nodejs / nodejs/node

Remove dependency on Chocolatey

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#51,905 21 comments 11 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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feature request never-stale
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

What is the problem this feature will solve?

Windows users are concerned by the check box in the installer (#30242) - why not remove the external dependency?

Chocolatey is an independent, open core (with proprietary extensions), package manager for Windows that recreates existing functionality included in all current versions of Windows. Chocolatey has its own set of problems, mostly stemming from the independent partially closed source for profit nature of the project.

What is the feature you are proposing to solve the problem?

winget is an open source package manager from Microsoft and is installed by default on modern versions of Windows. It has all the packages that Chocolatey wants to install.

This is equivalent to the checkbox, with newer package versions, and without Chocolatey:

winget install -e --id Python.Python.3.12
winget install -e --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Community --override "--passive --wait --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools"
What alternatives have you considered?

WiX Toolset, which is already in use, might have all the capabilities necessary to install these optional dependencies without using any PowerShell scripts.

Additional Resources

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the installer checkbox referenced by #30242 and inspect tools/msvs/msi/nodemsi/nodemsi.wixproj, along with the Windows guidance in node-gyp. Compare the current Chocolatey flow with the provided winget commands and assess whether WiX covers the optional dependency installation. Done means removing the Chocolatey dependency while preserving Windows setup for native addon requirements.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
nodejs, powershell
Domain
build-system, tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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