Sub-commands do not work with package.json main

[samherrmann]

Consider the following setup:

lib/index.js

const program = require('commander');
 
program
  .command('update', 'update installed packages', { executableFile: './myUpdateSubCommand' })
  .parse(process.argv);

lib/myUpdateSubCommand.js

const program = require('commander');

program.command('foo').action(() => console.log('hello from foo'))
program.parse(process.argv);

if (program.args.length === 0) {
  program.help();
}

package.json

{
  "main": "lib/index.js"
}

What works:

$ node dist/index.js update
Usage: myUpdateSubCommand [options] [command]

Options:
  -h, --help  output usage information

Commands:
  foo

What does not work:

$ node . update
error: ./myUpdateSubCommand(1) does not exist, try --help

Expected Behavior

It's expected that executing node . update yields the same result as executing node dist/index.js update.

Where the problem is:

The path to the sub-command is determined from argv[1], which does not take into consideration the path assigned to the main property in package.json.

Version

"commander": "^3.0.1",

[shadowspawn]

Yes, for resolving subcommand executables Commander expects argv[1] is either the source file, or the installed binary command (i.e. a symbolic link). There is not currently support for coping with a package being passed to node (like when you call node .).

The approach I often use is a setup closer to the eventual install. So with a package.json like:

{
  "name": "my-command",
  "bin": "bin/index.js"
}

Instead of node . I use:

npm link
my-command update

(You could work-around the current design in your own code by supplying argv[1] yourself. I did a bit of reading and wonder how reliable using require.main.filename might be. )

[shadowspawn]

Related issue, when calling from Electron app: #512

[shadowspawn]

Closing as covered by #512