-"NPM", however, *is* an acronym (more precisely, a capitonym) for the
-National Association of Pastoral Musicians.  You can learn more
-about them at <http://npm.org/>.
-
-In software, "NPM" is a Non-Parametric Mapping utility written by
-Chris Rorden.  You can analyze pictures of brains with it.  Learn more
-about the (capitalized) NPM program at <http://www.cabiatl.com/mricro/npm/>.
-
-The first seed that eventually grew into this flower was a bash utility
-named "pm", which was a shortened descendent of "pkgmakeinst", a
-bash function that was used to install various different things on different
-platforms, most often using Yahoo's `yinst`.  If `npm` was ever an
-acronym for anything, it was `node pm` or maybe `new pm`.
-
-So, in all seriousness, the "npm" project is named after its command-line
-utility, which was organically selected to be easily typed by a right-handed
-programmer using a US QWERTY keyboard layout, ending with the
-right-ring-finger in a postition to type the `-` key for flags and
-other command-line arguments.  That command-line utility is always
-lower-case, though it starts most sentences it is a part of.
-
-## How do I list installed packages?
-
-`npm ls`
-
-## How do I search for packages?
-
-`npm search`
-
-Arguments are greps.  `npm search jsdom` shows jsdom packages.
-
-## How do I update npm?
-
-    npm install npm -g
-
-You can also update all outdated local packages by doing `npm update` without
-any arguments, or global packages by doing `npm update -g`.
-
-Occasionally, the version of npm will progress such that the current
-version cannot be properly installed with the version that you have
-installed already.  (Consider, if there is ever a bug in the `update`
-command.)
-
-In those cases, you can do this:
-
-    curl https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh | sh
-
-## What is a `package`?
-
-A package is any of:
-
-* a) a folder containing a program described by a package.json file
-* b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)
-* c) a url that resolves to (b)
-* d) a `<name>@<version>` that is published on the registry with (c)
-* e) a `<name>@<tag>` that points to (d)
-* f) a `<name>` that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)
-* g) a `git` url that, when cloned, results in (a).
-
-Even if you never publish your package, you can still get a lot of
-benefits of using npm if you just want to write a node program (a), and
-perhaps if you also want to be able to easily install it elsewhere
-after packing it up into a tarball (b).
-
-Git urls can be of the form:
-
-    git://github.com/user/project.git#commit-ish
-    git+ssh://user@hostname:project.git#commit-ish
-    git+http://user@hostname/project/blah.git#commit-ish
-    git+https://user@hostname/project/blah.git#commit-ish
-
-The `commit-ish` can be any tag, sha, or branch which can be supplied as
-an argument to `git checkout`.  The default is `master`.
-
-## What is a `module`?
-
-A module is anything that can be loaded with `require()` in a Node.js
-program.  The following things are all examples of things that can be
-loaded as modules:
-
-* A folder with a `package.json` file containing a `main` field.
-* A folder with an `index.js` file in it.
-* A JavaScript file.
-
-Most npm packages are modules, because they are libraries that you
-load with `require`.  However, there's no requirement that an npm
-package be a module!  Some only contain an executable command-line
-interface, and don't provide a `main` field for use in Node programs.
-
-Almost all npm packages (at least, those that are Node programs)
-*contain* many modules within them (because every file they load with
-`require()` is a module).
-
-In the context of a Node program, the `module` is also the thing that
-was loaded *from* a file.  For example, in the following program:
-
-    var req = require('request')
-
-we might say that "The variable `req` refers to the `request` module".
-
-## So, why is it the "`node_modules`" folder, but "`package.json`" file?  Why not `node_packages` or `module.json`?
-
-The `package.json` file defines the package.  (See "What is a
-package?" above.)
-
-The `node_modules` folder is the place Node.js looks for modules.
-(See "What is a module?" above.)
-
-For example, if you create a file at `node_modules/foo.js` and then
-had a program that did `var f = require('foo.js')` then it would load
-the module.  However, `foo.js` is not a "package" in this case,
-because it does not have a package.json.
-
-Alternatively, if you create a package which does not have an
-`index.js` or a `"main"` field in the `package.json` file, then it is
-not a module.  Even if it's installed in `node_modules`, it can't be
-an argument to `require()`.
-
-## `"node_modules"` is the name of my deity's arch-rival, and a Forbidden Word in my religion.  Can I configure npm to use a different folder?
-
-No.  This will never happen.  This question comes up sometimes,
-because it seems silly from the outside that npm couldn't just be
-configured to put stuff somewhere else, and then npm could load them
-from there.  It's an arbitrary spelling choice, right?  What's the big
-deal?
-
-At the time of this writing, the string `'node_modules'` appears 151
-times in 53 separate files in npm and node core (excluding tests and
-documentation).
-
-Some of these references are in node's built-in module loader.  Since
-npm is not involved **at all** at run-time, node itself would have to
-be configured to know where you've decided to stick stuff.  Complexity
-hurdle #1.  Since the Node module system is locked, this cannot be
-changed, and is enough to kill this request.  But I'll continue, in
-deference to your deity's delicate feelings regarding spelling.
