openwallet-foundation / openwallet-foundation/askar-wrapper-javascript

Proposal: npm package version should match native binary version (or clearly indicate it)

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Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
4
Forks
9
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

When I install @openwallet-foundation/askar-react-native@0.3.2, I expect to get native binary v0.3.2. Instead, I silently get v0.4.1.

This caused hours of debugging when I encountered Xcode 16 LLVM incompatibility errors. I tried downgrading the npm package, assuming older versions would have older (compatible) native binaries. They don't.

What I found:

npm version Expected native Actual native
0.4.3 v0.4.3 v0.4.6
0.3.2 v0.3.2 v0.4.1
0.3.1 v0.3.1 v0.4.1
0.3.0 v0.3.0 v0.4.1

The only compatible native binary (v0.3.2, built with older LLVM) is not referenced by any npm package version.

Suggestion

Either:

  1. Lock native version to npm version (1:1 mapping)
  2. Use composite versioning like 0.4.3-native0.3.2 or 0.4.3+native.0.3.2 (similar to Debian/Ubuntu packaging)
  3. At minimum: Don't retroactively update binary.version in already-published npm packages

Current workaround

I had to create a pnpm patch to force native v0.3.2:

-    "version": "v0.4.6",
+    "version": "v0.3.2",

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

No source files are named. Start by inspecting the published npm package metadata and the release workflow that sets the native binary.version value; compare how versions 0.3.2 and 0.4.3 are produced. Done means native versions are locked to package versions or clearly exposed through composite versioning, with a check preventing published package metadata from being retroactively changed.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
react-native, rust, typescript
Domain
build-system, mobile-dev, release
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
28/100

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