

Ask HN : Do Node.js needs another package manager? - dan_sim

I'm a javascripter but in recent years, I had no choice but to work with ruby/rails for server-side things.<p>Now that node as arrived, I consider it's heading the same way that ruby is with the way it manages its packages. Npm is a rubygem-like manager but I have been frustrated over the years with gems because it's a central repository that can go really wrong if you mess with it. I had problems on when I tried Ruby1.9 and when I moved to Rails 3 because everything is central and if a config changes, it can break it all. Sometimes, I feel stuck in rubygems-hell like I was stuck in DLL-hell back in the days.<p>I would want node.js to avoid central repositories and I would prefer projects be stand-alone : you clone it and you run it in its own environment. That means having the right node version in a "bin" directory but also having modules installed in its subdirectories.<p>Example, if you have three projects using Express, you'll have 3 copies of Express, one in each of the subdirs of the projects.<p>Would you use that kind of package manager?
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zimpenfish
Couldn't you do that kind of thing using git submodules?

<http://book.git-scm.com/5_submodules.html>

