Add support for the `devEngines` field

[mrazauskas]

The devEngines field is some new standard field of package.json.

When the volta field is not defined, perhaps the devEngines field could be taken into account?

Specification: https://github.com/openjs-foundation/package-metadata-interoperability-collab-space/blob/main/devengines-field-proposal.md

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It seems to be useful to have a dev requirements shared between tooling. The packageManager field was obviously not enough for Volta, because it does not cover Node.js version. The devEngines field covers both Node.js and package manager.

Volta is great! It does incredible job with projects that are set up using Volta and have the volta field. But if I wish to make a quick contribution to a project that was setup using corepack.. ups.. I have to disable Volta manually first.

Adding support for the devEngines field would solve the problem. It would not matter which dependency manager is used.

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This proposal might sound similar to #2033. I think my idea is different. The proposal in #2033 is a breaking change and can be implemented in long term, of course. My suggestion is not a breaking change: as usual, look for the volta field first, if it is not defined try the devEngines.

[mrazauskas]

By the way, corepack is reading the packageManager similarly how Volta is looking for the volta field. Here is how they implemented support for devEngines:

If the top-level packageManager field is missing, Corepack will use the package manager defined in devEngines.packageManager – in which case you must provide a specific version in devEngines.packageManager.version

nodejs/corepack#643

[mrazauskas]

Closing. Neither this, not other issues in this repo do not receive maintainers attention for a substantial time. Unfortunate, but that’s the reality: the maintainers are not interested in their project anymore.

(I do not say that they are somehow obligated to be interested, but communicating the status timely would be nice.)