pack mishandles npm files negations and dir/**

[mwolson]

• aube: 2.7.0 linux-x64 (2026-10-07)
• npm control: 11.19.0
• Repro: https://github.com/mwolson/tmp-aube-issues/tree/main/pack-files-glob

With lib/index.js and lib/__tests__/index.test.js:

files	npm pack	aube pack
["lib", "!**/__tests__"]	lib/index.js, package.json	error: invalid files glob "!**/__tests__": Pattern syntax error ... recursive wildcards must form a single path component
["lib", "!lib/__tests__"]	lib/index.js, package.json	also packs lib/__tests__/index.test.js
["lib/**"]	both lib files, package.json	packs only lib/__tests__/index.test.js and package.json

Any !**/ pattern hits the error. The publishing docs say pack applies
npm-style file selection. Found packing react-native-enriched-markdown, whose
files list uses !**/__tests__, !**/__fixtures__, !**/__mocks__, and
!**/.*.

./repro.sh   # NPM_BIN=<real npm> if npm is a shim

[jdx]

Thanks for the detailed repro. All three cases come from how pack expanded the files field: ! entries were passed to the glob engine as positive patterns, and a trailing dir/** only matched directories.

Fixed in #1752: ! entries now exclude already-selected files (!**/__tests__ matches at any depth, !lib/__tests__ is anchored to the package root), and dir/** includes the whole tree. One limit: a negation only affects entries listed before it.

AI-assisted — Tool: Claude Code; model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-5-5; version: unavailable.

[mwolson]

Retested with aube 2.8.0 linux-x64 (2026-10-19):

• Repo: https://github.com/mwolson/tmp-aube-issues
• Case: pack-files-glob

NPM_BIN=/path/to/real/npm ./repro.sh

It now exits 0 with npm 11.19.0 as the control. ["lib", "!**/__tests__"] and ["lib", "!lib/__tests__"] both pack only lib/index.js, and ["lib/**"] packs both files, matching npm. Same result on 2.7.2.

Fix shipped in aube 2.7.1 via #1752. Marking your reply as the answer.