test: make the suite pass against eXist-db 7

[line-o]

Refs #339

Makes the suite pass against existdb/existdb:latest (7.0.0-SNAPSHOT). Seven tests failed there. None of them is a node-exist bug, so this changes tests only, no library code. The release cells are deliberately not addressed here (7.0.0-beta4 is about to be released).

The seven failures

test(s)	eXist-db 7 behaviour	handling
app.js › empty application XAR › install app	reports experr:EXPATH007 Generic error from the expath repository library. Package installation failed: Missing descriptor from package: … instead of experr:EXPATH00 Missing descriptor from package: …	assert the experr:EXPATH00 prefix and the Missing descriptor from package: … suffix, which holds for both
rest.js › post honors start and max / just start / cache	the start and max attributes of a posted <exist:query> are ignored, results always start at 1 and include every hit	todo on eXist-db 7, see below
documents.js › read with empty options uses defaults / read without passing options / serialized without XML declaration	a stored XML declaration is kept, omit-xml-declaration=yes does not remove it	todo on eXist-db 7, see below

todo tests keep running and are reported, but do not fail the run. Once eXist-db changes the behaviour they show up as passing and the marker can go. The markers are gated on parseInt(version, 10) >= 7, so nothing changes for 4.x, 5.x and 6.x.

REST pagination: eXist-db/exist#6560

A regression in eXist-db 7. The refactor ba806089d (2026-07-07, RESTServer.doPost: decompose into executePostExecutable, processQueryDocument and processXUpdate) introduced parseIntAttribute with an inverted check:

final String option = root.getAttribute(parameter.xmlKey());
if (option.isEmpty()) {          // should be !option.isEmpty()
    try {
        return Integer.parseInt(option);

A present attribute is never parsed, an absent one throws and falls back to the default. Probed against latest:

request	exist:start	exist:count
POST <query start="2" max="1">	1	5 of 5
POST with ?_start=2&_howmany=1 in the URL	1	5 of 5
GET ?_query=…&_start=2&_howmany=1	2	1

cache="yes" still works (a session is returned), only the paging is lost. There is no client-side workaround for POST.

Stored XML declaration: eXist-db/exist#6277

eXist-db 7 added the custom serialization flag omit-original-xml-declaration, which takes precedence over the standard omit-xml-declaration (introduced with 855922a1). eXist-db/exist#6277 proposes removing it again. Until that is decided the three tests are todo on eXist-db 7.

documents.read (XML-RPC getDocument) of a document stored with a declaration:

options	eXist-db 6.4.1	eXist-db 7.0.0-SNAPSHOT
none / {}	no declaration	declaration
omit-xml-declaration: yes	no declaration	declaration
omit-xml-declaration: no	declaration	declaration
omit-original-xml-declaration: yes	no declaration	no declaration
omit-xml-declaration: yes + omit-original-xml-declaration: yes	no declaration	no declaration
omit-xml-declaration: no + omit-original-xml-declaration: yes	declaration	declaration

Documents stored without a declaration behave the same on both versions. eXist-db 6.4.1 ignores omit-original-xml-declaration entirely.

The flag is not honoured consistently on eXist-db 7 either:

API, document stored with a declaration	result
REST GET with _omit-xml-declaration=yes	declaration
REST GET with _omit-original-xml-declaration=yes	no declaration
queries.readAll('doc(…)') with either or both flags	declaration
queries.read('doc(…)') without options	no declaration

Mirroring the flag inside node-exist was considered and left out on purpose, so the library does not grow a workaround for a flag that may be removed.

Testing

Locally, Node.js 24.10.0:

eXist-db	tests	pass	fail	todo
7.0.0-SNAPSHOT (latest, sha256:8c181a…)	95	89	0	6
6.4.0	95	95	0	0

Notes

• release currently resolves to 7.0.0-beta3 (the Docker Hub tag moved on 2026-06-02), which fails six of the same tests. Because the gate is on the major version, those cells will probably turn green as a side effect.
• Independent of feat!: update undici to v8 (Node.js >=22.19), configurable request timeouts #400 (undici 8, timeouts): the branches touch different parts of the specs and rebase onto each other cleanly.

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