npm-outdated1

•

wanted is the maximum version of the package that satisfies the semver
range specified in package.json. If there's no available semver range
(i.e. you're running npm outdated --global, or the package isn't
included in package.json), then wanted shows the currently-installed
version.

•

latest is the version of the package tagged as latest in the registry.
Running npm publish with no special configuration will publish the
package with a dist-tag of latest. This may or may not be the maximum
version of the package, or the most-recently published version of the
package, depending on how the package's developer manages the latest
dist-tag.

•

location is where in the physical tree the package is located.

•

depended by shows which package depends on the displayed dependency

•

package type (when using --long / -l) tells you whether this
package is a dependency or a dev/peer/optional dependency. Packages not
included in package.json are always marked dependencies.

•

homepage (when using --long / -l) is the homepage value contained
in the package's packument

•

Red means there's a newer version matching your semver requirements, so
you should update now.

•

Yellow indicates that there's a newer version above your semver
requirements (usually new major, or new 0.x minor) so proceed with
caution.

$ npm outdated
Package      Current   Wanted   Latest  Location                  Depended by
glob          5.0.15   5.0.15    6.0.1  node_modules/glob         dependent-package-name
nothingness    0.0.3      git      git  node_modules/nothingness  dependent-package-name
npm            3.5.1    3.5.2    3.5.1  node_modules/npm          dependent-package-name
local-dev      0.0.3   linked   linked  local-dev                 dependent-package-name
once           1.3.2    1.3.3    1.3.3  node_modules/once         dependent-package-name

{
  "glob": "^5.0.15",
  "nothingness": "github:othiym23/nothingness#master",
  "npm": "^3.5.1",
  "once": "^1.3.1"
}

•

glob requires ^5, which prevents npm from installing glob@6, which
is outside the semver range.

•

Git dependencies will always be reinstalled, because of how they're
specified. The installed committish might satisfy the dependency
specifier (if it's something immutable, like a commit SHA), or it might
not, so npm outdated and npm update have to fetch Git repos to check.
This is why currently doing a reinstall of a Git dependency always forces
a new clone and install.

•

[email protected] is marked as "wanted", but "latest" is [email protected] because
npm uses dist-tags to manage its latest and next release channels.
npm update will install the newest version, but npm install npm
(with no semver range) will install whatever's tagged as latest.

•

once is just plain out of date. Reinstalling node_modules from
scratch or running npm update will bring it up to spec.