npm scripts don't build correctly on windows

[qfulsher]

The current scripts for the npm run build command use rm and cp which don't exist in cmd.exe. I've been able to make the build work by utilizing shx. I could make a pull request if you guys don't mind taking a dependency on shx.

[jonathanKingston]

I don't really know what that is, can't you use a MINGW based setup like git bash instead?

Is the build script the only thing that is broken?

[qfulsher]

From what I understand shx just allows you to write cross-platform shell scripts. For example, here's one of the current build scripts:

"createlib": "cd src && rm -rf ext-libs && mkdir ext-libs && npm run movelibcontents",

This script works fine in cmd except for the rm -rf. cmd doesn't understand the rm command so this would fail on a windows machine. Here's the modified version using shx:

"createlib": "cd src && shx rm -rf ext-libs && mkdir ext-libs && npm run movelibcontents",

Installing shx and then using this script will build correctly on both bash and cmd shells. I also think that shx supports more than just windows and bash.

And yes building the unmodified version on MINGW should work just fine. This is just a bit less complicated for a windows user.

[jonathanKingston]

I use Windows as my default (granted this is a recent change), I wouldn't ever touch cmd where possible. I'm worried this small change will lead to us maintaining a build that very few people will use and will be untested.

I would rather provide windows users a docker setup or guide on using mingw than maintaining another code branch. I'm happy to leave this open for other peoples views though, to see if there is enough interest.

[vanowm]

Would be nice if you provided a guide...
P.S.
I really don't understand the point of "building/compiling" a browser extension, while we could simply modify the already "built" source...