NPM packages vs installing from github

[sndrs]

this is a continuation of a discussion that began on a PR:

Have we decided that npm is the place to standardise, and we should migrate away from any attempts to use GitHub URLs or GitHub Packages?

as @JamieB-gu suggests its possible to install from github even if your package needs a build process using the prepare npm-script, but this means the build happens when your package is installed, requiring all its devdeps to be installed too, and offering no line of support if the build process fails.

to counter the second issue you could build it as part of code checks, but then why not publish it? i think the onus to successfully compile the source code should be on the publisher rather than the installer.

that seems the killer argument to me. NPM totally feels like an indirection we dont need, but having the registry contain only your built code and github your source is a useful separation of concerns when it comes to consuming it.