docs: update snapshot generation command

[MikeMcC399]

Situation

In the CONTRIBUTING document, Test Coverage section, the command to update snapshots is inconsistent with the other npm commands in the same document that run npm through node, and with the introductory comments in that section.

---

To run your repository's version of the npm cli on your local machine use the following commands:

...

To update the snapshots run:

TAP_SNAPSHOT=1 npm test

---

Change

In the CONTRIBUTING document, Test Coverage section, change the command to update snapshots to:

TAP_SNAPSHOT=1 node . run test

Verification

Ubuntu: 24.04.2 LTS
Node.js: 22.17.1 LTS
npm: 11.15.1

Execute the following:

npm install npm@latest -g
node ./scripts/resetdeps.js
node . run test

Confirm that there are no errors.

Delete file tap-snapshots/test/lib/docs.js.test.cjs and execute:

node . run test

and note that the test result is now:

Suites: ​1 failed​, ​101 passed​, ​102 of 102 completed​
Asserts: ​​​74 failed​, ​4702 passed​, ​7 skip​, ​of 4783​

Execute:

TAP_SNAPSHOT=1 node . run test
git status

Confirm that all tests now pass and that git shows no pending changes (meaning the deleted snapshot file has been fully restored):

Suites: ​102 passed​, ​102 of 102 completed​
Asserts: ​​​4781 passed​, ​7 skip​, ​of 4788​

References

• follows on from docs: add test snapshot #8435 (comment)

[MikeMcC399]

@owlstronaut

Thanks for merging!

The history of https://github.com/npm/cli/commits/latest/CONTRIBUTING.md shows a mixture of commit message usage, so I was a bit confused about which one to align with! After consulting with https://github.com/npm/cli/blob/latest/CONTRIBUTING.md#pull-request-conventions

• docs: For documentation updates. The result will be a new semver patch version of the package when it is next published.
• chore: For changes that do not affect the published module. Often these are changes to tests. The result will be no change to the version of the package when it is next published (as the commit does not affect the published version).

I checked that CONTRIBUTING.md isn't part of the published module, so it seemed like chore: would be right.

[wraithgar]

You were right, this should have been a chore. The contributing.md file is not part of the published module.

[MikeMcC399]

@wraithgar

You were right, this should have been a chore. The contributing.md file is not part of the published module.

Thanks for confirming! It's a minor point and I don't think that is worth trying to correct for this particular PR / commit. However, it is good to have guidance on the right way to handle commits for the CONTRIBUTING.md document in future.