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feat(esm): expose User-Agent header #43852

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feat(esm): expose User-Agent header #43852

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bfc28e9
esm: expose `User-Agent` header
Fyko Jul 15, 2022
b436709
chore: fix test
Fyko Sep 15, 2022
cef0770
test: edit casing for header get
Fyko Sep 18, 2022
75c7015
refactor: standardize lowercase header
Fyko Sep 18, 2022
dc62164
test: finally fix tests
Fyko Sep 18, 2022
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8 changes: 8 additions & 0 deletions lib/internal/modules/esm/fetch_module.js
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ function HTTPSGet(url, opts) {
return https.get(url, {
agent: HTTPSAgent,
...opts,
headers: {
'user-agent': `Node.js/${process.version}`,
...opts?.headers,
},
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I'm -1 on always setting this. It should be optional and default turned off.

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How do other server-side runtimes behave?

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@Fyko Fyko Sep 7, 2022 •
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My inspiration for this was how Deno sets the User-Agent header when getting packages. I don't quite understand why so many people are against this -- many very popular packages and utilities do this. Curl sets a header. So does node-fetch. List goes on. And it's completely nonsensical to use some type of env var to set the header.

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“many people do x” isn’t ever a justification; many people do many ill-advised things.

The advantages i can see of setting it by default is easier debugging on the other end - the disadvantages i see is that a server could identify, track, and treat differently a request coming from node vs from other sources.

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Deno sets the User-Agent header when getting packages. I don’t quite understand why so many people are against this – many very popular packages and utilities do this. Curl sets a header. So does node-fetch.

If most non-browser clients set a User-Agent header, then it’s a de facto standard and we should do the same. It doesn’t matter if some of us disagree with the wisdom of the practice; the point of adding APIs like fetch is to be more standards-compliant and similar to other clients. If users want network requests without User-Agent, they can just override the default or use some other API.

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Understanding the concerns about default behavior is essential. While many popular utilities set the User-Agent header by default, there are legitimate concerns regarding potential server-side differentiation based on this header. However, aligning with common practices across other clients could indeed enhance standards compliance.

Perhaps we can consider an optional flag for users to toggle the inclusion of the User-Agent header, offering both flexibility and adherence to commonly accepted practices. This could cater to different user preferences without compromising on standards.

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Please god not yet another flag. But yes some way to customize this behavior would be good.

});
}

Expand All @@ -65,6 +69,10 @@ function HTTPGet(url, opts) {
return http.get(url, {
agent: HTTPAgent,
...opts,
headers: {
'user-agent': `Node.js/${process.version}`,
...opts?.headers,
},
});
}

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2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions test/es-module/test-http-imports.mjs
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Expand Up @@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ for (const { protocol, createServer } of [
// ?body sets the body, string
const server = createServer(function(_req, res) {
const url = new URL(_req.url, host);
assert.strictEqual(_req.headers['user-agent'], `Node.js/${process.version}`);

const redirect = url.searchParams.get('redirect');
if (url.pathname === '/not-found') {
res.writeHead(404);
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