MERC 3: Using JavaScript libraries

MERC:

3

Author:

Eric Riggs

Status:

Accepted

Type:

Feature

Created:

2018-03-08

Last-Modified:

2018-06-04

Abstract

This MERC proposes a standard way to use JavaScript libraries.

Rationale

Mayan EDMS uses several JavaScript libraries for user interface features. Currently, the libraries are not installed using any JavaScript package manager but copied uncompressed. Installing the libraries in this manner carries some disadvantages.

Motivation

The inclusion of the libraries in source form is required by many licenses if the library is not installed by a package manager in distributable form. There are several disadvantages with the current approach:

  1. Having the library in source form means that the entire weight of the library’s size carries over the overall size of the Mayan EDMS distribution files. The justification for not doing this is the same as with the Python libraries which are not copied with the code but downloaded upon installation.

  2. Upgrading the libraries means manually examining the version of the installed in the project and manually searching, downloading, compressing and adding the files to the repository.

  3. The source form of the libraries includes normal and minified versions of the code and the accompanying CSS files. There is no define preference and through the project both versions of the libraries are loaded interchangeably. Using a packager manager the minified version would be used of a pipeline to minify the installed libraries should be added.

Backwards Compatibility

There are no backwards compatibility issues with this proposal.

Specification

Changes needed:

  1. Python based JavaScript package manager. Alternatively a Python wrapper for a JavaScript package manager could be used.

  2. Package manifest for the JavaScript libraries used.

  3. Installation pipeline to install the JavaScript libraries during the installation and setup of the project.

References: