A package+version tarball can be insufficient if platform libraries are needed

[tim-janik]

Some NPM packages depend on platform libs during installation

Case in point is the sharp package, which requires github.com/.../libvips-8.12.2-linux-x64.tar.br during installation. Using shrinkpack with sharp breaks during offline installs as follows:

$ rm -rf ~/.npm/    # purge NPM cache or run in a clean CI environment
$ npm ci --offline
npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path /tmp/bar/node_modules/sharp
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command sh -c (node install/libvips && node install/dll-copy && prebuild-install) || (node install/can-compile && node-gyp rebuild && node install/dll-copy)
npm ERR! sharp: Downloading https://github.com/lovell/sharp-libvips/releases/download/v8.12.2/libvips-8.12.2-linux-x64.tar.br
npm ERR! sharp: Please see https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com/install for required dependencies
npm ERR! sharp: Installation error: getaddrinfo EAI_AGAIN github.com

The issue is reported here: Unconditional Download during install breaks shrinkpack - sharp#3737

Suggested Solution

It is not clear to me how the needed libvips-8.12.2-linux-x64 could end up in the prepared node_shrinkpack/sharp-0.30.7.tar file, i.e. which project would have to be adjusted, but that would be required in order for npm ci --offline to work.

[JamieMason]

Thanks @tim-janik, on the face of it I don't think shrinkpack can do anything(?) this is a behaviour of the sharp package right?

[tim-janik]

Thanks @tim-janik, on the face of it I don't think shrinkpack can do anything(?) this is a behaviour of the sharp package right?

Honestly, I am not sure.

In this issuecomment, @lovell mentiones https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com/install#custom-prebuilt-binaries - so clearly this is something they have spent some thoughts and efforts on.
Could there be a way to integrate that automatically with shrinkpack? In the Target Problem description, you mention the case of phantomjs and node-sass which have operating system specific binaries. How is that solved by shrinkpack, and could a variant be applied to sharp?