Dependency Management

The Azure SDK for JS client libraries include a host of dependencies, both internal and external. In general, our policy allows for some flexibility in dependencies and we generally pin to a caret version - allowing for patches, security fixes, and any non-breaking changes in our dependency ranges.

There are times when a dependency needs to be updated, such as when a security vulnerability has been found and patched in the dependency's codebase. While we will address security vulnerabilities in dependencies by updating our minimum version to the latest patched version, our SemVer policy allows customers to update to the latest version of a transitive dependency without waiting for our next releases and without requiring a hotfix.

In this document we'll outline a few options available to you when a transitive dependency must be updated.

Example scenario

Let's assume that a vulnerability has been found in node-fetch version 2.6.6 and that you use @azure/keyvault-keys directly. Your security scan identified this vulnerability and asks to upgrade to 2.6.7 or higher.

The outputs below assume you're using npm v8.1.2 with a lockfile, but we will provide instructions for Yarn as well.

Identifying the dependency tree

First, let's see how node-fetch is pulled into our dependency tree.

> npm ls node-fetch

[email protected] /home/user/my-app
└─┬ @azure/[email protected]
  └─┬ @azure/[email protected]
    └── [email protected]

If you are using Yarn you can use yarn why node-fetch with similar results.

It looks like node-fetch, a dependency of @azure/[email protected] is being pulled in transitively via @azure/[email protected].

Because I use a lockfile, running npm install again will not help me here. But npm provides a few utilities that can.

Using npm audit fix

First, it's possible that you were alerted to a security vulnerability thanks to npm audit. In this case, the simplest solution might be to run npm audit fix. Let's see what that looks like:

> npm audit fix

changed 1 package, and audited 51 packages in 421ms

2 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

found 0 vulnerabilities
keyvault main % npm ls node-fetch
[email protected] /home/user/my-app
└─┬ @azure/[email protected]
  └─┬ @azure/[email protected]
    └── [email protected]

As you can see node-fetch has been updated to 2.6.7, without having to wait for a new version of @azure/core-http.

For more information on npm audit please refer to the npm-audit documentation.

If you are using Yarn you can use yarn npm audit with similar results.

Using npm update

Not all updates are due to security vulnerabilities. Sometimes you just want to update a transitive dependency without deleting your lockfile. In that case, npm update node-fetch can help. Let's see what that looks like:

> npm update node-fetch

changed 1 package, and audited 51 packages in 320ms

2 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

found 0 vulnerabilities
keyvault main % npm ls node-fetch
[email protected] /home/user/my-app
└─┬ @azure/[email protected]
  └─┬ @azure/[email protected]
    └── [email protected]

Awesome!

If you are using Yarn you can use yarn up node-fetch with similar results.

Note: In some previous versions of npm, npm update would only update top-level dependencies. If you're using npm 6.x for example you can provide the --depth argument to achieve similar results.

For more information on npm update please refer to the npm-update documentation.

I read this guide and still have no idea what to do

Feel free to file an issue and start a discussion, we're here to help and will try to do so to the best of our abilities!