(The following is not a Rails-specific question, but relates to a problem that affects Rails, so I wonder whether anyone on the team has an opinion about it or knows whether a solution is already in development.) While gem dependencies can be easily managed in a Gemfile by Bundler, when it comes to other assets, you either have to manually copy javascript files into the app/assets or vendor directory or find a gem that someone is keeping up-to-date that contains the Javascript, etc. files that you need that they in turn have to keep up to date with the original project from which the Javascript originates. This is not good for Rails long-term, because gems will end up showing up in rubygems for every Javascript library or framework and some may or may not be kept up-to-date, which just makes developing an application for Rails more difficult. I happen to notice recently that someone made a request in the AngularUI project asking for them to add an npm for it, but AngularUI is client-side javascript (like Rails'' assets), and npm/npmjs.org is for node, so it is primarily a serverside repo/not meant to be for clientside, so stopped in its tracks: https://github.com/angular-ui/angular-ui/issues/184 There is also CPM which is like NPM but for javascript. However, you have to sign a Dojo CLA that many may not want to sign in order to share an asset with others: https://github.com/kriszyp/cpm Maybe there is something else out there to package assets (at least javascript assets) generically, or perhaps someone from the Rails community could develop something that would allow Javascript library/framework developers to define a file similar to a gemspec, but that wouldn''t lock it into having to live in the vendor, etc. directory in their project. Then maybe the gem command could be able to process such a file somewhat similar to a gemspec and even lay the project out as part of packaging so that it would have a lib/libraryname/version.rb, etc. and would work as a gem and be injected into the asset pipeline if included? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/D6x5H52C1DUJ. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
rails engines are the path to this. Assets in engines will get included in the pipeline. On Tuesday, September 4, 2012, Gary Weaver wrote:> (The following is not a Rails-specific question, but relates to a problem > that affects Rails, so I wonder whether anyone on the team has an opinion > about it or knows whether a solution is already in development.) > > While gem dependencies can be easily managed in a Gemfile by Bundler, when > it comes to other assets, you either have to manually copy javascript files > into the app/assets or vendor directory or find a gem that someone is > keeping up-to-date that contains the Javascript, etc. files that you need > that they in turn have to keep up to date with the original project from > which the Javascript originates. This is not good for Rails long-term, > because gems will end up showing up in rubygems for every Javascript > library or framework and some may or may not be kept up-to-date, which just > makes developing an application for Rails more difficult. > > I happen to notice recently that someone made a request in the AngularUI > project asking for them to add an npm for it, but AngularUI is client-side > javascript (like Rails'' assets), and npm/npmjs.org is for node, so it is > primarily a serverside repo/not meant to be for clientside, so stopped in > its tracks: > https://github.com/angular-ui/angular-ui/issues/184 > > There is also CPM which is like NPM but for javascript. However, you have > to sign a Dojo CLA that many may not want to sign in order to share an > asset with others: https://github.com/kriszyp/cpm > > Maybe there is something else out there to package assets (at least > javascript assets) generically, or perhaps someone from the Rails community > could develop something that would allow Javascript library/framework > developers to define a file similar to a gemspec, but that wouldn''t lock it > into having to live in the vendor, etc. directory in their project. Then > maybe the gem command could be able to process such a file somewhat similar > to a gemspec and even lay the project out as part of packaging so that it > would have a lib/libraryname/version.rb, etc. and would work as a gem and > be injected into the asset pipeline if included? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/D6x5H52C1DUJ. > To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com<javascript:_e({}, ''cvml'', ''rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com'');> > . > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com <javascript:_e({}, ''cvml'', > ''rubyonrails-core%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups.com'');>. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en. >-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
Yep, and there is a post about it here:
http://prioritized.net/blog/gemify-assets-for-rails/
And here is an example of a gem that just includes some javascript files in
the asset pipeline:
https://rubygems.org/gems/angularjs-rails
https://github.com/confuseddesi/angularjs-rails/
I was getting ready to add gems for a few other JS dependencies we had,
because versioning and gem-ifying them seemed more manageable than not.
But then I thought about how easy it would be for projects like:
https://github.com/angular/angular.js
https://github.com/angular-ui/angular-ui
https://github.com/twitter/bootstrap
...
to just have some .asset file or similar in their root directory that could
be used by various web framework implementations that could utilize that to
generate a packaged, versioned asset as a gem.
