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javascriptjqueryjquery-pluginsgruntjs

What is the role of src and dist folders?

I'm looking at a Git repository for a jQuery plugin. I want to make a few changes for use in my own project, but when I opened up the repository it had a structure I've never seen before. I'm not sure which files to use / copy into my own project.

There is a "dist" and a "src" folder. What purpose do these serve? Is this something specific for Grunt or maybe jQuery plugins?

The Git repository I'm curious about: https://github.com/ducksboard/gridster.js

Solution

  • src/ stands for source, and is the raw code before minification or concatenation or some other compilation - used to read/edit the code.

    dist/ stands for distribution, and is the minified/concatenated version - actually used on production sites.

    This is a common task that is done for assets on the web to make them smaller.

    You can see an example here in Combine multiple JS files into one using JavaScript, Node.js and Grunt.