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A dependency is a library that a project needs to function effectively. DevDependencies are the packages a developer needs during development.
dev_dependencies are modules which are only required during development, while dependencies are modules which are also required at runtime.
The rule of thumb is that if a module is imported by the application (e.g. with a require('foo') ), then it should be a dependency. Anything else goes as devDependency.
Bower is a great dependency manager that's specially created to help you manage different frontend libraries. It reduces the time and energy you need to spend hunting around the web for libraries like Susy and jQuery by helping you install, update or delete them with a single command.
devDependencies are for the development-related scripts, e.g. unit testing, packaging scripts, documentation generation, etc.
dependencies are required for production use, and assumed required for dev as well.
Including devDependencies within dependencies, as you have it, won't be harmful; the module will just bundle more files (bytes) during the install - consuming more (unnecessary) resources. From a purist POV, these extra bytes could be detrimental, just depends on your perspective.
To shed some light, looking at bower help install, modules listed under devDependencies can be omitted during the module installation via -p or --production, e.g.:
bower install angular-latest --production
This is the recommended way to perform an installation for anything other than a development platform.
On the contrary, there is no way to omit modules listed under dependencies.
As of [email protected] (see bower latest source), bower help yields:
Usage:
bower <command> [<args>] [<options>]
Commands:
cache Manage bower cache
help Display help information about Bower
home Opens a package homepage into your favorite browser
info Info of a particular package
init Interactively create a bower.json file
install Install a package locally
link Symlink a package folder
list List local packages
lookup Look up a package URL by name
prune Removes local extraneous packages
register Register a package
search Search for a package by name
update Update a local package
uninstall Remove a local package
Options:
-f, --force Makes various commands more forceful
-j, --json Output consumable JSON
-l, --log-level What level of logs to report
-o, --offline Do not hit the network
-q, --quiet Only output important information
-s, --silent Do not output anything, besides errors
-V, --verbose Makes output more verbose
--allow-root Allows running commands as root
See 'bower help <command>' for more information on a specific command.
and further, bower help install yields (see latest source):
Usage:
bower install [<options>]
bower install <endpoint> [<endpoint> ..] [<options>]
Options:
-F, --force-latest Force latest version on conflict
-h, --help Show this help message
-p, --production Do not install project devDependencies
-S, --save Save installed packages into the project's bower.json dependencies
-D, --save-dev Save installed packages into the project's bower.json devDependencies
Additionally all global options listed in 'bower help' are available
Description:
Installs the project dependencies or a specific set of endpoints.
Endpoints can have multiple forms:
- <source>
- <source>#<target>
- <name>=<source>#<target>
Where:
- <source> is a package URL, physical location or registry name
- <target> is a valid range, commit, branch, etc.
- <name> is the name it should have locally.
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