devDependencies with Native libraries

[rigor789]

Currently, native code from dependencies is picked up by NativeScript and built with the app, however devDependecies are not handled the same way.

Sometimes a devDependency could require a native module, but only when running the app in debug/dev mode.

NativeScript should include native code from devDependencies unless --release is passed.

The developer is responsible for guarding the code that invokes native code from devDependencies.

An example where this would be useful:
nativescript-vue-devtools uses nativescript-toasty and nativescript-socketio, both have native code. Devtools is a devDependency however, to use them - the developer has to install nativescript-toasty and nativescript-socketio as regular dependencies. This works fine - however for a --relase build, the developer has to manually remove these dependencies from package.json.

[farfromrefug]

I see one issue with this: using a fork of N

myself is using a fork of N until some of my PRs are merged.

To a good working project here is what i want (and have):

• use imports from @nativescript/core
• use tsconfig.json paths options to have "click to definition" to go to my fork module in node_modules (that s just a plus for me)
• use webpack to alias @nativescript/core to my fork module

Now to make all that work i need to have both @nativescript/core and my forks as dependencies. However they cant be both picked up because they have native deps => build fail because of duplicate libs/symbols
So my trick to get this to work was simple. Put @nativescript/core in devDependencies. Exactly because it would not get picked up by N!

It might seem like a "corner case" but i dont think it is. It is very important for me (and maybe other once they see that trick!) to be able code "with nativescript/core" but be able to use a fork for "some time". If you look at it from the client side it means he can be confident his code is ready to "switch" back to the N core while being able to profit from PRs before they are merged.

So what you propose would break actually all my apps :s . Their might be to go around this but i dont see it right now. Need to think about it

[rigor789]

@farfromrefug I think we could utilize optionalDependencies for your use-case: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v6/configuring-npm/package-json#optionaldependencies

[farfromrefug]

What about a simple option to filter packages in production? Like those would not looked in for native deps.
We could even add a hook for it so that plugin can add to it (if they now what they are doing ;))

[rigor789]

I'm thinking this would complicate things, especially for Playground

I don't see how this would affect the playground

devDeps are used for anything "build" time related with NativeScript, i.e. all the build (or development) tooling

Exactly the point, in this case vue-devtools is a tool for developing!

You aren't supposed to have any "build-able" resources in the development Deps for NS.

Indeed - that's what I feel like should change from "not supposed" to "you can... (but only for development)"

a LOT of npm modules and a lot of them have a lot of extra crap that we don't want accidentally merged into the app.

That is true, however the only "crap" I can think of is if the deps had an android/ios folder that has the required structure to be picked up by NS - other code like js or json (or anything else) would never be magically in your bundle/app unless you explicitly import/require it.

But I do see this being a risky change, as not everyone understands the difference between dependencies/devDependencies and could end up installing ns plugins to devDependencies, seeing them work fine locally, but after a --relase build the app would crash.

We could even add a hook for it so that plugin can add to it.

The more I think of this, the more I think would be the better solution. A dependency (both dev and regular) could have a hook that "enqueues" itself (or it's own dependencies) as needing the native dependencies built into the app. In my particular example, nativescript-vue-devtools would add nativescript-toasty and nativescript-socketio as native dependencies if in a dev build. The CLI would need to de-dupe these, since either of the plugins could already be in dependencies we don't want to build/include them twice (and fail).

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Thanks for the input @NathanaelA and @farfromrefug - I think the hook approach would be safer.