Test case for npm install of a module, then something that depends on it, then remove the first and try to fix up the second. It doesn't work well as of this writing (node.js 0.8.18).

npm-install-order-test.sh

#!/bin/bash -eux

cat <<EOF >package.json
{
  "name": "npm-install-order-test",
  "private": true,
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "dependencies" : {
    "express" :  "*"
  }
}
EOF

npm install connect # first, explicitly install an indirect dependency
npm install # should install express, but won't install connect again
rm -r node_modules/connect # changed our mind, remove the connect we installed
npm install # should recognize that express is now missing a dependency

# now we have a non-working installation of express