To convert such an asset description file to a gem, you could easily
automatically generate the following files:
(1) Create libraryname.gemspec:
# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
$:.push File.expand_path("../lib", __FILE__)
require ''my_library_name-rails/version''
Gem::Specification.new do |s|
s.name = ''my_library_name-rails''
s.version = MyLibraryName::Rails::VERSION
s.date = ''2012-09-04''
s.summary = ''My Library Name on Rails''
s.description = ''Injects My Library Name into your asset
pipeline.''
s.authors = ["Some Name"]
s.email = ''some@email.address''
s.files = Dir["{lib,vendor}/**/*"] + ["SOME_LICENSE",
"SOME_README"]
s.homepage =
''https://github.com/someone/my_library_name-rails/''
s.license = ''SOME_LICENSE_TYPE''
end
Perhaps if the asset description file (like package.json) specified
dependencies, it would also set the other libraries as gem dependencies,
but that would be more involved, since I''m not sure what it would do if
those gems didn''t exist yet.
(2) Create lib/libraryname/version.rb:
module MyLibraryName
module Rails
VERSION = "1.2.3"
end
end
(3) Create lib/my_library_name.rb:
require "my_library_name-rails/version"
module MyLibraryName
module Rails
class Engine < ::Rails::Engine
end
end
end
(4) Copy assets from locations specified in the asset description file into
vendor/assets/javascripts/ (or similar, based on some type defined in the
generic asset description) and copy LICENSE from the external project into
root.
(5) Generate a basic README that links to the original project for further
detail on usage.
Then gem build (gemspec) && gem push (gem) and it would be available to
everyone.
The asset file driving the process could either be a package.json file or
some yet-to-be-determined suggested standardized format. (JSON seems like
it would make sense.)
On Tuesday, September 4, 2012 4:33:11 PM UTC-4, Steve Klabnik
wrote:>
> rails engines are the path to this. Assets in engines will get included in
> the pipeline.
>
> On Tuesday, September 4, 2012, Gary Weaver wrote:
>
>> (The following is not a Rails-specific question, but relates to a
problem
>> that affects Rails, so I wonder whether anyone on the team has an
opinion
>> about it or knows whether a solution is already in development.)
>>
>> While gem dependencies can be easily managed in a Gemfile by Bundler,
>> when it comes to other assets, you either have to manually copy
javascript
>> files into the app/assets or vendor directory or find a gem that
someone is
>> keeping up-to-date that contains the Javascript, etc. files that you
need
>> that they in turn have to keep up to date with the original project
from
>> which the Javascript originates. This is not good for Rails long-term,
>> because gems will end up showing up in rubygems for every Javascript
>> library or framework and some may or may not be kept up-to-date, which
just
>> makes developing an application for Rails more difficult.
>>
>> I happen to notice recently that someone made a request in the
AngularUI
>> project asking for them to add an npm for it, but AngularUI is
client-side
>> javascript (like Rails'' assets), and npm/npmjs.org is for
node, so it is
>> primarily a serverside repo/not meant to be for clientside, so stopped
in
>> its tracks:
>> https://github.com/angular-ui/angular-ui/issues/184
>>
>> There is also CPM which is like NPM but for javascript. However, you
have
>> to sign a Dojo CLA that many may not want to sign in order to share an
>> asset with others: https://github.com/kriszyp/cpm
>>
>> Maybe there is something else out there to package assets (at least
>> javascript assets) generically, or perhaps someone from the Rails
community
>> could develop something that would allow Javascript library/framework
>> developers to define a file similar to a gemspec, but that
wouldn''t lock it
>> into having to live in the vendor, etc. directory in their project.
Then
>> maybe the gem command could be able to process such a file somewhat
similar
>> to a gemspec and even lay the project out as part of packaging so that
it
>> would have a lib/libraryname/version.rb, etc. and would work as a gem
and
>> be injected into the asset pipeline if included?
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups
>> "Ruby on Rails: Core" group.
>> To view this discussion on the web visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/D6x5H52C1DUJ.
>> To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com.
