Hi everyone. I’m trying to understand what the act...

# javascript

[Cameron Probert]

Hi everyone. I’m trying to understand what the actual differences in behaviour are between the gradle tasks: build , browserDevelopmentWebpack and browserProductionWebpack, and also how they differ from setting the webpack mode to PRODUCTION or DEVELOPMENT in build.gradle.kts.

I ask this because I was using browserDevelopmentWebpack but with mode=PRODUCTION , which seem like they would conflict with each other, and the resulting bundle appeared to be a development bundle (not minified, not DCE’d).

[andylamax]

I wasn't aware you can set webpack mode in build.gradle.kts. However, even if you can. My advice will just be don't.

Why?
you already have gradle tasks at hand. You need a production build, you just run browserProductionWebpack, you need a development build, you run the alternative.

Differences you ask.

In the JS world, normally javascript is shipped uglified & minified to reduce bundle size. While this is desirable for production builds, it is not during development. You still need to be able to inspect your code and see what the variable name is not really worrying about size.

So, to summurize,
browserProductionWebpack will first assemble all your dependencies, eliminate dead code, and then proceed to minify your compiled javascript. while browserDevelopmentWebpack will just assemble all your dependencies and serve them unminified. Resulting to faster responses compared to browserProductionWebpack

[Cameron Probert]

Thanks @andylamax that’s great to know I shouldn’t be using webpack’s mode. And how does build differ from browserProductionWebpack? I had been using build to generate my deployable code but I’m thinking browserProductionWebpack is all I need.

[andylamax]

build does more than just invoking browserProductionWebpack, it also runs checks and tests. And yes, provided that you are in confidence to deploy, browserProductionWebpack is the task you are looking for

[Cameron Probert]

Perfect, thanks for the great answers. Much appreciated!

[Big Chungus]

I'd even recommend using browserProductionDistribution for deployment

[Big Chungus]

That way all the files you need appear in build/dist

[Cheick Kante]

Hey how do you set up weback or gradle to dev mode in a Multiplatform project, jvm server + kotlin/js + react client ?

Assigning Mode.Development in CommonWebpackConfig still build the clientBrowserProduction task instead of the clientBrowserDevelopment task