[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #6723: Require source and map files for JS

[Making WordPress.org]

#6723: Require source and map files for JS
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 Reporter:  kkmuffme          |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement       |      Status:  reopened
 Priority:  low               |   Milestone:
Component:  Plugin Directory  |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                    |
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Comment (by dd32):

 > This should be updated to require sourcemaps for compiled/minified JS
 too

 I'm not against adding a requirement for sourcemaps personally, but it's
 not as easy as just "require a source map"..

 Sourcemaps as generated by the majority of tools expect that the source is
 bundled with the minified files, but as you've seen with WordPress.org
 plugins, they're often not.. but sourcemaps DO allow for the source files
 to be hosted at a different remote location, via a GitHub repo for
 example.

 What we'd probably need is published build steps on how to generate
 source-maps for plugins that refer to a GitHub repo (or other public
 location of the files), as an optional thing for quite some time before
 requiring it, if we could even require it.

 That would allow for plugins guideline 4 to be pragmatically verified,
 which is something we can't really currently do, it has to be reviewed by
 a human.

 But, hosting the source-files remotely and referencing that location
 through the sourcemap might make some fall afoul of guidelines 7/8
 inadvertantly with plugins not being allowed to offload loading of
 JS/CSS/image files.. although I guess it's not really offloading, as the
 minified files would stil be in use, it's just developer tools inspecting
 that would use them.


 After saying all that.. I disagree that we should require it, but I think
 we should educate authors on how to include a sourcemap that points to the
 source files AND that if minified files are included the source location
 MUST be included in the readme (which it often isn't)

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6723#comment:11>
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