what is build-commit for

[UziTech]

What is build-commit for? It looks like that builds the dist folder and commits it except that the dist folder is in .gitignore so what exactly does build-commit do?

[aminya]

build-commit is a workaround for the apm limitation. When you run npm run build-commit or pnpm build-commit, the project is built, .gitignore is disabled temporarily, and the built files are committed to the git history. We need this because apm does not pack the built files similar to how npm does it.

If we use semantic releases the built files appear in the commit that the bot makes.

https://github.com/aminya/build-commit

[UziTech]

So apm doesn't run the prepare script when installing a package?

[aminya]

I am not sure. But this is the workaround I have come up with instead of checking in the built files.

We can fix the issue in apm though:
atom/apm#498

[UziTech]

After some testing it looks like prepare doesn't get called but postinstall does. I don't see any disadvantages to just moving the prepare script to postinstall and we wouldn't need build-commit or the dist folder checked into the git repo.

[aminya]

@UziTech That means you rely on every user's computer to build the typescript and bundle the code. Currently, the dist file is what you built.

[UziTech]

Good point