isaacs/npm — pull request #2716 by scien (2012-08-14 04:48:37+00:00)
Title: Support Graceful Restarts

isaacs/npm#1999

npm restart currently runs prestop, stop, poststop, restart, prestart, start, poststart. According to the docs, and the original intention of the feature, a restart script should be able to be provided so the application can choose to restart their service gracefully (see isaacs/npm#184) instead of issueing a full stop/start.
```
Note: npm restart will run the stop and start scripts if no restart script is provided.
```

A full stop/start should only happen if a restart script is not provided.