yarnpkg/yarn

Future enhancement idea: Easy way of making custom repositories

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#773 opened on Oct 12, 2016

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 (3 comments) (6 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (41,514 stars) (2,731 forks)batch import
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Description

One of the things I love about Linux repositories (such as Debian and RPM repositories) is that it just consists of plain files and there's no custom server-side component at all. There's a few files that contain metadata about all the packages, along with the actual binaries themselves (eg. .deb for Debian, .rpm for CentOS). This makes it super easy to host a repository as long as the metadata is built correctly. You can even host a package repo on a plain basic webhost such as Github Pages.

It would be awesome to have something like this for Yarn too, a simple way of making a custom package server. "Throw these files onto a server somewhere" is a much easier deployment strategy than running some custom server software and having to worry about keeping it up-to-date with security patches etc.

Related: #547 (support for multiple servers), #606 (number of stars on this issue means a lot of people are using custom servers already)

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascriptnodejs
Domain
toolingdeveloper experience
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
5
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
over 1 week
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
needs investigation
Prerequisites
Basic understanding of YarnKnowledge of package repository conceptsFamiliarity with static file hosting
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
15
Research direction
Review the linked issues #547 and #606 for additional context. The Yarn 1.x codebase is frozen, so any implementation should consider the Yarn Berry (https://github.com/yarnpkg/berry) repository. Examine the current Yarn plugin system and how custom registries are handled. The issue proposes a static file approach similar to Linux repositories; research existing solutions like Verdaccio or other npm registry proxies to understand the landscape.