Dependencies & Why

What is each dependency there for?

Table of Contents

• Abstract
  • Likely Firm
  • Core Dependencies
  • Peer dependencies of core
  • Dependencies for Use Cases
    • semver
    • qs
    • nlf
    • Webpack Bundle Analyzer
  • Should Be Removed

---

Abstract

Dependencies add additional layers of complexity for little benefit.

Their undocumented use can lead to a build up of dependencies with little to no actual benefit to the project.

This document aims to clarify why any dependency is included so this reasoning can be reexamined later to see if the dependency is still relevant.

---

Dependencies will be listed in alphabetical order when lack of better way can be found.

Likely Firm

These dependencies could be replaced with better alternatives, but until there’s a real upgrade, there’s no reason thinking about it.

• Axios
• Dart Sass

Core Dependencies

These dependencies will never be going away; they’re too ingrained in core functionality.

• Bootstrap
• Electron
• Fontawesome
• Nodejs
• Vuejs
• Webpack
• electron-log

Peer dependencies of core

These deps are peers of the installed core frameworks and can’t be removed without reducing functionality.

• Popper.js

Dependencies for Use Cases

These deps were added with a specific purpose.

semver

Semver enables Frolic to perform version-dependent upgrades. You can create a routine in ./electron/version-upgrade.ts named as a version and it will be executed when upgrading to that version or higher. This could not be done without semantic version comparisons and sorting from semver.

Being able to execute code only on upgrade is particularly useful for shepherding users through structural changes.

qs

“qs” - short for Query String - serializes data into a URL compatible query string. While this is useful for sending data to servers, this is also useful for any place where we can only rely on string-based communications. (Could be very useful for arbitrary data comm over F-Chat in particular.)

nlf

Nlf is a tool to examine the licenses of the dependencies of your project. It’s useful for the obvious reasons. :)

Webpack Bundle Analyzer

This tool automatically opens a view of your bundles after making production build. It will let you see which modules are causing your bundle the largest size, as well as identify if there are any undesirable modules imported.

Should Be Removed

Remove these dependencies if given the chance:

• promise-request
• node-fetch

---