fix(core): throw an error if implicit dependency is a string that is not '*' (#5176)

packages/workspace/src/core/assert-workspace-validity.spec.ts

@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ describe('assertWorkspaceValidity', () => {
 
   beforeEach(() => {
     mockNxJson = {
+      implicitDependencies: {
+        'nx.json': '*',
+      },
       projects: {
         app1: {
           tags: [],
@@ -126,4 +129,23 @@ describe('assertWorkspaceValidity', () => {
     });
     mockExit.mockRestore();
   });
+
+  it('should throw for a project-level implicit dependency that is a string', () => {
+    spyOn(output, 'error');
+    mockNxJson.implicitDependencies['nx.json'] = 'invalidproj';
+
+    const mockExit = jest
+      .spyOn(process, 'exit')
+      .mockImplementation(((code?: number) => {}) as any);
+    assertWorkspaceValidity(mockWorkspaceJson, mockNxJson);
+
+    expect(mockExit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(1);
+    expect(output.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      title: 'Configuration Error',
+      bodyLines: [
+        'nx.json is not configured properly. "nx.json" is improperly configured to implicitly depend on "invalidproj" but should be an array of project names or "*".',
+      ],
+    });
+    mockExit.mockRestore();
+  });
 });

packages/workspace/src/core/assert-workspace-validity.ts

@@ -48,18 +48,30 @@ export function assertWorkspaceValidity(workspaceJson, nxJson: NxJson) {
     nxJson.implicitDependencies || {}
   )
     .reduce((acc, entry) => {
-      function recur(value, acc = []) {
+      function recur(value, acc = [], path: string[]) {
         if (value === '*') {
           // do nothing since '*' is calculated and always valid.
+        } else if (typeof value === 'string') {
+          // This is invalid because the only valid string is '*'
+
+          output.error({
+            title: 'Configuration Error',
+            bodyLines: [
+              `nx.json is not configured properly. "${path.join(
+                ' > '
+              )}" is improperly configured to implicitly depend on "${value}" but should be an array of project names or "*".`,
+            ],
+          });
+          process.exit(1);
         } else if (Array.isArray(value)) {
           acc.push([entry[0], value]);
         } else {
-          Object.values(value).forEach((v) => {
+          Object.entries(value).forEach(([k, v]) => {
-            recur(v, acc);
+            recur(v, acc, [...path, k]);
           });
         }
       }
-      recur(entry[1], acc);
+      recur(entry[1], acc, [entry[0]]);
       return acc;
     }, [])
     .reduce((map, [filename, projectNames]: [string, string[]]) => {