>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
>> rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
>> For more options, visit this group at
>> http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
>>
>
--
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Creating a custom asset packaging file format and packager seems way more complex than just building a nearly blank Engine. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
On Tuesday, September 4, 2012 6:04:33 PM UTC-4, Steve Klabnik wrote:> > Creating a custom asset packaging file format and packager seems way more > complex than just building a nearly blank Engine.If I go to every Javascript library developer and put something of the equivalent of package.json or Gemfile in the root of their javascript project, they are a lot more likely to do that than they would be to write a gem. And if they aren''t writing the gem, then someone else is, and if that someone else gets tired of maintaining the gem, then the gem doesn''t get updated. They you have people in Rails projects using old and perhaps insecure versions of Javascript libraries. Or worse, you have several versions of the some_javascript_library-rails gem in Rubygems, with the more relevantly named one being out of date. Maybe the answer is to integrate Bundler to use NPM, but NPM is more geared towards Javascript on the server-side for Node, so I don''t think that is the right solution. It really seems like a better option is needed for managing versions and dependencies for client side assets, and doing that in such a way that it would be usable not just by Rails, but other frameworks, would increase the chance of adoption. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/BY9BNB-siK8J. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
In the meantime though, I agree with you that just creating a gem with a blank engine is a workaround. It is just problematic and messy over the long-haul, and doesn''t solve the problem of clientside Javascript libraries, CSS, and other assets being something that should be cross-platform. Rails could take the lead in this area. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/JHEGTfSKYZ4J. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
On Tuesday, September 4, 2012 9:40:32 PM UTC-4, Gary Weaver wrote:> > being something that should be cross-platform. >Sorry, I mean something that should be packaged and versioned in a platform/framework-agnostic manner. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/MBUpRBweI6oJ. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
To follow-up, even though the suggestion was to just create a gem to manage dependencies, it''s worth nothing that there are a number of other solutions to JS package management for clients. Some discussed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4498016 Twitter''s Bower (similar to Component, requires Node, but not dependent on GitHub): https://github.com/twitter/bower GitHub''s Component (requires Node and GitHub-dependent): https://github.com/component/component https://github.com/component/spec/wiki Jam (requires Node): https://github.com/caolan/jam Volo (requires Node): https://github.com/volojs/volo Ender (requires Node): https://github.com/ender-js/Ender Browserify (requires Node): https://github.com/substack/node-browserify And not a package manager but an in-browser loader, somewhat similar- RequireJS: http://requirejs.org/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/GF1K5EvrDsgJ. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
I vote on Bower. But so far I''m trying to get it work when installing in `vendor/assets`. On Tuesday, September 4, 2012 8:43:58 PM UTC+2, Gary Weaver wrote:> > (The following is not a Rails-specific question, but relates to a problem > that affects Rails, so I wonder whether anyone on the team has an opinion > about it or knows whether a solution is already in development.) > > While gem dependencies can be easily managed in a Gemfile by Bundler, when > it comes to other assets, you either have to manually copy javascript files > into the app/assets or vendor directory or find a gem that someone is > keeping up-to-date that contains the Javascript, etc. files that you need > that they in turn have to keep up to date with the original project from > which the Javascript originates. This is not good for Rails long-term, > because gems will end up showing up in rubygems for every Javascript > library or framework and some may or may not be kept up-to-date, which just > makes developing an application for Rails more difficult. > > I happen to notice recently that someone made a request in the AngularUI > project asking for them to add an npm for it, but AngularUI is client-side > javascript (like Rails'' assets), and npm/npmjs.org is for node, so it is > primarily a serverside repo/not meant to be for clientside, so stopped in > its tracks: > https://github.com/angular-ui/angular-ui/issues/184 > > There is also CPM which is like NPM but for javascript. However, you have > to sign a Dojo CLA that many may not want to sign in order to share an > asset with others: https://github.com/kriszyp/cpm > > Maybe there is something else out there to package assets (at least > javascript assets) generically, or perhaps someone from the Rails community > could develop something that would allow Javascript library/framework > developers to define a file similar to a gemspec, but that wouldn''t lock it > into having to live in the vendor, etc. directory in their project. Then > maybe the gem command could be able to process such a file somewhat similar > to a gemspec and even lay the project out as part of packaging so that it > would have a lib/libraryname/version.rb, etc. and would work as a gem and > be injected into the asset pipeline if included? >-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/5VIxOhim_7AJ. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
