pkgconfig

Version 3.2.0

A configuration file manager for node.js applications. It loads configuration files in the application's config directory. Initially, a default.json or default.js file is loaded and merged with an optional configuration file specified by the the NODE_ENV environment variable.

The default configuration file can be overridden by specifying an argument to the pkgconfig(<file>) function.

The config directory can be overridden by setting the NODE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable.

Quick Start

Install the pkgconfig module.

npm install pkgconfig --save

Add a config directory to your application and create a default.json file.

myapp/
    package.json
    server.js
    config/
        default.json
        testing.json

Call pkgconfig() to load the default.json file from the config directory.

Call pkgconfig('testing') to load the testing.json file from the config directory.

const pkgconfig = require('pkgconfig')
const cfg = pkgconfig(); 

Configuration Files

The default configuration file is located using the following pattern:

{pkgdir}/config/default.(js|json)

The {pkgdir} is the directory containing the application's package.json file. The configuration file can be a JavaScript or a JSON file. For a JavaScript files, simply set the module.exports property to a JavaScript object.

module.exports = {
    server: {
        port: 80
    },
    database: {
        username: 'admin',
        password: 'password'
    }
};

Loading Algorithm

The following is the algorithm for how the default configuration file is loaded and (optionally) merged with the configuration file specified by the NODE_ENV environment variable.

if NODE_ENV is set then
    read the default configuration file (optional)
    read the NODE_ENV configuration file (required)
    if the NODE_ENV configuration file cannot be read then
        throw an exception
    end if
    if the default configuration file does not exist then
        return the NODE_ENV configuration values
    else
        merge the default and NODE_ENV configuration using object-merge*
        return the merged results
    end if
else
    read the default configuration file (required)
    if the default configuration file does not exist then
        throw an exception
    end if
    return the default configuration values
end if

• The object-merge refers to the object-merge package.

For example, if NODE_ENV is set to production, then the following situation applies:

myapp/
    package.json
    server.js
    config/
        default.json            <-- default configuration file
        production.json         <-- merged with the default file

Exceptions

The following conditions are considered errors and an exception is thrown:

1. The application's package.json file is not found or cannot be read.
2. The config directory (or the directory specified by the NODE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable) is not found in the application directory containing the package.json file.
3. The default configuration file is not found in the config directory if the NODE_ENV environment variable is not set.
4. The configuration file specified by the NODE_ENV environment variable cannot be read.
5. The configuration file does not contain a JavaScript or JSON object.

Testing

$ node test/pkgconfig-test.js
Passed test 1 (read the default configuration file).
Passed test 2 (read the default and development configuration files).
Passed test 3 (read only the development configuration file).
Passed test 4 (error if the NODE_ENV configuration file is not found).
Passed test 5 (error if the default configuration file is not found).
All tests pass.

License

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2017 Frank Hellwig

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.