Support for pnpm #368

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1. spoenemann

   added

   cli(Component: cli) Open VSX command-line client(Component: cli) Open VSX command-line client

   questionMore information is needed to define the next actionMore information is needed to define the next action

   on Nov 22, 2021
2. spoenemann commented on Nov 22, 2021

   

   spoenemann

   on Nov 22, 2021

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   We just pass that flag to vsce, which is used behind the scenes to package extensions. If vsce adds a dedicated flag for pnpm or changes the --yarn flag, we should adapt ovsx as well.

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Anton Kosyakov
3. idleberg commented on Nov 22, 2021

   

   idleberg

   on Nov 22, 2021

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   Related but unresolved vsce issue:

   microsoft/vscode-vsce#421
4. amvanbaren

   added this to Eclipse Open VSXon Dec 8, 2022
5. amvanbaren

   moved this to Todo in Eclipse Open VSXon Dec 8, 2022
6. amvanbaren

   added

   priority:lowNice-to-have or can wait for community contributionsNice-to-have or can wait for community contributions

   on Jan 13, 2023
7. netomi commented on Sep 5, 2026

   

   netomi

   on Sep 5, 2026

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   Coming back to this after a long while — the question it was waiting on has been answered upstream, so here's where things stand on all four points.

   The blocking condition resolved, in the negative

   The 2021 reply here set the condition: "If vsce adds a dedicated flag for pnpm or changes the --yarn flag, we should adapt ovsx as well."

   The linked microsoft/vscode-vsce#421 was closed on 2023-12-13:

   Closing this as out of scope. As part of our recurring maintenance milestone, we've decided to limit the amount of supported package managers to npm and yarn v1 only.

   So no dedicated pnpm flag is coming, and there's nothing for ovsx to adapt to. Confirmed against what we actually ship: @vscode/vsce@3.7.1 contains no occurrence of pnpm anywhere in its compiled output. That answers questions 2 and 3.

   Question 1 — coincidence, not intent

   --yarn maps to vsce's useYarn, which only selects yarn list --json over npm list --production --parseable when enumerating what to pack. Nothing about it is pnpm-aware. Worth knowing too: vsce's detectYarn sniffs for yarn.lock, .yarnrc, .yarnrc.yaml, .pnp.cjs and .yarn — pnpm-lock.yaml is not on that list, so an unflagged pnpm project falls through to the npm path rather than being detected as anything.

   Question 4 — moot

   corepack governs which package manager gets invoked. It has no bearing on vsce's internal choice between npm list and yarn list, so corepack stabilising neither changed nor will change this.

   What actually needed doing

   Two things, both in #2169:

   • --follow-symlinks is now forwarded. vsce treats a symlinked directory as a file unless that flag is set, so a node_modules built out of symlinks — pnpm's — packs the links instead of what they point at. vsce has carried the option on ls, package and publish for a while; ovsx simply never passed it. Not passing it still packs exactly what it packed before.
   • The pnpm story is written down. The real substance of this issue was "what is a pnpm user supposed to do?", and the answer existed but appeared nowhere: the CLI README mentioned neither --yarn, --no-dependencies nor pnpm. It now says that vsce supports npm and yarn v1 only, that --no-dependencies is the right answer for a bundled extension (esbuild/webpack — most of them now, whatever installed the sources) and is what upstream recommends, and that --follow-symlinks covers the case where the dependency walk really is wanted.

   The --yarn flag keeps its name, per question 2: it maps 1:1 onto vsce's useYarn, so a generic name would describe what it does less accurately, not more.

   Closing once #2169 lands — happy to reopen if pnpm packaging still misbehaves for anyone with those flags.
8. netomi

   added a commit that references this issue on Sep 5, 2026

   feat(cli): forward vsce's --follow-symlinks, and document the pnpm st…

   ...

   a8c9582
9. netomi

   closed this as completedin #2169on Sep 5, 2026
10. github-project-automation

    moved this from Todo to Done in Eclipse Open VSXon Sep 5, 2026