Why do postinstall scripts exit with code 0 on failure?

Versions

• NodeJS: 14.15.1
• mongodb-memory-server-*: 6.9.3
• mongodb: 4.4.1
• mongoose: 5.11.15
• system: MacOS

package: mongodb-memory-server

What is your question?

In the postinstall script in mongodb-memory-server, there are a few failure conditions that result in an exit code of 0, for example:

• https://github.com/nodkz/mongodb-memory-server/blob/master/packages/mongodb-memory-server/postinstall.js#L23
• https://github.com/nodkz/mongodb-memory-server/blob/master/packages/mongodb-memory-server/postinstall.js#L54
• https://github.com/nodkz/mongodb-memory-server/blob/master/packages/mongodb-memory-server/postinstall.js#L57

I see related discussion here: https://github.com/nodkz/mongodb-memory-server/issues/131

IMO, the postinstall should not exit with code 0 when the script fails to do what the consumer expects. Presumably, consumers are using the mongodb-memory-server package because they want the postinstall step to happen; if they didn't care about that, then they would use mongodb-memory-server-core, instead. If the postinstall fails, they should be notified with a non-zero exit code; if they don't like that behavior, they can opt for the core package, or we can offer them another way to opt out of that behavior.

What was the reasoning behind exiting with code 0 for failure cases?

Read packages/mongodb-memory-server/postinstall.js at the linked failure cases, then review the discussion in issue 131 and this issue's comments to understand the intended exit behavior. This needs an agreed outcome before implementation; done should include verified postinstall behavior for each failure condition.