[jandrese]

> other languages have this problem too, so deal with it

This is the primary reason I try to avoid projects built with npm. Fucking dependency hell. If the project hasn't been actively maintained in the last 3 months your chances of getting it to work drop precipitously.

[deckard1]

Github and npm are both graveyards filled with dead JS libraries. They make it too easy to litter the universe with sub-par orphaned software. And somehow, it's up to each individual to filter it all out. You have critical software such as React sitting next to mountains of bad nonsense code. And they are all on equal footing.

People love to trash Perl on HN. But among many other things that Perl devs understood, they deeply understood issues that come up with dependencies. Most CPAN modules are namespaced, have unit tests, and unit tests run when modules are installed. Not only that, the people behind CPAN understood that it is a community effort and you, as a library author, have certain responsibilities to your community.

https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04about

None of that exists in npm. We have scopes in npm, and that's about it. CPAN makes npm look like a child's toy.