require-self/README.md

Enable doing require('foobar') from within the foobar module

# Problem

Many Node.js modules include test and example code in their repos. This code needs to require the module itself.

But whereas modules depending on `foobar` can write `require('foobar')`, the test and example code within `foobar` cannot reliably require itself that way. It must use a relative path like `var foobar = require('../..')` instead.

Being able to do `require('foobar')` instead of `require('..')` has a few advantages. The code can be moved around. Example code is a tad clearer and can be reused in a client module without changes. And if you are authoring in TypeScript, then `import foobar = require('foobar')` picks up all the static type info from `foobar.d.ts`, exactly as a client module would see it.

# Solutions
### Solution A: Do development work inside a `node_modules` folder
If you ensure your `foobar` module directory is a direct child of a directory called `node_modules`, then it can require itself using `require('foobar')` and Node's module resolution logic will successfully resolve such a call.

However, if you wish to treat your `node_modules` directories like an artefact that is always safe to clean/delete, this approach is not going to fly. Development work and git repos under `node_modules` may be inadvertently deleted.

### Solution B: Add a self-referencing module to the `node_modules` folder
A straight-forward solution is to add a file called `foobar.js` inside `foobar`'s `node_modules` subdirectory. This file simply contains `module.exports = require('..');`.

You could automate this step using a simple `echo ... ` command in an npm script, but that won't work cross-platform. Another way is to put the equivalent of the `echo...` command into a reliable cross-platform node source file, and call that from an npm script.

Solution B is precisely what `require-self` provides.

# Usage

1. Add `require-self` as a devDependency to your module.
2. Call the `require-self` bin command in your module's `prepare` npm script.
3. Run `npm install`, which will install deps and then run the `prepare` script. (*NOTE:* if you are using npm v3 or lower, you'll have to run the `prepare` script manually, via `npm run prepare`)

The `package.json` for your `foobar` module will end up something like this:
```
{
    "name": "foobar",
	...
    "scripts": {
        "build": "...",
        "prepare": "npm run build && require-self"
    },
    "devDependencies": {
		...
        "require-self": "^0.x"
    }

```

Now all test and example code in the `foobar` module can use `var foobar = require('foobar');`.


## License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Troy Gerwien

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
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copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
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The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
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