Specify additional sources when creating a package

[nandorsoma]

When publishing a package, files are taken from the package root. However, additional sources, like build-generated files (e.g., .jar), may need inclusion. For instance, when publishing a UDF, metadata is stored in the root, while the UDF itself is compiled into a .jar in the target folder. Instead of using a separate script to assemble the package before publishing, it is more robust to include additional sources directly in the package.json. See an example DataSQRL/sqrl-functions#1.

[mbroecheler]

The problem you are trying to solve is having to copy-paste the jar file into the root directory before publishing, correct?
I wonder if we could solve this with an additional argument --source to the publish command that effectively does the same thing.
The downside of this solution is that you have to specify the source when you run the command.
The upside of this solution is that we don't have to include build specific information into the package manifest which should ideally only include information on what is in the package and not how the package was assembled.
WDYT @nandorsoma ?

[nandorsoma]

The problem you are trying to solve is having to copy-paste the jar file into the root directory before publishing, correct? I wonder if we could solve this with an additional argument --source to the publish command that effectively does the same thing. The downside of this solution is that you have to specify the source when you run the command. The upside of this solution is that we don't have to include build specific information into the package manifest which should ideally only include information on what is in the package and not how the package was assembled. WDYT @nandorsoma ?

Thanks for the review, @mbroecheler!

That’s definitely an option. I personally feel that listing the sources fits within the scope of “what’s in the package.” However, I don’t have a strong preference and would be open to that approach.

What concerns me more is that the current method combines the root and the additional sources from the manifest, which feels like a patchwork solution. What do you think about using --source but making it exclusive? So, only specified files/folders would be added, and if you want the root directory plus another file, you’d specify--source "." "./target/udf.jar". If you don’t specify --source, the current behavior wouldn’t change, so the package would be made from the root folder. This could address the issue raised here.

[mbroecheler]

How about a -s --sources option that is a list of paths which defaults to the current path (.). Then it's backwards compatible to how it currently works and you can make it work how you want by specifying different sources.

This seems the most user friendly approach since - in most cases - you just want to publish what is in the current directory. WDYT?

[henneberger]

See @mbroecheler comments in main conversation