Has this topic advanced at all? I searched the mailing list and don''t see any mention of how Rails plans to handle versioned assets. Creating gem wrappers for assets is not sustainable and raises potential security issues. This is a problem that is being worked on by the smart folks at Twitter and bower seems to be leading the way. Rails community want to take an opinion on this? -- Eddie A Tejeda On Tuesday, December 11, 2012 6:28:26 AM UTC-8, Łukasz Niemier wrote:> > I vote on Bower. But so far I''m trying to get it work when installing in > `vendor/assets`. > > On Tuesday, September 4, 2012 8:43:58 PM UTC+2, Gary Weaver wrote: >> >> (The following is not a Rails-specific question, but relates to a problem >> that affects Rails, so I wonder whether anyone on the team has an opinion >> about it or knows whether a solution is already in development.) >> >> While gem dependencies can be easily managed in a Gemfile by Bundler, >> when it comes to other assets, you either have to manually copy javascript >> files into the app/assets or vendor directory or find a gem that someone is >> keeping up-to-date that contains the Javascript, etc. files that you need >> that they in turn have to keep up to date with the original project from >> which the Javascript originates. This is not good for Rails long-term, >> because gems will end up showing up in rubygems for every Javascript >> library or framework and some may or may not be kept up-to-date, which just >> makes developing an application for Rails more difficult. >> >> I happen to notice recently that someone made a request in the AngularUI >> project asking for them to add an npm for it, but AngularUI is client-side >> javascript (like Rails'' assets), and npm/npmjs.org is for node, so it is >> primarily a serverside repo/not meant to be for clientside, so stopped in >> its tracks: >> https://github.com/angular-ui/angular-ui/issues/184 >> >> There is also CPM which is like NPM but for javascript. However, you have >> to sign a Dojo CLA that many may not want to sign in order to share an >> asset with others: https://github.com/kriszyp/cpm >> >> Maybe there is something else out there to package assets (at least >> javascript assets) generically, or perhaps someone from the Rails community >> could develop something that would allow Javascript library/framework >> developers to define a file similar to a gemspec, but that wouldn''t lock it >> into having to live in the vendor, etc. directory in their project. Then >> maybe the gem command could be able to process such a file somewhat similar >> to a gemspec and even lay the project out as part of packaging so that it >> would have a lib/libraryname/version.rb, etc. and would work as a gem and >> be injected into the asset pipeline if included? >> >-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
I don''t think this is a Rails problem. The problem is that the "Bundler/Rubygems for (client-side) JavaScript libraries" does not exists yet, and I think having "Rails people" "lead the way" here would be counterproductive. Bower is making some good progress, and is a promising candidate, but it is far from "THE RubyGems for (client-side) JavaScript libraries". For example, "jquery" on bower currently points to components/jquery<https://github.com/components/jquery>, and all your arguments about why mirroring jquery at rails/jquery-rails<https://github.com/rails/jquery-rails> is a bad idea/non-sustainable would apply there as well. So again the core issue is that this is still an unsolved problem in the (client-side) JavaScript world, and there is not much we can do from Rails'' perspective until the community agrees on a solution. However, if you are convinced that Bower is the future fro (client-side) JavaScript package management, or that you think it is "good enough" for consumption today, then all you have to do is to list your Bower dependencies somewhere in your project and write a Ruby client for Bower to fetch the packages and put them into vendor/assets. In fact, a quick Google search seems to suggest such effort has already been started <https://github.com/42dev/bower-rails/>. On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 2:45 PM, Eddie Tejeda <eddie@codeforamerica.org>wrote:> Has this topic advanced at all? I searched the mailing list and don''t see > any mention of how Rails plans to handle versioned assets. > > Creating gem wrappers for assets is not sustainable and raises potential > security issues. This is a problem that is being worked on by the smart > folks at Twitter and bower seems to be leading the way. Rails community > want to take an opinion on this? > > -- > Eddie A Tejeda > > > > On Tuesday, December 11, 2012 6:28:26 AM UTC-8, Łukasz Niemier wrote: >> >> I vote on Bower. But so far I''m trying to get it work when installing in >> `vendor/assets`. >> >> On Tuesday, September 4, 2012 8:43:58 PM UTC+2, Gary Weaver wrote: >>> >>> (The following is not a Rails-specific question, but relates to a >>> problem that affects Rails, so I wonder whether anyone on the team has an >>> opinion about it or knows whether a solution is already in development.) >>> >>> While gem dependencies can be easily managed in a Gemfile by Bundler, >>> when it comes to other assets, you either have to manually copy javascript >>> files into the app/assets or vendor directory or find a gem that someone is >>> keeping up-to-date that contains the Javascript, etc. files that you need >>> that they in turn have to keep up to date with the original project from >>> which the Javascript originates. This is not good for Rails long-term, >>> because gems will end up showing up in rubygems for every Javascript >>> library or framework and some may or may not be kept up-to-date, which just >>> makes developing an application for Rails more difficult. >>> >>> I happen to notice recently that someone made a request in the AngularUI >>> project asking for them to add an npm for it, but AngularUI is client-side >>> javascript (like Rails'' assets), and npm/npmjs.org is for node, so it >>> is primarily a serverside repo/not meant to be for clientside, so stopped >>> in its tracks: >>> https://github.com/angular-ui/**angular-ui/issues/184<https://github.com/angular-ui/angular-ui/issues/184> >>> >>> There is also CPM which is like NPM but for javascript. However, you >>> have to sign a Dojo CLA that many may not want to sign in order to share an >>> asset with others: https://github.com/kriszyp/cpm >>> >>> Maybe there is something else out there to package assets (at least >>> javascript assets) generically, or perhaps someone from the Rails community >>> could develop something that would allow Javascript library/framework >>> developers to define a file similar to a gemspec, but that wouldn''t lock it >>> into having to live in the vendor, etc. directory in their project. Then >>> maybe the gem command could be able to process such a file somewhat similar >>> to a gemspec and even lay the project out as part of packaging so that it >>> would have a lib/libraryname/version.rb, etc. and would work as a gem and >>> be injected into the asset pipeline if included? >>> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. > > To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > >-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.