Error: "project root is outside of project"

[alextreppass]

Hi,

Due to various reasons in our project, the client builds into the 'public' folder of our rails app. For illustration purposes:

• server/client - client dir (where webpack.config.js lives), and where the build is run from
• server/public - webpack config.output.path dir, where webpack builds relative to

It looks like this plugin relies on workingDir (i.e. process.cwd()) over webpack's config.output.path.

Would it be ok to change this? Webpack is building happily into a folder that isn't the cwd.

What I'm looking for is to remove / clean the files pre-build, in:

• server/public/scripts and server/public/styles
• leave anything else in server/public intact

Thanks!

[johnagan]

@alextreppass I'm not opposed to it. Is it something you can propose in a PR?

[chrisblossom]

@alextreppass You do not need to change anything. process.cwd() is the safe default for the root option.

Where projectRootDir is set: https://github.com/johnagan/clean-webpack-plugin/blob/master/index.js#L41

var CleanWebpackPlugin = require('clean-webpack-plugin');

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CleanWebpackPlugin(['dist', 'build'], {
      root: '/full/project/path/server/public',
      verbose: true, 
      dry: false
    })
  ]
}

[alextreppass]

I'll give it a go, thanks!

[alextreppass]

Hmm still running into that issue I'm afraid.

The error message I get is: clean-webpack-plugin: /path/to/server/public/ project root is outside of project. Skipping all...

Here's my config:

 new CleanWebpackPlugin(['scripts', 'styles'], {
    root: TARGET_DIR,
    verbose: true,
    dry: false
  }),

• TARGET_DIR is something like /path/to/server/public. This is webpack's config.output.path dir.
• process.cwd() (from where I'm running webpack) is /path/to/server/client

From within the client dir, it's a traversal of ../public to get to the webpack output dir.

I'll fork and see if I can get it working. Bear with me!

[chrisblossom]

@alextreppass Could you provide a failing test case? test/test.js

[chrisblossom]

I believe this is showing the issue:

    it('root outside of process.cwd()', function () {
      var outsideProjectDirOne = '/test/dir/_one';
      // outsideProjectDir === '/test/dir'
      cleanWebpackPlugin =
        new CleanWebpackPlugin([outsideProjectDirOne], { root: outsideProjectDir, dry: true });
      result = cleanWebpackPlugin.apply();

      expect(result[0].output).to.equal('removed');
    });

index.js#L89 is where the check is failing.
I think adding your suggestion to check config.output.path on the failing path is a good idea. Might also be a good idea to add an option to skip that check for other edge use cases.

[alextreppass]

Here's a diff where I've got it working for my needs: alextreppass@a098e76

It doesn't seem that webpack exposes wider config (like output.path) to plugins, so I re-worked it to only block cleaning out folders that are outside of the root plugin configuration option.

I also had to remove the insideFailCheck validation.

I'm seeing if I can tweak the tests now. I'm adding some folders in the test setup to verify my approach

[chrisblossom]

I don't think removing all of the safety checks is a good solution. Try my latest branch https://github.com/chrisblossom/clean-webpack-plugin

[alextreppass]

Got the tests passing in #18 - I had missed the windows_spec.js file, whoops.

I think I removed only the checks that were ensuring the root was under the project dir.

I've tried to ensured that any dirs to be deleted must be under the given 'root' dir (unrelated to the project / working dir).

[alextreppass]

Nice, your approach works great, just tested it here locally. 👍

I guess the question for your consideration is:

• do we tie it implicitly to webpack (this is probably fine, it's a webpack plugin after all!), or
• do we change the semantics about 'projectDir' vs 'rootDir'.

I'd be happy with either :)

[chrisblossom]

Just checking to make sure the files being deleted is inside of root does simplify the plugin. Also it wouldn't break with any Webpack API changes.

Also, I don't think it would break anyone's current config. Thoughts? Only downside I can think of it potentially makes the plugin less "safe" from deleting files/directories by mistake.

[alextreppass]

Yeah it might be more portable -- do webpack document the compiler.options in-scope? If they changed how that's exposed we'd still be fine.

I googled around a bit for compiler.options and it seems webpack-dev-server might not have an output path, so sniffing webpack config might not work for that case. [1]

Semantics - yeah I agree it'd be compatible with current config, we're still telling the plugin "under this root folder, please delete this folder" (or these folders)

I agree the potential danger is the main concern. As you say, what if the user mistakenly puts in a root value that they shouldn't?

How about a new config option like allowExternalRoot, which is false by default? They'd have to look in the README and opt-in to using it. Would that be overkill?

[chrisblossom]

I am happy with removing the process.cwd()/running directory check as long as absolute root paths for root is still enforced. Seems like most rounded solution to me.

[alextreppass]

@johnagan - are you ok with #18 as a solution to this?

[johnagan]

@alextreppass I'd want @chrisblossom's sign-off because some of this is his code too.

[chrisblossom]

I created a PR@alextreppass#1 for @alextreppass to look over. Everything looks good to me outside of that.

[alextreppass]

Hey thanks, I'll integrate this into #18.

Edit: that's now done, let me know if you want me to make any more changes!

[alextreppass]

@chrisblossom / @johnagan - I merged Chris' alextreppass#1 code into my branch; #18 is ready to go if you guys are happy.

Thanks!

[chrisblossom]

Looks good to me.

[johnagan]

Deployed v0.1.9 to npm.

Thanks everyone 👍

[alextreppass]

Cheers 👍

[pmunin]

Does not for work projects with multiple workspaces, where there is some webpack.config.base.js injecting clean-webpack-plugin in it located in another folder outside the subpackage.
E.g.:
=packages
==shared
===webpack.config.base.js
==subpackage1
===webpack.config.js