Readme (npm) install instructions fail

[clounie]

Steps to reproduce

1. npm install google-cloud
2. It fails, because https://www.npmjs.com/package/google-cloud doesn't exist. The gcloud package appears to have the last release in npm though.

So, either readme or npm package name needs updated.

[stephenplusplus]

Yeah, our repo just went through a major restructure. We're going to be splitting into multiple modules, so that you can npm install @google-cloud/storage for just the Storage module for example, or npm install google-cloud and get the whole kit of services. For now, the readme won't be relevant in that regard.

You can browse the state of the repo at the latest npm release of gcloud-node (0.37.0) here and check out the docs site that is accurate for that release here.

[jasonpolites]

IMO we should update the README to reflect what works. Currently anyone who visits the GCP docs for Node.js (https://cloud.google.com/nodejs/apis) will end up in a broken state because npm install will fail.

Also the docs at https://cloud.google.com/nodejs/apis which suggest require('google-cloud') do align with the instruction to npm install --save gcloud

[jgeewax]

Yea our readme can't lie... @stephenplusplus We need to fix this.

[stephenplusplus]

https://cloud.google.com/nodejs/apis -- the link there goes to the docs site, https://googlecloudplatform.github.io/gcloud-node/#/, which is correct. Did I miss the link to the GH repo?

Also the docs at https://cloud.google.com/nodejs/apis which suggest require('google-cloud') do align with the instruction to npm install --save gcloud

I didn't see anything about require('google-cloud') on that site.

[stephenplusplus]

I'll put the old readme back. Still curious about the questions above, though. Links would be appreciated!

[jasonpolites]

This is what I see at https://googlecloudplatform.github.io/gcloud-node/#/

But also clicking through to the README gives conflicting/confusing information that doesn't seem to work.

[stephenplusplus]

Oh, the code sample there is old, I see. I'll update that now as well. Thanks for pointing that out.

[jgeewax]

TL;DR: README is an anomaly. It current is "master". It shouldn't be master, it should be "latest" (currently v0.37). Right?

[stephenplusplus]

We always work on master and put our releases under git tags. Should that change?

[jgeewax]

README is a special case... as we're seeing here... What are our options? The current one (where we just have README on master, and our docs default to 0.37, and npm install gcloud defaults to 0.37) isn't working... :(

[stephenplusplus]

What I'm used to is going to GH and getting the latest state of the codebase, so master is what I expect. I know things will be different from the latest release.

On the flip side, when I go to a "presentation" site, i.e. our docs site, I expect it to be talking about the latest release.

I do have two lessons learned through all of this, though:

1. Leaving a note in the readme that something is changing is just plain nice, so don't forget to do that (oops)
2. Know your own docs site-- I didn't realize it said var gcloud = require('google-cloud')

If we used the master branch as "the latest release" branch, we would just have a "next" branch, that we would treat the same as we treat master now. That solves this readme case, but might be unexpected for users coming to contribute-- they might do their work on the wrong branch, not realizing there is something else... or in general, not discover the actual state of the code base, and react accordingly (filing bugs, PRs).