npm WARN install Couldn't install optional dependency: Unsupported

Question

I received this warning message:

npm WARN install Couldn't install optional dependency: Unsupported

when I ran the command:

$ npm i adaro --save

What does this warning mean? What is an optional dependency? Is it serious? How do I get rid of that warning?

Answer 1

The warning message is just a warning message and not an error. It does not affect the application.

It is a log message that an optional dependency could not be installed because it is not supported/needed on your current platform/cpu-arch. For example the package fsevents is often used as optional dependency but fails on any system that is not a Mac.

To show what package is throwing this message, run

$ npm install --verbose

This warning could also be triggered by packages having an engine set to something lower than what you are running. You can try

$ pm_config_engine_strict=false npm install

to get around this