Node: Project Deps

Created on 19 Nov 2017 · 4Comments · Source: nodejs/node

Forking the project takes a huge amount of time, mainly because of the deps folder.

I was wondering if we can use submodules rather than having copies of the projects in the deps? then add a step in the make file or an instruction to download submodules aswell for those wishing to contribute.

I am not sure if node is changing code inside these deps to fit its needs, however this can be made for things that are copied as is.

meta question

Source

Bamieh

Most helpful comment

I personally say "no to submodules". If the external project dies, you will no longer be able to (easily) check out and build an old commit.

seishun on 20 Nov 2017

👍2

All 4 comments

More than half of the deps folder is v8 and we float a lot of patches on that. See https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/16940.

Not saying "yes to submodules" or "no to submodules". Just providing some context/info.

Trott on 19 Nov 2017

I personally say "no to submodules". If the external project dies, you will no longer be able to (easily) check out and build an old commit.

seishun on 20 Nov 2017

👍2

Just about any change requires that you run make test and for that you need a full checkout. Switching to submodules just adds an extra, unnecessary step.

What's more, submodules suck for greppability and they make changes that touch files in deps/ harder. It's like having a monorepo but without the actual benefits of a monorepo.