Update Request: package npm_12 independently from Node.js

[yzx9]

Nixpkgs version

• Unstable (26.11)

Package name

npm

Upstream version

12.0.2

Nixpkgs version

11.17.0

Changelog

https://github.com/npm/cli/blob/latest/CHANGELOG.md

Additional context

Currently, npm in nixpkgs is provided as an output of the corresponding Node.js package, so the available npm version follows the version bundled by Node.js upstream.

This can make it difficult to use a newer npm release independently. npm 12 will not be included in Node.js 26. Consequently, npm 12 will not be available in nixpkgs until Node.js 27 is released (ETA: May 2027). This is particularly relevant because npm 12 includes important updates (e.g. allow-scripts related security config, stable linked install strategy).

Would it make sense to provide npm as a standalone package (for example, npm_12 or npm_latest) that can be used together with nodejs-slim?

A possible use case would be:

packages = [
  pkgs.nodejs-slim_26
  pkgs.npm_12
];

Notify maintainers

@aduh95

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