npm install - NPM restore attempting to retrieve non-existent node-sass

Question

I'm trying to understand how NPM is coming up with this specific non-existent URL to retrieve node-sass.

My package.json includes:

  "dependencies": {
    "node-sass": "<=4.5.3",
    "request": "<=2.81.0",
    "shrinkwrap": "^0.4.0"
  },

From VS2019 I perform a restore on the package.json. One of the first things it tries to install is node-sass, but it generates a request for a release asset that doesn't exist:

> node-sass@4.5.3 install C:DevLegacyProjectDevLegacyProject.Web
ode_modules
ode-sass
> node scripts/install.js
Downloading binary from https://github.com/sass/node-sass/releases/download/v4.5.3/win32-x64-72_binding.node
Cannot download "https://github.com/sass/node-sass/releases/download/v4.5.3/win32-x64-72_binding.node": 
HTTP error 404 Not Found

This release exists, but in the assets of that release there is no asset with a "-72" for this release: win32-x64-72_binding.node: https://github.com/sass/node-sass/releases/tag/v4.5.3

What does this "-72" specify in the asset naming convention?
Why would it be trying to install a non-existent release asset? In other words, how does it come up with this specific URL?

Answer 1

The suffixes like -72 relate to the Node version for which that binary was built, per e.g. https://github.com/sass/node-sass#node-version-support-policy:

NodeJS	Supported node-sass version	Node Module
Node 16	6.0+	93
Node 15	5.0+	88
Node 14	4.14+	83
Node 13	4.13+, <5.0	79
Node 12	4.12+	72
Node 11	4.10+, <5.0	67
Node 10	4.9+, <6.0	64
Node 8	4.5.3+, <5.0	57
Node <8	<5.0	<57