Relative reference paths break the module system.

[ksheedlo]

I noticed that if you have a Typescript file that uses a reference path that is relative, the Typescript compiler will generate an output tree that is different from what typescript-require expects.

To reproduce, try creating two small modules in sibling subdirectories, src/foo.ts and test/bar.ts. Have test/bar.ts reference src/foo.ts using a relative reference path:

///<reference path="../src/foo.ts"/>

Importing test/bar.ts from a node script will fail because the resulting tmp directory created by tsc is not the same as what typescript-require internally expects it to be. See also my gist.

[svallory]

I think we need to define a clear usage strategy when working with typescript-require. reference's should be used when the referenced file's variables will be available to the current file via a shared scope. That scope is either the global scope or the scope both codes share when compiled to a single file.

If you are developing on node and with typescript-require, you should always use require for code you wrote and reference only .d.ts definitions.

Nevertheless, I think this is a problem, at least by the lack of guidance, so I'll leave it open for now.

[baio]

+1 I cant test my typescript sources in mocha tests.