fix(npm-resolver): request full metadata for optional dependencies by 3w36zj6 · Pull Request #10455 · pnpm/pnpm

3w36zj6 · 2026-01-14T01:59:45Z

Biome correctly declares the os, cpu, and libc fields in each platform specific package¹.

For context, the npm registry provides two types of metadata responses. Full metadata (application/json) includes the libc field, while Abbreviated metadata (application/vnd.npm.install-v1+json) does not.

Since pnpm uses abbreviated metadata by default, the libc field may be undefined. As a result, the check for libc in checkPlatform() can be skipped, making it impossible to distinguish between musl and glibc. To address this, adding a flag to request fullMetadata for each registry request allows pnpm to consistently obtain complete platform information and resolve optionalDependencies correctly. This change will prevent unsupported versions, such as @biomejs/cli-linux-x64-musl, from being erroneously downloaded on glibc systems.

You can verify the behavior by clearing pnpm's cache and running pnpm install in the directory containing the following package.json. The examples below were tested on Ubuntu 24.04.

{
  "name": "sandbox-pnpm",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "packageManager": "pnpm@11.0.0-alpha.2",
  "type": "module",
  "devDependencies": {
    "@biomejs/biome": "2.3.11"
  }
}

Before:

❯ pnpm install
Packages: +3
+++
Downloading @biomejs/cli-linux-x64@2.3.11: 16.70 MB/16.70 MB, completed
Downloading @biomejs/cli-linux-x64-musl@2.3.11: 16.71 MB/16.71 MB, completed
Progress: resolved 9, reused 0, downloaded 3, added 3, completed

devDependencies:
+ @biomejs/biome 2.3.11

Completed in 8.7s using pnpm v11.0.0-alpha.2

After:

❯ /path/to/pnpm/pnpm/bin/pnpm.mjs install
Packages: +2
++
Progress: resolved 9, reused 0, downloaded 2, added 2, completed

devDependencies:
+ @biomejs/biome 2.3.11

Downloading @biomejs/cli-linux-x64@2.3.11: 16.70 MB/16.70 MB, completed
Completed in 5.1s using pnpm v11.0.0-alpha.2

https://github.com/biomejs/biome/issues/7442#issuecomment-3265414662 ↩

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR fixes an issue where pnpm was incorrectly downloading both glibc and musl versions of optional dependencies on glibc systems due to missing libc field information in abbreviated metadata.

Changes:

Added support for requesting full metadata for optional dependencies to obtain the libc field needed for proper platform filtering
Modified cache key generation to include metaDir to prevent collisions between abbreviated and full metadata
Propagated the optional flag from package requester through to the npm resolver

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
resolving/resolver-base/src/index.ts	Added `optional` field to `ResolveOptions` interface
resolving/npm-resolver/test/resolveFromNpm.test.ts	Added comprehensive integration tests for full metadata usage with optional dependencies
resolving/npm-resolver/test/pickPackage.test.ts	Added unit tests for cache key separation and fullMetadata flag propagation
resolving/npm-resolver/src/pickPackage.ts	Modified cache key to include metaDir and updated fetch call to pass fullMetadata flag
resolving/npm-resolver/src/index.ts	Added logic to use FULL_META_DIR for optional dependencies and pass optional flag through context
resolving/npm-resolver/src/fetch.ts	Added fullMetadata parameter to fetch function signature
pkg-manager/package-requester/test/index.ts	Added test to verify optional flag is passed to resolve function
pkg-manager/package-requester/src/packageRequester.ts	Modified to pass optional flag from WantedDependency to resolve options
network/fetching-types/src/index.ts	Added fullMetadata field to FetchFromRegistry options
network/fetch/src/fetchFromRegistry.ts	Modified to use per-request fullMetadata option with fallback to default

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zkochan · 2026-01-16T00:17:01Z

TBH, I hate this solution but I don't have better ideas at the moment.

zkochan · 2026-01-16T00:17:42Z

  const resolveResult = await ctx.requestsQueue.add<ResolveResult>(async () => ctx.resolve(wantedDependency, {
    ...options,
+    optional: wantedDependency.optional,


why are you adding optional to options if it is already passed in via wantedDependency in the first argument?

zkochan · 2026-01-16T00:20:16Z

-      metaDir: opts.fullMetadata ? (opts.filterMetadata ? FULL_FILTERED_META_DIR : FULL_META_DIR) : ABBREVIATED_META_DIR,
+      metaDir: defaultMetaDir,


it looks like it will be better to have two fields. metaDir and metaDirForOptionalPackages. The code will be simpler.

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welcome · 2026-01-26T00:13:08Z

Congrats on merging your first pull request! 🎉🎉🎉

…10455) close #9950 --------- Co-authored-by: Zoltan Kochan <z@kochan.io>

3w36zj6 added 2 commits January 14, 2026 07:37

fix(npm-resolver): request full metadata for optional dependencies

5b0bfcc

test(npm-resolver): add tests

c3605b5

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3w36zj6 force-pushed the feature/request-full-metadata-for-optional-dependencies branch from 581c3fb to 0bc4181 Compare January 14, 2026 02:09

test: update test cases for supported architectures

fdbb1a0

zkochan requested changes Jan 16, 2026

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refactor: unify handling of npm optional dependency flag

75028dc

3w36zj6 force-pushed the feature/request-full-metadata-for-optional-dependencies branch 3 times, most recently from 6574b3c to a7add93 Compare January 23, 2026 03:12

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3w36zj6 force-pushed the feature/request-full-metadata-for-optional-dependencies branch from a7add93 to 75028dc Compare January 23, 2026 06:44

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3w36zj6 requested a review from zkochan January 23, 2026 08:46

zkochan added 2 commits January 24, 2026 02:06

refactor: requesting full metadata for optional deps

bf9fa1e

refactor: npm-resolver

ed24cc4

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test: refactor

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zkochan approved these changes Jan 25, 2026

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zkochan merged commit bb8baa7 into pnpm:main Jan 26, 2026
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zkochan added a commit that referenced this pull request Jan 26, 2026

fix(npm-resolver): request full metadata for optional dependencies (#…

a484cea

…10455) close #9950 --------- Co-authored-by: Zoltan Kochan <z@kochan.io>

This was referenced Feb 6, 2026

libc field doesn't present in the lockfile #9871

Closed

fix: missing libc on the lockfile #10013

Closed

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fix(npm-resolver): request full metadata for optional dependencies#10455

fix(npm-resolver): request full metadata for optional dependencies#10455
zkochan merged 7 commits into
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3w36zj6:feature/request-full-metadata-for-optional-dependencies

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		metaDir: opts.fullMetadata ? (opts.filterMetadata ? FULL_FILTERED_META_DIR : FULL_META_DIR) : ABBREVIATED_META_DIR,
		metaDir: defaultMetaDir,

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3w36zj6 commented Jan 14, 2026

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