[BUG] `--install-links` fails when local package has nested local dependencies

[u1f992]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

When installing a local package with --install-links, if that package has its own local dependencies, the installation fails. Is this behavior by design?

In this example, package b depends on package a, both located in sibling directories:

$ tree . -I node_modules
.
├── a
│   ├── package-lock.json
│   └── package.json
├── b
│   ├── package-lock.json
│   └── package.json
└── mainpkg
    ├── package-lock.json
    └── package.json

4 directories, 6 files

$ cat b/package.json 
{"name":"b","dependencies":{"a":"file:../a"}}

The npm CLI attempts to resolve ../a from within node_modules/b or node_modules/a, which does not exist. This results in an ENOENT error:

$ cd mainpkg && npm install --install-links ../b
npm error code ENOENT
npm error syscall open
npm error path /home/mukai/Documents/mainpkg/node_modules/a/package.json
npm error errno -2
npm error enoent Could not read package.json: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/mukai/Documents/mainpkg/node_modules/a/package.json'
npm error enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm error enoent
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/mukai/.npm/_logs/2025-06-03T11_28_04_990Z-debug-0.log

Expected Behavior

The dependency a, as listed in b's package.json, should be resolved relative to b itself (i.e., ../a from b). As a result, the structure of mainpkg/node_modules should look like this:

$ tree mainpkg/node_modules
mainpkg/node_modules
├── a -> ../../a
└── b -> ../../b

3 directories, 0 files

Steps To Reproduce

$ mkdir a b mainpkg
$ echo '{"name":"a"}' > a/package.json
$ echo '{"name":"b"}' > b/package.json
$ cd b && npm install ../a && cd ../
$ cd mainpkg && npm init --yes
$ npm install --install-links ../b

Environment

• npm: 11.4.1
• Node.js: v22.14.0
• OS Name: Ubuntu 24.04
• System Model Name: ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-7th
• npm config:

; "user" config from /home/mukai/.npmrc

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken = (protected)

; node bin location = /home/mukai/.nvm/versions/node/v22.14.0/bin/node
; node version = v22.14.0
; npm local prefix = /home/mukai/Documents/mainpkg
; npm version = 11.4.1
; cwd = /home/mukai/Documents/mainpkg
; HOME = /home/mukai
; Run `npm config ls -l` to show all defaults.

[alexsch01]

FYI: this issue is reproducible on npm versions before npm 11 too
(I tested on npm 10.8.2)

[u1f992]

@owlstronaut Sorry, but I'm not entirely sure if PR #8436 actually resolves this issue. It’s true that npm install --install-links ../b now appears to succeed. However, once the code in package b tries to import a, won’t it still fail to find package a?

For example:

$ mkdir a && echo '{"name":"a","main":"index.js"}' > a/package.json && echo 'export const A = "A";' > a/index.js
$ mkdir b && echo '{"name":"b","main":"index.js","dependencies":{"a":"file:../a"}}' > b/package.json && echo 'import {A} from "a";export const fn = () => console.log(A);' > b/index.js
$ mkdir mainpkg && cd mainpkg && echo '{}' > package.json && npm install --install-links ../b # this will succeed properly

$ node -e "const {fn}=await import('b');"
node:internal/modules/package_json_reader:256
  throw new ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND(packageName, fileURLToPath(base), null);
        ^

Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find package 'a' imported from /home/mukai/temp/mainpkg/node_modules/b/index.js
    at Object.getPackageJSONURL (node:internal/modules/package_json_reader:256:9)
    at packageResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:768:81)
    at moduleResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:854:18)
    at defaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:984:11)
    at ModuleLoader.defaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:780:12)
    at #cachedDefaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:704:25)
    at ModuleLoader.resolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:687:38)
    at ModuleLoader.getModuleJobForImport (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:305:38)
    at ModuleJob._link (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:175:49) {
  code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND'
}

Environment:

$ node --version
v22.17.0
$ npm --version
11.5.1

[owlstronaut]

@u1f992 thanks for the example. I should be able to take another look at this next week

[owlstronaut]

@u1f992 Could you give the same a try with 11.5.2. I'm not sure why, but it seems the changelog didn't pick up this fix. It looks to me like your example works in 11.5.2

[u1f992]

@owlstronaut Thank you for the follow-up. Unfortunately, the issue still seems to persist. As shown below, it looks like the same error occurs.

$ npm --version
11.5.2
$ mkdir a && echo '{"name":"a","main":"index.js"}' > a/package.json && echo 'export const A = "A";' > a/index.js
$ mkdir b && echo '{"name":"b","main":"index.js","dependencies":{"a":"file:../a"}}' > b/package.json && echo 'import {A} from "a";export const fn = () => console.log(A);' > b/index.js
$ mkdir mainpkg && cd mainpkg && echo '{}' > package.json && npm install --install-links ../b
mainpkg$ node -e "const {fn}=await import('b');"
node:internal/modules/package_json_reader:256
  throw new ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND(packageName, fileURLToPath(base), null);
        ^

Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find package 'a' imported from /home/mukai/temp/mainpkg/node_modules/b/index.js
    at Object.getPackageJSONURL (node:internal/modules/package_json_reader:256:9)
    at packageResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:768:81)
    at moduleResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:854:18)
    at defaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:984:11)
    at ModuleLoader.defaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:780:12)
    at #cachedDefaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:704:25)
    at ModuleLoader.resolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:687:38)
    at ModuleLoader.getModuleJobForImport (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:305:38)
    at ModuleJob._link (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:175:49) {
  code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND'
}

Node.js v22.17.0