templates that have a failing engines key in package.json, and version is pre-release, cannot be installed (using `latest` dist-tag)

[shazron]

Template: https://github.com/adobe/commerce-events-ext-tpl

Repro Steps

1. Use node@20.17.0 or greater and npm@10.8.2 or greater
2. Install the template above using the aio-cli (via aio app init) or npm i

Error:

npm error code ETARGET
npm error notarget No matching version found for @adobe/commerce-events-ext-tpl@*.
npm error notarget In most cases you or one of your dependencies are requesting
npm error notarget a package version that doesn't exist.

Expected Behavior

The template/module can be installed.

Actual Behavior

The template/module cannot be installed and results in an error.

Investigation

npm@10.8.2 or greater has different behavior due to a bug fix. Users may have been relying on buggy behavior which has been fixed now.

The template above has an engines key of ^14 and is a pre-release version 1.0.0-beta.9 which results in the error.

Installing the module using a specific version, will not result in the error, there is an error only if it's using the latest dist-tag.

If I tested npm i of a module that fails the engine check on node-22 and is not a pre-release, it does not result in an error. Example module.

Fix

Remove the "engines" key from the template's package.json or update the engines key to a version that will pass on nodes >= 20, and/or update the version to a non-pre-release version.

Supporting Info

1. https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v10/using-npm/changelog#1082-2024-07-09
2. https://github.com/npm/npm-pick-manifest/releases/tag/v9.1.0
3. npm/npm-pick-manifest@9f5560f
4. Add note about using EOL release versions nodejs/nodejs.org#6913
5. node version to npm version mappings: https://nodejs.org/dist/index.json

[aiojbot]

JIRA issue created: https://jira.corp.adobe.com/browse/ACNA-3297