Suggest use as a dev_dependency instead of global install

[sigurdm]

Why don't we recommend installing webdev as a dev_dependency? (here).

Then we could add the constraints

dependencies:
  build_runner: ^2.4.0
  build_web_compilers: ^4.0.4

And we would not have to manually validate constraints of the current apps pubspec.lock, but rely on the pub solver to do it..

Maybe I'm missing something obvious. But it seemed to work when I tried.

[bkonyi]

How would users run webdev as a dev dependency (I know it's possible, I just don't remember the CLI syntax)? We could definitely recommend this approach, but we won't be able to remove support for the current workflow given most users will be activating webdev as a global package.

On a side note, I'd like to move this repository into the SDK and expose webdev through the CLI, which will remove the need for depending on webdev via pub at all.

[parlough]

How would users run webdev as a dev dependency?

Just dart run webdev build. It's always been my preferred way of using webdev in projects, but I always assumed I was missing context on why it was suggested to install it globally.

On a side note, I'd like to move this repository into the SDK and expose webdev through the CLI, which will remove the need for depending on webdev via pub at all.

+1 This would make our web development docs/story much more straightforward and consistent.

[sigurdm]

On a side note, I'd like to move this repository into the SDK and expose webdev through the CLI, which will remove the need for depending on webdev via pub at all.

But there would still be a need to align with the versions of build_runner and build_web_compilers ?

In that case making it a dev-dependency might be easier (or are those also moving to the sdk?)

[bkonyi]

There's a lot of details that we'll need to figure out before we'd move the contents of this repo to the SDK (if it's even possible to do cleanly). However, I'm optimistic we can come up with a solution that would remove the need for depending on packages to build and serve web applications.

[sigurdm]

There's a lot of details that we'll need to figure out before we'd move the contents of this repo to the SDK (if it's even possible to do cleanly). However, I'm optimistic we can come up with a solution that would remove the need for depending on packages to build and serve web applications.

What is the ETA? Is it worth fixing this issue in the mean-time?

[bkonyi]

What is the ETA? Is it worth fixing this issue in the mean-time?

Eventually... :-)

There's no concrete plans yet, so it's definitely worth updating documentation for now.