If I modify my readme for an npm package I maintain, do I need to bump the version in package.json and do another npm publish? or is there another way to update the readme without a version bump.
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If I modify my readme for an npm package I maintain, do I need to bump the version in package.json and do another npm publish? or is there another way to update the readme without a version bump.
Depending on your definition of “need to”, this could be two very different questions:
[Is it ok to publish readme changes without bumping the version number?]
[Is it technically possible to publish changes without incrementing the version]
The accepted answer (updating via
npm publish --force, i.e. without incrementing any part of the version number) is a good answer to Q2. But I want to address Q1.Use of
npm publish --forceis discouraged. Instead, authors are encouraged to use semantic versioning aka semver, which prescribes:So my answer is:
While there is technically a way to publish changes without a version bump, you shouldn’t do that. For minor edits that don’t affect the package’s API, you should bump the “patch” version, e.g. from 1.2.0 to 1.2.1.