Transform in package.json on symlinked modules not working in npm3

Environment: node@5.70 npm@3.75 browserify@13.0.0 babelify@7.2.0

Trying to build an app that worked with npm@2 and babelify@6 but having problems upgrading to npm@3 and babelify@7. Allow me to try and explain the problem.

• In app/node_modules I have modules installed via npm install and local modules symlinked via npm link.
• The local modules have browserify transforms specified in their package.json e.g -

...
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "babel-preset-es2015": "^6.5.0",
    "babelify": "^7.2.0"
  },
  "browserify": {
    "transform": [
      [
        "babelify",
        {
          "presets": [
            "es2015"
          ]
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
...

Attempting to build I get error:

"Browserify Error: Couldn't find preset "es2015" relative to directory"

npm 3 has flattened out the dependency tree, so the babel-preset-es2015 the symlinked module needs are in the node_modules of app. According to the explanation by @substack here and this example here browserify should walk up the tree from the symlinked module to app and check in the node_modules there, but it doesn’t seem to be doing this.

My directory layout looks like this:

~/projects
  |-- app
    |-- entry.js (this file can see babel-preset just fine)
    |-- node_modules
       |-- babel-preset-es2015
       |-- my-module (symlink pointing at ~/projects/modules-shared/my-module)
          |-- index.js (we want babelify to transform this file)
  |-- modules-shared
     |-- my-module

If I install babel-preset-es2015 in the modules-shared folder, browserify finds the preset.

I get the impression from looking through other issues that this sort of problem has come up before and has long been fixed, so I wonder why I have the problem now.

[ljharb]

.mjs - i’m not aware of anybody using .esm.

[laurencedorman]

Yes thanks, I meant that @ljharb