How does --dir work with pnpm link?

[josefaidt]

Hello 👋 from the docs I'm under the impression that I can run this command from the monorepo root to link a package from within the monorepo such as:

pnpm link --dir packages/my-package --global

where my-package has the following files:

{
  "name": "my-package",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "bin": "./my-package.js"
}

#!/usr/bin/env node
// my-package.js
console.log('hello from my package!')

However this does not appear to change the current working directory of where the command is executed and instead creates a symlink to the directory in $(pnpm root -g)/node_modules. Given the official pnpm contributing guide also points to first changing directories with cd rather than using this --dir option I feel I am misunderstanding how this argument is expected to function.

As a side note, I've also noticed I need to run pnpm install -g after linking a package globally in order to install the binary in pnpm bin -g. Is this the expected behavior?

[zkochan]

Wasn't this fixed recently via #5371? cc @lvqq

[lvqq]

It has been fixed in v7.12.2, u need put --dir packages/my-package before link:

pnpm  --dir packages/my-package link --global

[lvqq]

Yeah,I just use it for sample to describe the feature u want. I‘m not sure if it's a bug or just not supported and maybe @zkochan could give some advice about supporting it or not

[zkochan]

That is not currently supported.

[josefaidt]

Totally fair, --dir makes perfect sense and reminds me of yarn's --cwd, --filter could be confusing.

[zkochan]

Well, I guess it would make sense to support it. I am just saying it was never implemented for the link command.

[lvqq]

I agree. Can I work on implementing this feature?

[lvqq]

Btw, I want to discuss the option --dir, it is easy to cause misunderstanding while using.

For exmple, here we have a monorepo:

.
├── package.json
├── packages
│   └── packageA
│       └── package.json
└── pnpm-workspace.yaml

• With pnpm --dir ./packages/packageA run <command>, pnpm will run script defined in packageA under ./packages/packageA
• With pnpm run <command> --dir ./packages/packageA, pnpm will run script defined in root directory under ./packages/packageA

So should we add more information to the --dir documentation about recommanding user to add option before command? Or make the behavior of --dir consistent whether it's before or after the command? cc @zkochan

[zkochan]

any options that are listed after the run <cmd> are passed to the script. This is documented here: https://pnpm.io/cli/run#options

[lvqq]

I just use run as a example, I actually mean using the common option --dir before or after command is not consistent. So is it necessary to emphasize that --dir should be before the command? The document here doesn't mention it: https://pnpm.io/pnpm-cli#-c-path---dir-path