dugite-extra Node.js 14 support

[anavarre]

Hello folks!

I understand from Theia's Developing.md prerequisites section that Node.js 14 is supported.

Node.js >= 12.14.1.
For now, use Node 12.
Node 14 is supported, Node 16 should work, but you might need to run yarn --ignore-engines to get around some arbitrary constraints.

However, if I'm reading this correctly, this is not entirely accurate as there's a dependency on dugite-extra in https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/blob/master/packages/git/package.json#L17 and this package is not yet compatible with 14.x as per eclipse-theia/dugite-extra#54

As such, if I'm trying to build Theia on 14.x I'm getting the following error:

#49 187.5 error dugite-extra@0.1.14: The engine "node" is incompatible with this module. Expected version ">=10.11.0 <13". Got "14.18.3"

Which comes straight up from https://github.com/theia-ide/dugite-extra/blob/master/package.json#L8

Is my understanding correct? If it is, what can we do to ensure Theia will be formally compatible with Node.js 14.x since 12.x is EOL in April 2022.

Thanks!

[vince-fugnitto]

@anavarre thank you for the discussion, you’re right that dugite-extra needs to be updated in order to support newer versions, for the moment you can use yarn —ignore-versions (not sure if it actually causes issues to do so).

• https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/blob/master/doc/Developing.md#prerequisites

I believe that dugite-extra did not get so much attention since it is solely used by @theia/git which should instead be replaced by the builtin vscode git support through the plugins (this in turn enables extensions such as gitlens from being used in the application).

cc @thegecko I believe you might still use @theia/git, are you interested in the update to dugite-extra?

[anavarre]

Thank you, that's very helpful. Is the idea to remove dugite-extra entirely then? If yes, what becomes of @theia/git? Also, I guess I'm looking for my next step here and when you say:

replaced by the builtin vscode git support through the plugins

I wonder what you're suggesting? Finding the best possible VSX extension? Finding the best possible VSCode extension? Any recommendations on how to proceed specifically?

[msujew]

@anavarre Git support is contributed to VSCode using a built-in extension, in particular this one (using API version 1.53.2). It uses the scm API of VSCode (which we also support) to add git support.

A lot of users which don't use @theia/git rely on the built-in extension. @theia/git is mostly there for historical reasons, it predates the VSCode extension support by some time.

In the future, we plan to drop support for @theia/git entirely. Our general policy is that once a feature can be contributed by an extension, we usually deprecate it.

[anavarre]

@msujew appreciate the clarification, thanks!

[thegecko]

Thanks for the heads up @vince-fugnitto

We do use @theia/git but are still a few versions behind.

cc @westbury

[anavarre]

@msujew many thanks for merging eclipse-theia/dugite-extra#54 - Can we expect a new tag to be created so in return Theia can ship with an updated version and officially claim Node.js 14 compatibility?

[msujew]

I don't think we have plans to release a minor update for this (creating a release is considerable overhead for our team). Luckily, you don't need a new version of Theia to enjoy Node 14 "compatibility". You can simply add a resolutions section to the root package.json of your Theia project:

"resolutions": {
  "find-git-exec": "0.0.4",
  "dugite-extra": "0.1.15"
}

You can remove this again after updating to Februaries' Theia version.

[anavarre]

I failed to clarify I was talking about https://www.npmjs.com/package/dugite-extra and I just noticed you created a new tag 3 days ago which resolves my concern fully! Thanks again.

[msujew]

You're welcome :) Using the new tag in Theia was already merged a few days ago as well, see #10722.