Can I execute two Livescript (Coffeescript-fork) applications with single globally installed package?

Question

I am running an application that is built with LiveScript, which is a fork of a fork of Coffeescript.

You can execute files using the lsc command, ie

$ lsc app.ls

However, in the recent update, the way modules are required changes, ie

require!{ module : \directory }

Has now become

require!{ \directory : module}

This leaks to breaking changes in my app. I have updated the globally installed LiveScript package to 1.3+, and updated the require syntax, but now when I try and run an old app with the old require syntax the app breaks and I need to reinstall the globally installed LiveScript package to get it to work.

Is there anyway to run version <= 1.2 modules and 1.3+ modules from the same command line? Or do I need to reinstall the package globally everytime?

Answer 1

I can only suggest to not use global installation. It's quite bad by itself, and definitely not usable in this case.

I will show you how to install and use multiple versions of LiveScript isolated in a folder.

[ls]$ mkdir old_version && cd old_version

[old_version]$ npm view LiveScript versions  

['0.9.0', '0.9.1', '0.9.2', '0.9.3', '0.9.4', '0.9.5-b', '0.9.5-c', '0.9.5', '0.9.6', '0.9.7', '0.9.8-b', '0.9.8-c', '0.9.8', '0.9.9', '0.9.10', '0.9.11-b', '0.9.11', '0.9.12', '1.0.0', '1.0.1', '1.1.0', '1.1.1', '1.2.0', '1.3.0', '1.3.1']

[old_version]$ npm install [email protected]
[email protected] node_modules/LiveScript
└── [email protected]

[old_version]$ cd ..

[ls]$ mkdir new_version && cd new_version

[new_version]$ npm install LiveScript
[email protected] node_modules/LiveScript
├── [email protected]
└── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

[new_version]$ cd ..

[ls]$ old_version/node_modules/.bin/lsc
LiveScript 1.2.0 - use 'lsc --help' for more information
ls> 

[ls]$ new_version/node_modules/.bin/lsc
LiveScript 1.3.1 - use 'lsc --help' for more information
ls> 

[ls]$ tree -a -L 4
.
├── new_version
│   └── node_modules
│       ├── .bin
│       │   └── lsc -> ../LiveScript/bin/lsc
│       └── LiveScript
│           ├── bin
│           ├── lib
│           ├── LICENSE
│           ├── node_modules
│           ├── package.json
│           └── README.md
└── old_version
    └── node_modules
        ├── .bin
        │   ├── livescript -> ../LiveScript/bin/livescript
        │   ├── lsc -> ../LiveScript/bin/lsc
        │   └── slake -> ../LiveScript/bin/slake
        └── LiveScript
            ├── bin
            ├── lib
            ├── LICENSE
            ├── node_modules
            ├── package.json
            └── README.md

It should be possible to have one version installed globally and one like this, too.