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Linked packages

Linked Packages

Linked packages allow you to specify a group or groups of packages that should be versioned together. There are some complex cases, so some examples are shown below to demonstrate various cases.

  • Linked packages will still only be bumped when there is a changeset for them (this can mean because you explicitly choose to add a changeset for it or because it's a dependent of something being released)
  • Packages that have changesets and are in a set of linked packages will always be versioned to the highest current version in the set of linked packages + the highest bump type from changesets in the set of linked packages

Unlike fixed packages, there is no guarantee that all packages in the group of linked packages will be version-bumped and published, only those with changeset(s) will be.

Examples

General example

I have three packages, pkg-a, pkg-b and pkg-c. pkg-a and pkg-b are linked but pkg-c is not so the config looks like this.

{
  "linked": [["pkg-a", "pkg-b"]]
}
  • pkg-a is at 1.0.0
  • pkg-b is at 1.0.0
  • pkg-c is at 1.0.0

I have a changeset with a patch for pkg-a, minor for pkg-b and major for pkg-c and I do a release, the resulting versions will be:

  • pkg-a is at 1.1.0
  • pkg-b is at 1.1.0
  • pkg-c is at 2.0.0

I now have another changeset with a minor for pkg-a and I do a release, the resulting versions will be:

  • pkg-a is at 1.2.0
  • pkg-b is at 1.1.0
  • pkg-c is at 2.0.0

I now have another changeset with a minor for pkg-b and I do a release, the resulting versions will be:

  • pkg-a is at 1.2.0
  • pkg-b is at 1.3.0
  • pkg-c is at 2.0.0

I now have another changeset with patches for all three packages and I do a release, the resulting versions will be:

  • pkg-a is at 1.3.1
  • pkg-b is at 1.3.1
  • pkg-c is at 2.0.1

Example with dependants

I have two packages, pkg-a, pkg-b which are linked. pkg-a has a dependency on pkg-b.

{
  "linked": [["pkg-a", "pkg-b"]]
}
  • pkg-a is at 1.0.0
  • pkg-b is at 1.0.0

I have a changeset with a major for pkg-b and I do a release, the resulting versions will be:

  • pkg-a is at 2.0.0
  • pkg-b is at 2.0.0

I now have another changeset with a major for pkg-a and I do a release, the resulting versions will be:

  • pkg-a is at 3.0.0
  • pkg-b is at 2.0.0

Using glob expressions

Sometimes you want to link many or all packages within your project (for example in a monorepo setup), in which case you would need to keep the list of linked packages up-to-date.

To make it simpler to maintain that list, you can provide glob expressions in the linked list that would match and resolve all the packages you wish to include.

For example:

{
  "linked": [["pkg-*"]]
}

It will match all packages starting with pkg-.

The glob expressions must be defined according to the micromatch (opens in a new tab) format.

Fixed packagesModifying changelog format