[Question] Does Yarn support https dependencies?

[nicolo-ribaudo]

I tried adding a dependency from an https URL, and I got this error:

➜ yarn add https://gitpkg.now.sh/acornjs/acorn/acorn\?c3ec7023f08bdd6c4eee0bf76bfa2e0b88af8e4a
Usage Error: It seems you are trying to add a package using a https:... url; we now require package names to be explicitly specified.
Try running the command again with the package name prefixed: yarn add my-package@https:...

$ yarn add [--json] [-E,--exact] [-T,--tilde] [-C,--caret] [-D,--dev] [-P,--peer] [-O,--optional] [--prefer-dev] [-i,--interactive] [--cached] [--mode #0] ...

That error makes it look like https dependencies are supported: I just have to specify the package name. However, specifying the package name does not make it work:

➜ yarn add acorn@https://gitpkg.now.sh/acornjs/acorn/acorn\?c3ec7023f08bdd6c4eee0bf76bfa2e0b88af8e4a
➤ YN0000: ┌ Resolution step
➤ YN0001: │ Error: acorn@https://gitpkg.now.sh/acornjs/acorn/acorn?[...] isn't supported by any available resolver
    at kf.getResolverByDescriptor (/Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:391:1647)
    at kf.bindDescriptor (/Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:391:1036)
    at _ (/Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:439:7240)
    at async Promise.allSettled (index 0)
    at async io (/Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:390:10398)
    at async /Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:439:8545
    at async Ge.startProgressPromise (/Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:390:47579)
    at async je.resolveEverything (/Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:439:6573)
    at async /Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:442:2137
    at async Ge.startSectionPromise (/Users/nic/.cache/node/corepack/yarn/3.6.2/yarn.js:409:3292)
➤ YN0000: └ Completed
➤ YN0000: Failed with errors in 0s 97ms

I'm on Yarn 3.6.2.

[nicolo-ribaudo]

Oh I see, I need to install the plugin. The error message should have said that, but given that in Yarn 4 it's included by default I assume it's not a problem anymore :)

[nicolo-ribaudo]

Actually, how do I install the http plugin in Yarn 3? 😅

➜ yarn plugin import http             
➤ YN0051: Couldn't find a plugin named "@yarnpkg/plugin-http" on the remote registry. Note that only the plugins referenced on our website (https://github.com/yarnpkg/berry/blob/master/plugins.yml) can be referenced by their name; any other plugin will have to be referenced through its public url (for example https://github.com/yarnpkg/berry/raw/master/packages/plugin-typescript/bin/%40yarnpkg/plugin-typescript.js).
➤ YN0000: Failed with errors in 0s 424ms

[arcanis]

You need the package name to be explicit for urls to be accepted on the cli. However, another issue is that they need to end with .tgz (so we know how to interpret the URL before fetching the file). Some registries don't follow this convention, although there's a workaround.