What is normalize-package-data?
The normalize-package-data npm package is used to normalize the metadata of a package.json file according to the npm and Node.js specifications. This includes cleaning up various fields, ensuring required fields are present, and providing default values where appropriate.
What are normalize-package-data's main functionalities?
Normalization of package metadata
This feature takes a package.json object and normalizes its metadata. After normalization, the package object is modified in place to meet the standard structure and fields as defined by npm and Node.js.
const normalize = require('normalize-package-data');
let pkg = { name: 'example', version: '1.0.0' };
normalize(pkg);
console.log(pkg);
Validation of package data
The package also validates the package data and attaches an array of error messages to the package object if there are any issues found during normalization.
const normalize = require('normalize-package-data');
let pkg = { name: 'example', version: '1.0.0' };
normalize(pkg);
if (pkg.errors) {
console.error('Package data contains errors:', pkg.errors);
}
Warning for non-standard fields
If the package data contains non-standard fields, the normalization process will not remove them but will provide warnings about their presence.
const normalize = require('normalize-package-data');
let pkg = { name: 'example', version: '1.0.0', nonStandardField: 'some value' };
normalize(pkg);
if (pkg.warnings) {
console.warn('Package data contains warnings:', pkg.warnings);
}
Other packages similar to normalize-package-data
read-pkg
The read-pkg package reads a package.json file, parses it to JSON, and then normalizes the package data. It is similar to normalize-package-data but includes the file reading and parsing step.
read-pkg-up
This package is similar to read-pkg but goes one step further by searching for the nearest package.json file in the directory tree. It then reads, parses, and normalizes the package data.
pkg-conf
pkg-conf is a package that retrieves configuration from package.json properties. It is not a direct alternative to normalize-package-data but can be used in conjunction to retrieve and normalize configuration data.