[BUG] npm install ignores --production=false (7.7.0)

[Audio]

Current Behavior:

NODE_ENV=production npm install --production=false doesn't install project's devDependecies.

Expected Behavior:

NODE_ENV=production npm install --production=false installs devDependencies according to docs:

To install all modules listed in both dependencies and devDependencies when NODE_ENV environment variable is set to production, you can use --production=false.

Steps To Reproduce:

1. NODE_ENV=production npm install --production=false
2. dev dependencies are missing (npm ls prints UNMET DEPENDENCY for them)

Environment:

• OS: MacOS BigSur 11.2.1
• Node: 14.15.1
• npm: 7.7.0

[dotnetCarpenter]

We had this problem on Heroku today.

I think that the change is for the better, NODE_ENV=production should not install devDependencies.

Our quick-fix is to force installation of devDependencies on heroku via "heroku-postbuild": "npm install --include=dev && make prod" in package.json.

This is a change from 7.6.x and should probably not have been released before 8.0, since it broke our deployment flow half a day, meaning no updates to our website.

[wraithgar]

This should be fixed in v7.7.2

[Audio]

Thank you, but I'm still able to reproduce the issue with 7.7.2 and 7.7.3.

[wraithgar]

Yep sorry about that. New PR is up and should fix it, and I screenshotted this exact scenario to show it really does fix it this time.

[wraithgar]

In the short interim before this fix goes out I'd like to point out to folks that --production is deprecated, in favor of passing explicit --include and --omit values. (This was very recently deprecated, this is likely the first you're hearing about it).

So if you wanted to override NODE_ENV=production in a non-deprecated way you would use --include=dev.

[ruyadorno]

landed in npm@7.7.4 🙏 please let us know if you still have any problems.