npm-cache is a command line utility that caches dependencies installed via npm, bower, and composer.
It is useful for build processes that run [npm|bower|composer] install every time as part of their
build process. Since dependencies don't change often, this often means slower build times. npm-cache
helps alleviate this problem by caching previously installed dependencies on the build machine.
npm-cache can be a drop-in replacement for any build script that runs [npm|bower|composer] install.
When you run npm-cache install [npm|bower|composer], it first looks for package.json, bower.json,
or composer.json in the current working directory depending on which dependency manager is requested.
It then calculates the MD5 hash of the configuration file and looks for a filed named
.tar.gz in the cache directory ($HOME/.package_cache by default). If the file does not
exist, npm-cache uses the system's installed dependency manager to install the dependencies. Once the
dependencies are installed, npm-cache tars the newly downloaded dependencies and stores them in the
cache directory. The next time npm-cache runs and sees the same config file, it will find the tarball
in the cache directory and untar the dependencies in the current working directory.
npm install -g npm-cache
npm-cache install
To specify arguments to each dependency manager, add the arguments after listing the dependency manager.
For example, to install bower components with the --allow-root option, and composer with the --dry-run option:
npm-cache install bower --allow-root composer --dry-run
npm-cache install # try to install npm, bower, and composer components
npm-cache install bower # install only bower components
npm-cache install bower npm # install bower and npm components
npm-cache install bower --allow-root composer --dry-run # install bower with allow-root, and composer with --dry-run
npm-cache install --cacheDirectory /home/cache/ bower # install components using /home/cache as cache directory
npm-cache install --forceRefresh bower # force installing dependencies from package manager without cache
npm-cache clean # cleans out all cached files in cache directory