Use package.json engines version?

[tomdavidson]

Thoughts on reading the engines object from package.json to select the correct nodejs version?

nvm-sh/nvm#651

[MrQubo]

If we have both package.json and .tool-versions in the same directory it's obvious that we should choose the version in .tool-versions.

But what to do if .tool-versions is in a parent directory relative to the package.json?
e.g.

foo/
├── .tool-versions
└── bar/
   └── package.json

Also, take into an account that the version inside the package.json might be actually a range of versions.

Would you rather install the version from engines after using node or npm for the first time inside the project or use the version from engines only if it is already installed?

[dboune]

Replying to @MrQubo's questions with an opinion.

.tool-versions should take precedence.

In a subdirectory, any legacy file, or .tool-versions if available, should take precedence for that directory.

For a range of versions, the latest version allowable, and installed, should be used, if available.

The last question seems to point to automatic installation, which I do not believe is reasonable. If a specified version is not available, that would be an error.

[Stratus3D]

After looking at this a bit more, I don't think we should add support for this. Adding support for this would require a lot of code. Here is the PR for nvm (which isn't going to be merged) - nvm-sh/nvm#1535. It is over 1200 lines of code.

I think my biggest objection to this is that it doesn't make sense semantically.

I don't think the feature makes sense semantically - in other words, that the package.json "minimum supported version range" field makes sense as a "run it under this one single version of node/io.js"
-- @ljharb

package.json specifies a version or range of versions that the package is compatible with, whereas .tool-versions and .node-version specify a single version that must be used. We'd have to implement our own logic for choosing the highest or lowest version for the package, or maybe prefer a version the user already has installed. That gets very complicated. I think we should just stick with .tool-versions and .node-version.

[Stratus3D]

Here is a PR that attempts to add support for package.json - #120. The problem with this PR is that the engine value isn't a plain version that can be used by asdf-nodejs. We would have to address all the issues nvm would have to address on their PR.

[Stratus3D]

Closing since I don't think this makes sense as a feature. Please comment if you think I should re-open this ticket.

[dkniffin]

@Stratus3D I would really like to see support for engines in asdf. I understand the complexity involved in supporting the semver expressions though.

What if we compromised and asdf supported strings that have a specific version without semver syntax? So if it had 16.x, it'd get ignored like it does currently. But if it had 16.13.1, it'd install that specific version.

Thoughts?

[Stratus3D]

@augustobmoura what do you think about that? I suppose it wouldn't really break asdf-nodejs semantics, but would it be worth the hassle to implement?

[ProfessorManhattan]

+1 I would love to see this feature in asdf. There are already so many files that need to be in the root of a project and package.json already officially has a field that designates what version should be used. Following DRY, we should use package.json.

Fringe Use Benefit: I imagine this feature would also be useful in some cases where the latest version of Node causes a break -- with the ">=14.0.0" specified in package.json, this would force developers to have their code tested with the latest version before sending it off to a public registry.

In regard to @Stratus3D 's comment about nvm's implementation being over 1200 lines -- most of the code is test code/mock data for the tests. The actual bash script logic is about 300 lines in the nvm.sh file.

If we brought this feature to asdf, we could probably recycle the code from the nvm commit.

I don't have the bandwidth to pick this up currently plus I'm not in active communication with the maintainer but I'd be willing to fund the PR by giving an NFT of a girl's fart in a jar to see this get done (Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/wind-breaking-nfts-reality-star-who-made-200k-selling-farts-in-mason-jars-launches-nft-collection/)