I'm following the installation docs for Backpack 4.1 for Laravel. The backpack:install Artisan command adds front-end assets to the /public/packages directory of my project. Usually, front-end package managers (NPM, Yarn, Bower, etc.) recommend not to add the actual package contents to a project's repository, and instead add a dependency lockfile that can be re-installed by a CI/CD pipeline. Backpack does this differently, as it pulls the front-end dependencies directly and there was no mention if one needs to add /public/packages to source control. Should I add these package assets to source control, or should I execute php artisan backpack:install in the CI/CD process instead?
Yes - you should include the public/packages directory in your source control. That’s what Backpack assumes you’ll do.
However, if you would rather NOT do that, you can create an alias to the directory in the package. You can find instructions on how to do that here, as method 3 - https://backpackforlaravel.com/articles/tips-and-tricks/once-in-a-while-re-publish-backpack-s-css-and-js-assets