chore: use "files" instead of .npmignore

[regseb]

Use property files instead of .npmignore file to publish only the files you need, lighten packages, and reduce the risk of publishing a useless file.

Publishing what you mean to publish: There’s an even better way of controlling exactly which files are published with your package: whitelisting with the files array.

List of files that will no longer be published with this PR:

• api, package reduced from 62.4ko to 34.2ko (54.8%)
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs, the file has been renamed from .mocharc.jsonc to .mocharc.cjs, but the name hasn't been changed in the .npmignore. 051ec93
  • CHANGELOG.md, this file is no longer included by default since npm v7.12.0: Do not force include history, changelogs, notice
• core
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• cucumber-runner
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .editorconfig
  • .eslintignore
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • prettierrc
  • CHANGELOG.md
• grunt-stryker
  • CHANGELOG.md
• instrumenter
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• jasmine-runner
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• jest-runner
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• karma-runner
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• mocha-runner
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• tap-runner
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• typescript-checker
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• util
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md
• vitest-runner
  • src-generated/
  • src/
  • .mocharc.cjs
  • CHANGELOG.md

[nicojs]

Hi @regseb thanks for participating here.

I agree with all files, except maybe src and src-generated. I started including them when vscode started logging warnings for missing sources of sourcemaps (also in node_modules). I'm pretty sure an issue was also raised, but I can't seem to find it.

What's your opinion on it?

[regseb]

I've added the src/ and src-generated/ directories.

It's a first step to replace .npmignore by "files". The next step will be to see about source maps, but I don't know how that works.

[nicojs]

Thanks!

[ericcornelissen]

I noticed in the diff of v7.1.1 -> 7.2.0, which included this change, that there's actually a bunch of files newly included that don't need to be (even though the release line reads "ignore unused files"). Most notably test(/spec) files.

Primarily I wanted to raise the above. But I also wanted to share my perspective on this matter. Personally, I tend to favor a whitelisted-style .npmignore file (example) over the "files" array because it makes managing complex sub-folder rules a bit easier to manage (also for source maps) while providing the same benefits mentioned/referenced here.

[regseb]

@ericcornelissen Thanks for the feedback. There's a problem in my pull request. The "dist/" directories contain test files and tsbuildinfo. I'll make a new pull request to correct these problems.

---

For .npmignore / "files", I prefer "files" because :

• the list of files to be published is in the same file as the "exports", "main", "bin" and "types" properties.
• it's a positive list, whereas .npmignore is a negative list (Avoid negative conditionals).

All .npmignore features can be used in "files":

File patterns follow a similar syntax to .gitignore, but reversed: including a file, directory, or glob pattern (*, **/*, and such) will make it so that file is included in the tarball when it's packed.

Here's the equivalent of your example with "files":

{
  "files": [
    "docs/",
    "src/",
    "CHANGELOG.md",
    "index.cjs",
    "index.d.cts",
    "index.d.ts",
    "index.js",
    "package.json",
    "LICENSE",
    "README.md",
    "SECURITY.md",
    "testing.cjs",
    "testing.d.cts",
    "testing.d.ts",
    "testing.js"
  ]
}

[ericcornelissen]

Good to know the "files" array supports the same expressions as .npmignore - in that case it's a matter of taste/preference 👍