doc: clarify that conditional exports take effect with ES module

[meixg]

resolve: #36162

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Self-referencing works fine without --experimental-modules in v12.16.0.

[nodejs-github-bot]

Review requested:

• @nodejs/modules

[ljharb]

I’m confused; ES module support was unflagged in v12.17; why would we want to document the flag for an EOL node version where it was experimental?

[meixg]

I’m confused; ES module support was unflagged in v12.17; why would we want to document the flag for an EOL node version where it was experimental?

There is a gap(v12.16.0) between ES module unflagged and conditional exports adding, people may get confused like #36162.

Also, "conditional exports take effect with ES module" seems not clarified.

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Not sure if is necessary to document the flag for an EOL node version though.

[ljharb]

I agree that’s not a complete sentence and is very confusing, but your PR is what’s adding that.

The linked issue is from almost 2 years ago. I don’t think this is what’s confusing people about ES modules (there’s a lot, but “i need to use a flag on my unsupported insecure buggy old node version” isn’t it)

[GeoffreyBooth]

I don’t think this is necessary information for the docs to include, especially since the unflagging was years ago.

[meixg]

kinda agree with that, maybe we can just close #36162 then?

[gpoole]

The original issue was that the history section of the documentation currently indicates that support for this feature was completely unflagged in v12.16 when this isn't the case, since it was behind a second flag which isn't mentioned at all there. I feel that it's important for the history to be an accurate record of what changed when, regardless of how old, buggy or unsupported the version is, which is why I opened the issue originally.

I agree that it's now not relevant for the vast majority of people and shouldn't be called out explicitly in the main text for that section. It seems to me like a simple and unintrusive fix is to correct the inaccuracy with a new entry in the history like this:

v12.16.0 Remove the --experimental-conditional-exports option, conditional exports now behind --experimental-modules
v12.17.0 Remove --experimental-modules flag

I'm happy to open a PR for that if it's likely to be accepted.

[ljharb]

That sounds great to me! Accurate history is good.