feat: improve error message for versions not meeting minimumReleaseAge (#10350)

close #10307

.changeset/clear-minimum-release-age-error.md

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/npm-resolver": patch
+"pnpm": patch
+---
+
+Improve error message when a package version exists but does not meet the `minimumReleaseAge` constraint. The error now clearly states that the version exists and shows a human-readable time since release (e.g., "released 6 hours ago") [#10307](https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/10307).
+

exec/plugin-commands-script-runners/test/dlx.e2e.ts

@@ -398,5 +398,5 @@ test('dlx should fail when the requested package does not meet the minimum age r
         default: 'https://registry.npmjs.org/',
       },
     }, ['shx@0.3.4'])
-  ).rejects.toThrow('No matching version found for shx@0.3.4 published by')
+  ).rejects.toThrow(/Version 0\.3\.4 \(released .+\) of shx does not meet the minimumReleaseAge constraint/)
 })

pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/test/add.ts

@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ test('minimumReleaseAge makes install fail if there is no version that was publi
     dir: path.resolve('project'),
     minimumReleaseAge,
     linkWorkspacePackages: false,
-  }, ['is-odd@0.1.1'])).rejects.toThrow(/No matching version found for is-odd@0\.1\.1.*satisfies the specs but/)
+  }, ['is-odd@0.1.1'])).rejects.toThrow(/Version 0\.1\.1 \(released .+\) of is-odd does not meet the minimumReleaseAge constraint/)
 })
 
 describeOnLinuxOnly('filters optional dependencies based on pnpm.supportedArchitectures.libc', () => {

resolving/npm-resolver/src/index.ts

@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ export class NoMatchingVersionError extends PnpmError {
     let errorMessage: string
     if (opts.publishedBy && opts.immatureVersion && opts.packageMeta.time) {
       const time = new Date(opts.packageMeta.time[opts.immatureVersion])
-      errorMessage = `No matching version found for ${dep} published by ${opts.publishedBy.toString()} while fetching it from ${opts.registry}. Version ${opts.immatureVersion} satisfies the specs but was released at ${time.toString()}`
+      const releaseAgeText = formatTimeAgo(time)
+      const pkgName = opts.wantedDependency.alias ?? opts.packageMeta.name
+      errorMessage = `Version ${opts.immatureVersion} (released ${releaseAgeText}) of ${pkgName} does not meet the minimumReleaseAge constraint`
     } else {
       errorMessage = `No matching version found for ${dep} while fetching it from ${opts.registry}`
     }
@@ -80,6 +82,28 @@ export class NoMatchingVersionError extends PnpmError {
   }
 }
 
+function formatTimeAgo (date: Date): string {
+  const now = Date.now()
+  const diffMs = now - date.getTime()
+
+  // Handle clock skew (future dates) and very recent releases (< 1 minute)
+  if (diffMs < 60 * 1000) {
+    return 'just now'
+  }
+
+  const diffMinutes = Math.floor(diffMs / (60 * 1000))
+  const diffHours = Math.floor(diffMs / (60 * 60 * 1000))
+  const diffDays = Math.floor(diffMs / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000))
+
+  if (diffHours >= 48) {
+    return `${diffDays} day${diffDays === 1 ? '' : 's'} ago`
+  }
+  if (diffMinutes >= 90) {
+    return `${diffHours} hour${diffHours === 1 ? '' : 's'} ago`
+  }
+  return `${diffMinutes} minute${diffMinutes === 1 ? '' : 's'} ago`
+}
+
 export {
   parseBareSpecifier,
   workspacePrefToNpm,

resolving/npm-resolver/test/publishedBy.test.ts

@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ test('do not pick version that does not satisfy the date requirement even if it
   })
   await expect(resolveFromNpm({ alias: 'foo', bareSpecifier: '1.0.0' }, {
     publishedBy: new Date('2015-08-17T19:26:00.508Z'),
-  })).rejects.toThrow('No matching version found')
+  })).rejects.toThrow(/Version 1\.0\.0 \(released .+\) of foo does not meet the minimumReleaseAge constraint/)
 })
 
 test('should skip time field validation for excluded packages', async () => {