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Move @electron/rebuild into optionalDependencies #4134
Description
Pre-flight checklist
- I have read the contribution documentation for this project.
- I agree to follow the code of conduct that this project uses.
- I have searched the issue tracker for a feature request that matches the one I want to file, without success.
Problem description
Many firms disallow installation of node-gyp. This module is dragged in through @electron/rebuild, thus preventing @electron/forge from being installed without hacky workarounds.
I believe this problem can be solved by moving @electron/rebuild into optionalDependencies. Only a small percentage of electron projects require native module building, and those projects almost by definition won't have restrictions on node-gyp. Anyone else will be able to install the library without getting stuck at this point.
Proposed solution
Move @electron/rebuild into optionalDependencies.
Alternatives considered
To get around this problem, we've been using a resolution that points node-gyp to a fake library. But this requires some manual hand-holding with our customers.
Additional information
No response
Reacted by Theo Yan, Kiril Popov, Svyatoslav, toni-ppet, Diego Alzate, mxraw and Andrew Chou
Activity
thorsent commentedon Apr 20, 2026
This may start to affect more people because Yarn 4 apparently has increased security around git downloads during install.
We are currently working around these issues with an override that essentially replaces @electron/node-gyp with an empty package.
achou11 commentedon Jul 20, 2026
Similar to what @thorsent has mentioned here, npm v12 disables git dependencies by default, which means installation errors will start surfacing if forge doesn't update
@electron/rebuildchore: update deps (#638)
chore: update deps (#638)