I'm opening this issue because:

• npm is crashing.
• npm is producing an incorrect install.
• npm is doing something I don't understand.
• Other (see below for feature requests):

What's going wrong?

1. npm install <folder> will create a symlink to <folder> in the package directory

   This can lead to unpredictable behavior and since there is a command for creating links npm link I believe npm install should always install the package.

   Some possible problems that will break the installation:

   • Remove the origin package folder
   • Move the package elsewhere (e.g. install on a flash drive for use anywhere)

2. npm install

   In global mode (ie, with -g or --global appended to the command), it installs the current package context (ie, the current working directory) as a global package.

   But instead, it will create a link to the current folder as the package, which lead to the same problems described above.

   If the original folder is removed, the package cannot even be installed again, since a broken link remain in bin dir.

How can the CLI team reproduce the problem?

1. Create or download a package which contain an executable in a folder (e.g. git clone https://github.com/paulodiovani/foaas-client)

2. Enter the folder: cd foaas-client

3. Install as global dependency: npm install -g

4. Remove folder: cd .. && rm -r foaas-client

5. Try to run the executable:

   ➜  foaas              
   zsh: command not found: foaas

supporting information:

➜  ~ npm -v  
5.3.0
➜  ~ node -v 
v8.4.0
➜  ~ npm config get registry
https://registry.npmjs.org/
➜  ~ uname -a
Linux paulodiovani-dell 4.12.9-1-zen #1 ZEN SMP PREEMPT Fri Aug 25 02:57:04 UTC 2017 x86_64 GNU/Linux