import.meta.resolve returning built-in specifier instead of URL string (when dependency has the same name as a built-in)

[thescientist13]

Version

23.6.0

Platform

macOS

Subsystem

No response

What steps will reproduce the bug?

1. Have the package process installed

   $ npm i process

2. Create a script; index.js

   const resolved = import.meta.resolve('process');
   
   console.log({ resolved });

3. Run node index.js

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Anytime the specifier is also the same name as a NodeJS built in (presumably)

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

It should return a URL string, as per the spec, eg: file:///path/to/node_modules/process/index.js

What do you see instead?

A specifier for a NodeJS built-in, e.g. node:process

Additional information

I created a repro repo
https://github.com/thescientist13/import-meta-resolve-demo

And some more details
https://github.com/thescientist13/import-meta-resolve-demo?tab=readme-ov-file#node-built-ins-hijacking-dependencies

---

FWIW, it seems require.resolve exhibits the same behavior

import { createRequire } from 'node:module';

const require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
const resolved = require.resolve('process');

console.log({ resolved });

➜  import-meta-resolve-demo git:(master) ✗ npm run demo

> import-meta-resolve-demo@1.0.0 demo
> node .

{ resolved: 'process' }

[thescientist13]

Thanks @ljharb , for guiding me to this part of the NodeJS docs, which confirms this is the expected behavior

Some built-in modules are always preferentially loaded if their identifier is passed to require(). For instance, require('http') will always return the built-in HTTP module, even if there is a file by that name.