Docs for `yarn add` should document the URL/git repo formats accepted

[markstos]

This concerns the docs for adding dependencies:

https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/add#toc-adding-dependencies

The docs say:

yarn add installs a package from a remote git repository

But should be clarified to document all the different URL formats accepted. For example, there are 'github:' and `git+https://' and other URL formats are useful document as acceptable formats.

Here's the npm install docs which references the git URL formats in supports there: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/install

The Git Remote URL formats supports should also be documented on our package.json page:

https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/package-json#toc-dependencies

NPM also provides the details of the Git Remote URLs in its package.json documentation as well:

https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json#dependencies

In addition to Git URLs, "file:" URLs are also accepted as dependencies, but not documented.

[sesam]

With yarn 1.12.1 (and 1.10.x) I had to change from short form "gitlab:username/reponame" to long form with git+ssh and possibly also with .git in the end (mentioned as possible bug with #tags handling) - this is what worked for me: https://stackoverflow.com/a/53262092/296639

PS. The error messages I got when using the short form with a private repo said nothing, but that touches some other parts of the yarn code I suppose.

[rally25rs]

IIRC the format is the same as whatever the git clone command would accept.

npm does a bunch of "we'll try to fix that for you" stuff to make URLs conform to what git will accept. yarn pretty much just passes it down to git.

[sesam]

I don't concur :). My experience is along what others have reported, that some formats work, others not, or only if the repo is public. I work around this by maintaining a shell script in parallell with package.json, and now when colleges ask update? I say . update and that does yarn add (long line of private git repos)

But just yarn would've been nicer. I can dig up the formats that work and didn't work if PRs are welcome in documenting this

[rally25rs]

if PRs are welcome in documenting this

PRs are very welcome 😺