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Feature #39111

open

Asset Pipeline Integration in Redmine for Rails 7 without modifying existing themes

Added by Takashi Kato 2 months ago. Updated about 1 month ago.

Status:
New
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
-
Category:
-
Target version:
-
Start date:
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Estimated time:
Resolution:

Description

This patch enables the Asset Pipeline in Redmine, assuming you have upgraded to Rails 7(#36320).

Until Rails 6.1, Sprockets was a prerequisite for using the Asset Pipeline. However, starting from Rails 7, Propshaft has been introduced as an alternative option.
While Propshaft offers fewer features compared to Sprockets, it boasts a smaller codebase and greater clarity in its operations (eliminating the need for a JavaScript runtime). Additionally, manifest files are no longer necessary during development.

Key benefits of using Propshaft include:

  • The ability to append file digests to file names instead of Rails3 stytle cache-busting approach involving query strings at the end of assets (expected to enhance cache hit rates).
  • Support for tasks like copying plugin assets to the public directory each time Redmine starts.
  • Compatibility with Turbo, which is almost mandatory in Rails 7 and later. (Note that Rails 7 and later deprecate rails-ujs, the current Redmine dependency.)

To address potential challenges associated with introducing Propshaft, we have extended its functionality in the following ways:

  • We've made it possible for Propshaft to handle Redmine plugin and theme assets without requiring modification(If we use propshaft in default, we will need to modify the links to other assets in stylesheets.).
  • We've ensured that introducing Asset Pipeline does not necessitate rewriting existing stylesheets, thus avoiding major incompatibilities with Redmine themes.
  • In a production environment, rather than manually running the rails asset:precompile command before starting Rails, we now automatically check for asset updates and run precompilation as needed. (You can disable this automatic execution by setting config.assets.redmine_detect_update to false in config/environments/production.rb).

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Actions #1

Updated by Dmitry Lisichkin about 1 month ago

Hello. Sorry for long response.
Am I right that your idea is about using propshaft without other tools (without compilation)?
In my work I start from another side - compilation with old good sprockets as digest generator.

Actions #2

Updated by Dmitry Lisichkin about 1 month ago

And after all I can say that your way can be much simplier because of using tools like webpack or other requires many changes in existed js files of redmine.
For example application.js is just a big helper that in propper way should be splitted to many small libraries.
Another problem is a huge usage of js.erb files that directly call functions from application.js and other js files.

Actions #3

Updated by Dmitry Lisichkin about 1 month ago

One other problem that we have on our installation - many existed themes and plugins assumed that redmine assets available on root of public directory (not in assets subdirectory), I see a lot of hardcoded pathes in js and css that use absolute and relative paths to the root of redmine hosts.
As result I still have old mechanic with copying assets to root of public directory for backward compability.
Good alternative is usage of old behaviour for plugin_name/assets/* and use new behaviour for some other directories like plugin_name/app/assets/*.

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