-
-Many of the others are in dependencies that npm uses, which are not
-necessarily tightly coupled to npm (in the sense that they do not read
-npm's configuration files, etc.)  Each of these would have to be
-configured to take the name of the `node_modules` folder as a
-parameter.  Complexity hurdle #2.
-
-Furthermore, npm has the ability to "bundle" dependencies by adding
-the dep names to the `"bundledDependencies"` list in package.json,
-which causes the folder to be included in the package tarball.  What
-if the author of a module bundles its dependencies, and they use a
-different spelling for `node_modules`?  npm would have to rename the
-folder at publish time, and then be smart enough to unpack it using
-your locally configured name.  Complexity hurdle #3.
-
-Furthermore, what happens when you *change* this name?  Fine, it's
-easy enough the first time, just rename the `node_modules` folders to
-`./blergyblerp/` or whatever name you choose.  But what about when you
-change it again?  npm doesn't currently track any state about past
-configuration settings, so this would be rather difficult to do
-properly.  It would have to track every previous value for this
-config, and always accept any of them, or else yesterday's install may
-be broken tomorrow.  Complexity hurdle #4.
-
-Never going to happen.  The folder is named `node_modules`.  It is
-written indelibly in the Node Way, handed down from the ancient times
-of Node 0.3.
-
-## How do I install node with npm?
-
-You don't.  Try one of these node version managers:
-
-Unix:
-
-* <https://github.com/isaacs/nave>
-* <https://github.com/visionmedia/n>
-* <https://github.com/creationix/nvm>
-
-Windows:
-
-* <https://github.com/marcelklehr/nodist>
-* <https://github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows>
-* <https://github.com/hakobera/nvmw>
-* <https://github.com/nanjingboy/nvmw>
-
-## How can I use npm for development?
-
-See `npm-developers(7)` and `package.json(5)`.
-
-You'll most likely want to `npm link` your development folder.  That's
-awesomely handy.
-
-To set up your own private registry, check out `npm-registry(7)`.
-
-## Can I list a url as a dependency?
-
-Yes.  It should be a url to a gzipped tarball containing a single folder
-that has a package.json in its root, or a git url.
-(See "what is a package?" above.)
-
-## How do I symlink to a dev folder so I don't have to keep re-installing?
-
-See `npm-link(1)`
-
-## The package registry website.  What is that exactly?
-
-See `npm-registry(7)`.
-
-## I forgot my password, and can't publish.  How do I reset it?
-
-Go to <https://npmjs.com/forgot>.
-
-## I get ECONNREFUSED a lot.  What's up?
-
-Either the registry is down, or node's DNS isn't able to reach out.
-
-To check if the registry is down, open up
-<https://registry.npmjs.org/> in a web browser.  This will also tell
-you if you are just unable to access the internet for some reason.
-
-If the registry IS down, let us know by emailing <support@npmjs.com>
-or posting an issue at <https://github.com/npm/npm/issues>.  If it's
-down for the world (and not just on your local network) then we're
-probably already being pinged about it.
-
-You can also often get a faster response by visiting the #npm channel
-on Freenode IRC.
-
-## Why no namespaces?
-
-npm has only one global namespace.  If you want to namespace your own packages,
-you may: simply use the `-` character to separate the names or use scoped
-packages.  npm is a mostly anarchic system.  There is not sufficient need to
-impose namespace rules on everyone.
-
-As of 2.0, npm supports scoped packages, which allow you to publish a group of
-related modules without worrying about name collisions.
-
-Every npm user owns the scope associated with their username.  For example, the
-user named `npm` owns the scope `@npm`.  Scoped packages are published inside a
-scope by naming them as if they were files under the scope directory, e.g., by
-setting `name` in `package.json` to `@npm/npm`.
-
-Scoped packages are supported by the public npm registry. The npm client is
-backwards-compatible with un-scoped registries, so it can be used to work with
-scoped and un-scoped registries at the same time.
-
-Unscoped packages can only depend on other unscoped packages. Scoped packages
-can depend on packages from their own scope, a different scope, or the public
-registry (unscoped).
-
-For the current documentation of scoped packages, see
-<https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/scope>
-
-References:
-
-1. For the reasoning behind the "one global namespace", please see  this
-   discussion: <https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/798> (TL;DR: It doesn't
-   actually make things better, and can make them worse.)
-
-2. For the pre-implementation discussion of the scoped package feature, see
-   this discussion: <https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/5239>
-
-## Who does npm?
-
-npm was originally written by Isaac Z. Schlueter, and many others have
-contributed to it, some of them quite substantially.
-
-The npm open source project, The npm Registry, and [the community
-website](https://www.npmjs.com) are maintained and operated by the
-good folks at [npm, Inc.](https://www.npmjs.com)
-
-## I have a question or request not addressed here. Where should I put it?
-
-Post an issue on the github project:
-
-* <https://github.com/npm/npm/issues>
-
-## Why does npm hate me?
-
-npm is not capable of hatred.  It loves everyone, especially you.
-
-## SEE ALSO
-
-* npm(1)
-* npm-developers(7)
-* package.json(5)
-* npm-config(1)
-* npm-config(7)
-* npmrc(5)
-* npm-config(7)
-* npm-folders(5)