global-replaceify

Browserify transform to replace global variables with custom content.

For instance, you could use it to replace all references to the global process object with require('my-custom-process-impl') or __process (to prevent Browserify from inserting its own built-in implementation).

Installation

npm install --save global-replaceify

API

browserify(/* ... */).transform('global-replaceify', {
  replacements: {
    global: 'myCustomGlobal',
    process: 'myCustomProcess',
    /// etc.
  }
});

Example usage

Input file:

// index.js
var foo = process.browser;
var bar = global.setTimeout;
var baz = Buffer.from("yolo");

Transform:

browserify('./index.js').transform('global-replaceify', {
  replacements: {
    process: '__process',
    global: 'window',
    Buffer: 'MyFakeBuffer'
  }
});

Output file:

var foo = __process.browser;
var bar = window.setTimeout;
var baz = MyFakeBuffer.from("yolo");

As with any Browserify transform, it can also be applied globally using global: true.

browserify('./index.js').transform('global-replaceify', {
  global: true,
  replacements: {
    process: '__process',
    global: 'window',
    Buffer: 'MyFakeBuffer'
  }
});

CLI usage

Replacements can be passed in via the command line:

browserify -t [ global-replaceify --replacements [ --foo bar ] ] ./index.js

You can also specify multiple replacements:

browserify -t [ global-replaceify --replacements [ --process myProcess --global myGlobal ] ] ./index.js

And you can also apply it, ahem, globally using -g:

browserify -g [ global-replaceify --replacements [ --foo bar ] ] ./index.js                       

package.json usage

As with any Browserify transform, options can also be specified in package.json:

{
  "browserify": {
    "transform": [["global-replaceify", { "replacements": {"process": "myCustomProcess"} }]]
  }
}

Details

Whatever string you provide as a replacement will be directly inlined. So for instance if you do:

  replacements: {
    Buffer: 'require("buffer")'
  }

...then you can replace global variables with custom require() statements. Browserify will attempt to pull in the require()d dependency like it normally would.

So for instance:

  replacements: {
    $: 'require("jquery")',
    window: 'require("global")'
  }

This can be used to upgrade legacy code that references global variables, and point those globals to explicit require() calls instead.