[CB-12918] Inconsistent behavior between "cordova prepare" and "cordova plugin add" when installing plugin from local folder

• Type: Bug
• Status: Reopened
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Affects Version/s: 7.0.1
• Component/s: cordova-cli
• Labels: cordova-8.0.0
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Max Mednik
• Created: 14/Jun/17 09:08
• Updated: 22/Feb/18 20:07

Description

Running "cordova prepare" and "cordova plugin add" handle plugin installation from a local folder differently and either one or another breaks depending on which one used first.
For example, I have a plugin defined as following in the config.xml:

<widget ...>
  ...  
  <plugin name="cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance" spec="./custom_plugins/cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance" />
  ...
</widget>

This config is created when I run "cordova plugin add ./custom_plugins/cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance" and everything works as expected. But, if you delete the plugin from the plugins folder and try to run "cordova prepare" afterwards it will fail with the following message:

Discovered plugin "cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance" in config.xml. Adding it to the project
Failed to restore plugin "cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance" from config.xml. You might need to try adding it again. Error: Failed to fetch plugin cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance@file:custom_plugins/cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance via registry.
Probably this is either a connection problem, or plugin spec is incorrect.
Check your connection and plugin name/version/URL.
Error: npm: Command failed with exit code 254 Error output:
npm ERR! addLocal Could not install [project path]/node_modules/custom_plugins/cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance
npm ERR! path [project path]/node_modules/custom_plugins/cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance
npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! errno -2
npm ERR! syscall open
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '[project path]/node_modules/custom_plugins/cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance'
npm ERR! enoent This is most likely not a problem with npm itself
npm ERR! enoent and is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent

Also, after running "cordova prepare" the plugin entry in the config.xml was changed to:

<plugin name="cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance" spec="file:custom_plugins/cordova-plugin-ios-no-export-compliance" />

Issue Links

• relates to: CB-13503 Problems with using plugins from local file system
• relates to: CB-13637 Unable to handle local plugins properly