Why does installing a tgz dependency directly cause a build crash due to a missing version?

This error typically indicates that the package manifest (package.json) inside the tarball is missing its required "version" field. For Meteor (and npm) installations, a valid version is mandatory.

What to Check

• Inspect the package.json in the tgz:
  You can unpack the tgz locally (using a tool like tar) and inspect its package.json. Verify if the "version" field is present and correctly set.

  BASHCopied
  tar -xzf react-icons-all-files-5.4.0.tgz
  cd package
  cat package.json

• Metadata During Packaging:
  If you're using a tgz that was not published via the usual npm-publish process, it's possible the build or packaging process missed embedding the version. This can happen if custom build scripts are used without properly populating the package.json.

Possible Solutions

1. Fork and Fix:
   If the version field is missing, you might consider forking the repository, updating the package.json with the correct version, and then building your own tarball.

2. Local Build:
   Clone the repository and run a local pack to generate a tgz that correctly includes all required fields.

   BASHCopied
   git clone https://github.com/react-icons/react-icons.git
   cd react-icons
   # Make sure to checkout the correct branch or tag corresponding to 5.4.0
   npm install
   npm pack
   # This will create a tgz you can install using meteor npm i path/to/react-icons-5.4.0.tgz

3. Contact Maintainers:
   Consider opening an issue or contacting the maintainers of react-icons to let them know that the tgz release is missing the "version" field. They might update the release to include the proper metadata.

By ensuring the tgz has a valid package.json with the version field, you should be able to resolve the error in both development and production environments.