#18922 javascript: Add explicit `npm_distribution` target Issue created by tobni Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. Currently,

package_json

generates a

node_package

target that implements

NodePackageTarFieldSet

. This package field set is only useful for library authors.

package_json

is also used for applications not published to an npm-like registry, and the tar-distribution build is irrelevant for these cases. Describe the solution you'd like Remove the "implicit" generation of a

package

-goal target. Introduce a

npm_distribution

target that can be used for when

npm

-like library distributions are wanted. This mirrors the python backends

python_distribution

, except that this target has a separate file to target, whilst this is will also reference the

package.json

. A synergy here is to allow omitting the

package.json#version

when parsing the

package_json

target fields, and only validating for

npm_distribution

. Describe alternatives you've considered Add a skip field to the

package_json

. Additional context Some setups outright fail due to

package_json

building the tar distribution implicitly, thanks to behaviour of other backends (in this example docker). https://github.com/theoribeiro/pants-pnpm pantsbuild/pants