#188 Rails 6 Without Webpacker

Because sometimes just want to keep it simple with good old sprockets and the asset pipeline

Notes

Checking Pre-requisites and Installation

$ node -v
v12.8.0
$ npm -v
6.10.2
$ ruby -v
ruby 2.7.2p137 (2020-10-01 revision 5445e04352) [x86_64-darwin17]
$ sqlite3 --version
3.19.3 2017-06-27 16:48:08 2b0954060fe10d6de6d479287dd88890f1bef6cc1beca11bc6cdb79f72e2377b
$ gem install bundler
Successfully installed bundler-2.2.20
$ gem install rails
...
$ rails --version
Rails 6.1.3.2

$ rails new pojacah --skip-webpack-install --skip-turbolinks
$ cd pojacah
$ rails db:migrate

good to go, but… it doesn’t work:

$ rails server
...
/Users/paulgallagher/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.7.2@rails6_without_webpack/gems/webpacker-5.4.0/lib/webpacker/configuration.rb:103:in `rescue in load': Webpacker configuration file not found /Users/paulgallagher/MyGithub/LittleCodingKata/ruby/rails6/without_webpack/pojacah/config/webpacker.yml. Please run rails webpacker:install Error: No such file or directory @ rb_check_realpath_internal - /Users/paulgallagher/MyGithub/LittleCodingKata/ruby/rails6/without_webpack/pojacah/config/webpacker.yml (RuntimeError)

Manual Cleanup Required

Some webpack cleanup:

rm -fR app/javascript

and remove webpacker from Gemfile:

# gem 'webpacker', '~> 5.0'

ok, try again:

$ rails server
=> Booting Puma
=> Rails 6.1.3.2 application starting in development
=> Run `bin/rails server --help` for more startup options
Puma starting in single mode...
* Puma version: 5.3.2 (ruby 2.7.2-p137) ("Sweetnighter")
*  Min threads: 5
*  Max threads: 5
*  Environment: development
*          PID: 21204
* Listening on http://127.0.0.1:3000
* Listening on http://[::1]:3000
* Listening on http://127.94.0.2:3000
* Listening on http://127.94.0.1:3000
...

Adding a Welcome Page

Using controller generator:

bin/rails generate controller Welcome index

Adjust routes to use this as the main page.

More Manual Cleanup Required

Despite what the comments say, no, application.js is not being compiled.

Rails.application.config.assets.precompile
 => ["manifest.js"]

add asset pipeline javascripts to manifest.js:

//= link_directory ../javascripts .js

and fixup the javascript include tag

<%= javascript_include_tag 'application' %>

OK finally success.

More to do here, but for now that’s all.

tldr: --skip-webpack-install still leaves lots of webpacker cruft lying around. Perhaps a PR warranted after a bit more testing