fs-remove-compat

Cross-platform file removal utilities with Node.js 0.8+ compatibility.

Features

• Strict ponyfills: rm and rmSync exactly match Node.js fs.rm/fs.rmSync API
• Enhanced variants: safeRm and safeRmSync with Windows-friendly defaults
• Node 0.8+ support: Works on all Node.js versions
• Zero dependencies: Pure Node.js implementation
• Migration codemod: Auto-migrate from rimraf2

Installation

npm install fs-remove-compat

Usage

Strict Ponyfills (match Node.js fs.rm)

import { rm, rmSync } from 'fs-remove-compat';

// Remove a file
rmSync('/path/to/file.txt');

// Remove directory recursively
rmSync('/path/to/dir', { recursive: true });

// Ignore if doesn't exist
rmSync('/path/to/maybe', { force: true });

// Async with callback
rm('/path/to/file.txt', (err) => {
  if (err) console.error(err);
});

// Async with Promise
await rm('/path/to/file.txt');
await rm('/path/to/dir', { recursive: true, force: true });

Enhanced Variants (Windows-friendly)

import { safeRm, safeRmSync } from 'fs-remove-compat';

// safeRm/safeRmSync have Windows-friendly defaults:
// - maxRetries: 10 on Windows, 0 on POSIX
// - Exponential backoff (1.2 factor)
// - EPERM chmod fix for locked files

// Use for CI/test cleanup where Windows file locking is common
safeRmSync('/path/to/dir', { recursive: true, force: true });
await safeRm('/path/to/dir', { recursive: true, force: true });

API

Options

interface RmOptions {
  recursive?: boolean;   // Remove directories recursively. Default: false
  force?: boolean;       // Ignore ENOENT errors. Default: false
  maxRetries?: number;   // Retries on EBUSY/EPERM/etc. Default: 0 (or 10 for safe*)
  retryDelay?: number;   // Delay between retries in ms. Default: 100
}

rm(path, [options], [callback])

Removes a file or directory. Matches Node.js fs.rm signature.

rmSync(path, [options])

Synchronous version. Matches Node.js fs.rmSync signature.

safeRm(path, [options], [callback])

Enhanced version with Windows-friendly defaults.

safeRmSync(path, [options])

Synchronous enhanced version.

Migration from rimraf2

The package includes a smart migration codemod:

npx fs-remove-compat migrate <directory>

Smart Detection

The codemod automatically chooses the right function based on file location:

Source files (src/) - Uses strict ponyfill:

• rm / rmSync - exactly matches Node.js behavior
• Apps should know immediately if removal fails

Test files (test/) - Uses enhanced variant:

• safeRm / safeRmSync - Windows-friendly retry defaults
• Retry is acceptable for test cleanup

Transformations

Why use this?

1. Replace rimraf2 without the { disableGlob: true } boilerplate
2. Cross-platform with automatic Windows retry logic
3. Future-proof - uses native fs.rm when available (Node 14.14+)
4. Backwards compatible - works on Node 0.8+

License

MIT