[BUG] npm outdated fails with an error, does not say _where_ the issue lies.

[andreieftimie]

Current Behavior:

$ npm outdated --all
npm ERR! Only tag, version, and range are supported

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/aeftimie/.npm/_logs/2020-08-22T16_25_38_984Z-debug.log

The complete log:

$ cat /Users/aeftimie/.npm/_logs/2020-08-22T16_25_38_984Z-debug.log
0 verbose cli [
0 verbose cli   '/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/bin/node',
0 verbose cli   '/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/bin/npm',
0 verbose cli   'outdated',
0 verbose cli   '--all'
0 verbose cli ]
1 info using npm@7.0.0-beta.6
2 info using node@v12.16.1
3 timing config:load:defaults Completed in 1ms
4 timing config:load:file:/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc Completed in 1ms
5 timing config:load:builtin Completed in 1ms
6 timing config:load:cli Completed in 1ms
7 timing config:load:env Completed in 1ms
8 timing config:load:file:/Users/aeftimie/work/vo/vod/.npmrc Completed in 0ms
9 timing config:load:project Completed in 0ms
10 timing config:load:file:/Users/aeftimie/.npmrc Completed in 0ms
11 timing config:load:user Completed in 0ms
12 timing config:load:file:/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/etc/npmrc Completed in 0ms
13 timing config:load:global Completed in 0ms
14 timing config:load:cafile Completed in 0ms
15 timing config:load:validate Completed in 0ms
16 timing config:load:setEnvs Completed in 1ms
17 timing config:load Completed in 6ms
18 verbose npm-session e773fd4ecdc5fcb6
19 timing npm:load Completed in 11ms
20 timing arborist:ctor Completed in 0ms
21 timing command:outdated Completed in 10471ms
22 verbose stack Error: Only tag, version, and range are supported
22 verbose stack     at pickManifest (/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/npm-pick-manifest/index.js:92:11)
22 verbose stack     at module.exports (/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/npm-pick-manifest/index.js:186:18)
22 verbose stack     at getOutdatedInfo (/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/outdated.js:147:22)
22 verbose stack     at runMicrotasks (<anonymous>)
22 verbose stack     at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:97:5)
22 verbose stack     at async Promise.all (index 1248)
22 verbose stack     at async outdated_ (/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/outdated.js:201:3)
22 verbose stack     at async outdated (/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/outdated.js:43:16)
23 verbose cwd /Users/aeftimie/work/vo/vod
24 verbose Darwin 19.6.0
25 verbose argv "/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/bin/node" "/Users/aeftimie/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/bin/npm" "outdated" "--all"
26 verbose node v12.16.1
27 verbose npm  v7.0.0-beta.6
28 error Only tag, version, and range are supported
29 verbose exit [ 1, undefined ]

Expected Behavior:

1. It should not fail. If there are non-conform package versions in the tree those should be noted and an output should still be presented. This should not be an all-or-nothing operation

2. If it fails, it should point the user in the direction of the failure, so that he may address the issue.

In my case I do have a fairly complex dependency tree. Yet I have to go one by one through all deps, from all packages to figure out where this error comes from.

Steps To Reproduce:

No specific steps at this time. I might try to get a minimal reproducible testcase.

Environment:

• macOS Catalina 10.15.6
• node: v12.16.1
• npm: v7.0.0-beta.6
• workspaces enabled

[ruyadorno]

Hi @andreieftimie let me know in case there's a public repo in which we can easily reproduce the problem 😊

[ruyadorno]

hi @andreieftimie thanks for the report! 😄 This should be fixed in v7.0.0-beta.13

Let us know in case there are still problems 😊 Thanks again!

[andreieftimie]

@ruyadorno thanks. I can confirm npm outdated now works on the use-case mentioned above.

[lilisgeorge]

On WSL2 - Ubuntu 20.04 using nvm and having installed v15.2.1 and today v15.3.0 i receive the same bug for both of those versions. Switched back to v14.15.1 and the problem is gone. npm version was 7.0.14. Now is 6.14.8

[jamessouth]

I'm getting this error today on Windows 10, npm 7.0.15, node 14.15.1

[ljharb]

@jamessouth try npm v7.3.0?

[jamessouth]

...but not anymore, npm outdated is working as expected for me today...??? same versions 😕

[pathros]

npm outdated
is no longer working. The versions I'm using are:
npm v7.0.15
node v15.4.0

The error displayed is:

npm ERR! Only tag, version, and range are supported
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:

[ljharb]

Try v7.4.0?

[erichoswald]

For me the dependency that causes the error is

"tailwindcss": "npm:@tailwindcss/postcss7-compat@^2.0.2",

which I need to use tailwindcss with PostCSS 7, see https://tailwindcss.com/docs/installation#post-css-7-compatibility-build

So the workaround for me is to delete that line, run npm outdated, and restore it again. I'm using npm v7.5.2 BTW.

[AlexanderYW]

Same issue as @erichoswald, thanks for the tip! :)

[pastelmind]

Same issue with NPM v7.6.0. npm outdated fails due to an outdated package that is installed under an alias:

// package.json
{
  // ...
  "devDependencies": {
    // ...
    "package-alias": "npm:actual-package-name@^0.0.5",
    // ...
  }
}

I tried to replicate this by creating a sample project, but could not. Perhaps it happens if there are multiple dependencies and one of them is aliased AND outdated.

[ruyadorno]

Thanks @erichoswald @pastelmind, that's a different problem, I opened #2800 to track and fix it.

[Isaac-Tait]

Thank you @erichoswald #2800 (comment)

[hirasso]

For me the dependency that causes the error is

"tailwindcss": "npm:@tailwindcss/postcss7-compat@^2.0.2",

which I need to use tailwindcss with PostCSS 7, see https://tailwindcss.com/docs/installation#post-css-7-compatibility-build

So the workaround for me is to delete that line, run npm outdated, and restore it again. I'm using npm v7.5.2 BTW.

@erichoswald Thanks for the hint! For me it was this line:

"gsap": "npm:@gsap/shockingly@^3.10.4",

Removed it, ran npm outdated, added it back.