What does "dev" true means in package-lock.json file?
In my case it is automatically updated when I perform npm operations.
How can we remove it?
From the npm docs at https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package-lock.json
If true then this dependency is either a development dependency ONLY of the top level module or a transitive dependency of one. This is false for dependencies that are both a development dependency of the top level and a transitive dependency of a non-development dependency of the top level.
I think this paragraph tries to illustrate how the package dependency's dev: true is assigned.
- Directly development dependency -> dev: true
- With only indirect development dependency -> dev: true
- Directly development dependency however it also has indirect non-develop dependency -> no "dev: true"
In other words, once a develop dependency package is indirectly dependent by a non-development package, it shall be dev: false and thus it will be included in the build process. The purpose of this rule is to make sure that packages needed by the non-develop package will not have "dev: true".
Besides, if install via "npm install -D , then the package will be installed as the develop package thus no "dev: true" changes may occur. However, if install via "npm install ", this may remove many existing dependencies' "dev: true" attribute.
For example, I run "npm install -D bestzip" in my project and the ressult is:
- 53 dependencies with "dev": true added
Run "npm install bestzip" and the result is:
- 53 dependencies without "dev": true added
- 43 existing dependencies' "dev": true attribute are removed
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49809490/what-is-dev-true-in-package-lock-json-for