[BUG] Parsing of flags with boolean & string values is incorrect.

[ianlewis]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

The npm fund command has a --browser flag which can be null (not provided), a boolean value, or a string.

However there are a number of things wrong with it.

1. npm fund --browser=open should attempt to use the "open" command to open a browser. However the argument resolves to the value true and the system default is used.
2. npm fund --browser --help should parse the --help flag but doesn't because it's treated as an argument to the --browser flag.

The end result is only boolean values can actually be input as all string values resolve to the boolean value true.

Expected Behavior

1. npm fund --browser=open should attempt to use the appropriate method to open the browser.
2. npm fund --browser --help should parse any flags after the --browser flag as a flag rather than an argument to the --browser flag.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Run npm fund --browser=open on a Linux system.
2. The system default xdg-open is used to open the browser.

Environment

• npm: npm HEAD (60460ed)
• Node.js: v16.17.0
• OS Name: Debian Linux
• npm config: None

; "user" config from /usr/local/google/home/ianlewis/.npmrc

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken = (protected) 

; "project" config from /usr/local/google/home/ianlewis/opt/node-v16.17.0-linux-x64/bin/node_modules/npm/.npmrc

package-lock = true 

; node bin location = /usr/local/google/home/ianlewis/opt/node-v16.17.0-linux-x64/bin/node
; node version = v16.17.0
; npm local prefix = /usr/local/google/home/ianlewis/opt/node-v16.17.0-linux-x64/bin/node_modules/npm
; npm version = 8.15.0
; cwd = /usr/local/google/home/ianlewis/opt/node-v16.17.0-linux-x64/bin/node_modules/npm
; HOME = /usr/local/google/home/ianlewis
; Run `npm config ls -l` to show all defaults.

[wraithgar]

This has nothing to do w/ the fund command per se. It is an underlying bug w/ our opts parsing that does not work having an overloaded boolean or string flag.

[ianlewis]

This has nothing to do w/ the fund command per se. It is an underlying bug w/ our opts parsing that does not work having an overloaded boolean or string flag.

Right. The reason I mentioned it is that this is how it might affect users currently and how to reproduce the issue without necessarily biasing towards any specific solution to the problem.

[bdehamer]

Instead of trying to get boolean-and-string flags working, I think we're gonna add support for sets of mutually exclusive flags instead and then have things like --browser and --browser-path as separate, mutually exclusive flags.

npm/statusboard#677

[ianlewis]

Ok, Thanks that's much easier. I had a PR that proposed that very thing but was rejected.
#6300

[wraithgar]

@ianlewis yeah I had that in mind too when I was thinking about this. The thing that PR is missing is the mechanism to couple the two configs together so they're mutually exclusive by way of a simple attribute on the config definition. You had it as an explicit check in one of the commands but this would need to be baked into the config definition.

You were ultimately right in that the overloading was wrong, and since browser never worked right we can fix it w/o a semver major.

[ianlewis]

@ianlewis yeah I had that in mind too when I was thinking about this. The thing that PR is missing is the mechanism to couple the two configs together so they're mutually exclusive by way of a simple attribute on the config definition. You had it as an explicit check in one of the commands but this would need to be baked into the config definition.

You were ultimately right in that the overloading was wrong, and since browser never worked right we can fix it w/o a semver major.

SG, thanks so much for following up on this.