[BUG] npm i add invalid version to package.json

[Jack-Works]

Steps To Reproduce:

/package.json

{ "workspaces": [ "sub" ] }

/sub/package.json

{ "name": "sub" }

Run npm i sub in /. Sub package will be linked (that is correct). But wrong item is added to /package.json "sub": "^", which should be "sub": "*" because sub doesn't have a version field.

Environment:

• Node: 14
• npm: 7.1.1

[ljharb]

cc @ruyadorno

[isaacs]

Maybe ^ should be a valid range? ^* is valid, and '' is equivalent to '*', after all. 🤔

[ljharb]

eesh, that seems too magic to me. ~ would be, would >= and < etc all be also?

[isaacs]

>* and <* are both null sets (since they're "less than everything" or "greater than everything"). But >=, <=, ^, =, and ~ would all become synonyms for * if we did that.

Kind of off-topic, sorry. Bottom line, we shouldn't be saving a dep range with a prefix attached to an empty version field 😅

[Jack-Works]

Maybe ^ should be a valid range? ^* is valid, and '' is equivalent to '*', after all. 🤔

So it's a dependabot bug? 🤔 (See DimensionDev/Maskbook#2073)

[isaacs]

So it's a dependabot bug? 🤔 (See DimensionDev/Maskbook#2073)

I think I'm suggesting a SemVer feature request, actually. Dependabot is fine 😅