version-notifier

version-notifier

Let developers know when there is a new release of your package in their next development runtime.

Out-of-the-box providers will only send you version notifications from your application's dependencies, and not from dependencies of your dependencies. Notifications can be disabled in production environments by using the environment variable NODE_ENV=production or NODE_ENV=prod.

You can also specify custom resolvers, so you don't have to rely on NPM's availability.

Install

This is a Node.js module. Therefore, beforehand, you need to download and install Node.js.

Assuming that you have already used the npm init command, run:

$ npm install version-notifier --save

Getting started

You can call version-notifier anytime on your runtime, but it is recommended to call it as soon as your app starts. For example, in your index.js, in your root directory:

ES6+

import checkVersion from 'version-notifier'
checkVersion(__dirname)

ES5

var checkVersion = require('version-notifier')
checkVersion(__dirname)

The first argument must always be the root directory of your app.

How to configure

package.json

You can specify a different provider through versionNotifier.provider on your package.json. Out-of-the-box providers: npm.

{
    "name": "myPackage",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "versionNotifier": {
        "provider": "npm"
    }
}

Or you can create your very own version provider by the time you call version-notifier:

Custom version providers

checkVersion(__dirname, function (packageName, currentVersion, log) {
    // your magic
    log('I have just checked my custom provider for a new version of ' + packageName + '.')
})

Function Parameters

checkVersion(appRootDirectory, customProvider, log)

appRootDirectory

Type: string

The root directory of your application. If your main file is already in the root directory, just use __dirname here. Otherwise, you must use specify how to go to your root directory still using __dirname. For example, if you are calling version-notifier inside a subfolder of your root directory, you must use path.join(__dirname, '..') to get the relative path of your root directory.

I used root directory here multiples times because getting the right directory for your app is a must for a fully working environment. Using __dirname, your project can be used as a dependency in other projects.

customProvider

Type: function or object

You can use version-notifier with totally different environments from NPM, with support for alternative dependency checking:

{
    isDependency: function (parentDependenciesJson: JSON, dependencyName: string) : boolean,
    resolver: function (packageName: string, currentVersion: string, log: function) : void
}

Or if you are still using package.json for your project, you can just use a function:

function (packageName: string, currentVersion: string, log: function) : void

Versions ideally follow semver, but it is not a rule since you can create your own custom providers.

log

Type: function

Custom logging function for the results.

function (err?: Error, message?: string) : void

Team

Created and developed by Arthur Arioli Bergamaschi.

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License

Licensed under MIT.

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Disclaimer: version-notifier is an experiment to improve development environments and it is still in alpha. Methods and behavior can change along the way.