Better "module not found" message

This is what I see when I forget to install some npm dependencies:

This is overwhelming and unnecessary. We should have simple messages, like:

These dependencies were not found in node_modules:

  * redux
  * react-redux

Did you forget to run npm install --save for them?

I’m not sure what to do with local file missing errors (i.e. when you import a non-existing file in src). We should probably group them separately but also in a less intimidating way.

I don’t personally plan to work on this so any help is welcome!

[geowarin]

Hi @gaearon.

If you change this line to var json = stats.toJson({}, true);, you’ll get a much shorter error output. It is what webpack normally displays on errors (ie, when you don’t parse the errors yourself) and it doesn’t include the details field. See here.

This is a short term measure before somebody actually dives into webpack internals to do exactly what you suggested. (I’m working on geowarin/tarec#16 and as promised I will contribute back when it’s ready but if somebody wants to tackle it in the meantine, it would be interesting)

[fson]

@mareksuscak Thanks for the tip, didn’t know about this setting before. However, I think it could increase the confusion in some cases, because we would basically be creating a hidden file that makes npm behave differently from the default. People might not notice it or understand what it does, only npm would seem to behave differently from time to time. That’s why I think a simple message showing how to use npm install --save, as suggested originally, would be a better option.

This project also aims to avoid adding configuration and flags as much as possible, so generating a .npmrc file would not fit well in this philosophy.