lb and lb4 are the same code?

[bitxplora]

I observed that lb and lb4 are the same code, that is, the same code in two files with different names. What is the basis for this?

[achrinza]

Hi @bitxplora, could you clarify which package / where the lb command is from?

LoopBack 4 is current "version" of the project and uses the lb4 command, which is provided by the @loopback/cli package.

[bitxplora]

When you installed loopback with npm i -g @loopback/cli, it will install both lb and lb4 on your system, same codes and same work. To verify, do any of these:

Check the bin directory of your installed node.

OR

Do which lb, then which lb4.

Diff the two files.

[achrinza]

Thanks for the clarification - Indeed @loopback/cli does provide both lb and lb4.

However, both point to the same file:

loopback-next/packages/cli/package.json

Lines 11 to 14 in 3e7b446

	"bin": {
	"lb": "bin/cli-main.js",
	"lb4": "bin/cli-main.js"
	},

We can verify this by running:

# blank output = no difference 
$ diff "$(which lb)" "$(which lb4)" 

Due to the way NPM installs CLI utilities, it will copy the same file twice to both lb and lb4.

This was added by @frbuceta in f7ad002. However I was not able to find a rationale for this change.

[bitxplora]

Thank you for your work on the project and your service to the community.

I think lb is better, if there is no need to increase the appended number on every major release; lb5, lb6, etc.