Again, nodejs really pushes me away when each 'npm install' could install god knows how many modules/dependencies in that I have absolutely no idea or control,

Again, nodejs really pushes me away when each 'npm install' could install god knows how many modules/dependencies in that I have absolutely no idea or control, it just feels so bloated and unsafe sometimes. because of that, plus now it is also used for frontend, it is no surprise the "packaging" tool becomes mandatory and complex. so it's not really webpack's fault.