[BUG] NPM doesn't allow me to 'npm i' on even slightly weak network connections

[okirpane]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

When I run npm i on my computer (Macbook Pro 2020) with a 5G internet connection that drops packages every now and then, the command hangs at larger packages.
Basically:

• I run npm i
• It downloads a few packages
• It reaches a package that is slightly big
• Then just... stops.
• I have to then CTRL+C in the terminal to quit the process and find a more consistent network connection.

Expected Behavior

I would expect my package manager to at least work when my connection wavers a little. The fact that NPM just fails completely is dissapointing.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Connect to a slightly unstable network connection
2. Start a project with some node_modules
3. Run npm i
4. Observe that it hangs when it reaches a large package.

Environment

• npm: npm 8.3.0
• Node.js: Node.js v16.11.0
• OS Name: MacOS Monterey 12.2.1
• System Model Name: Macbook Pro 2020
• npm config:

; "builtin" config from /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc

prefix = "/opt/homebrew" 

; "project" config from /Users/okirp/Desktop/ojasvin/.npmrc

engine-strict = true 

; node bin location = /opt/homebrew/Cellar/node/16.11.0/bin/node
; cwd = /Users/okirp/Desktop/ojasvin
; HOME = /Users/okirp
; Run `npm config ls -l` to show all defaults.

[nlf]

it's likely what's happening here is a request is timing out, so we're retrying it. by default we'll retry the same package 2 times after the initial failure, so i would expect to see what appears to be npm hanging for the time it takes 3 requests to timeout which is ~15 minutes by default. if you npm i --fetch-timeout=60000 it'll reduce the overall failure time to ~3 minutes, though based on the information provided all that's really going to do is get you to an error quicker.

i'm curious, how large of a package are you seeing this failure with? if you download the package tarball outside of npm (i.e. curl or wget) how long does it take to transfer?

[spotlesscoder]

this is extremely annoying.
Happened to me in train again yesterday
2 retries as default is not enough. Sometimes you're offline on train for 5 minutes or more
The default retries should be like 10 or so
Also, large packages should be fetched in chunks and the chunks should be retried individually