Problems with npm@8.3.0 and overrides

[DonJayamanne]

Problem: Currently we're unable to pin certain packages to specific versions due to a bug in the version of npm used

We rely on overrides section in package.json to pin specific packages to particular versions

• Known issue with some versions of npm [BUG] Overrides are not updating after running npm install npm/cli#4232
• Seems to be working in 8.15.0 (latest) for me, even though others complain about 8.14.0

Solutions

• Enforce node and npm/yarn versions in package.json
  • i think it's over kill, but this prevents generation of lock files that are not reproducible (we have such lock files today)
• Option 1: Use yarn
• Option 2: Update npm to the latest version
  • Clearly document the version of node and npm required
    If a package is manually and entry added into package.json, then we should document this in package.json
    E.g. add a section, this won't be necessary if we use yarn or if we use the latest version of npm

  "depedencies-manually-added": {
      "added-to-fix-dependabot-issues": ["<package>:<version>"]
  }