Defining 'package' information in component.json and package.json

Question

I'm creating a javascript library that I want make available through Bower to my internal company. I'm using Grunt to build my library.

My issue is that grunt's convention is to use package.json to define dependencies, library versions, dependencies, etc.

Bower, on the other hand, assumes that that same information is found in a component.json file.

What's the intended use of these two? They seem to serve essentially the same purpose. Do I need to create both and cut and paste the shared information?

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '13 at 07:24

We've gotten a lot of these kinds of question and everyone assumes we could share a lot metadata between these formats, but the reality is that only the name and version fields are sharable and only the version field changes regularly. If you find it cumbersome having to update two fields when you release something, there are tools out there that can automate this, eg. grunt-bumpx.

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 11 '13 at 07:24

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package.json is intended for back-end purposes, in this case specify grunt tasks, node dependencies, etc. In the other side, bower.json is intended for front-end purposes.

edited May 11 '13 at 07:24

Sindre Sorhus

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answered May 11 '13 at 03:56

kevinwolf

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This is also a good answer - between yourself and Sindre I think that's the full story. Sorry Kevin! – Roy Truelove May 11 '13 at 16:24
Don't worry, my only purpose is to help ;) – kevinwolf May 11 '13 at 17:05
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`package.json` is **not** intended just for backend. npm works perfectly fine with the frontend as well. – Kyle Robinson Young May 11 '13 at 20:37
Yes i know, but are you used to load your scripts and dependencies from node_modules folder? :P – kevinwolf May 11 '13 at 22:44
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Yes. I load js, css, images, html, binaries, etc from the node_modules folder. It works perfectly fine and there is no rule saying that you should not do it. So saying it is intended for back-end purposes is incorrect. – Kyle Robinson Young May 12 '13 at 23:41

Defining 'package' information in component.json and package.json

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