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Build System

The build process is needed to download third party libraries, compile templates, minify and concatenate JavaScript files, etc. It means that you have to use build system whenever you want to modify the Core of Mibew Messenger and/or use the development version of Mibew Messenger from the repository.

Mibew Messenger utilizes Gulp.js as a build system. To make Gulp run node.js and npm are required. For most common build tasks PHP is required too.

There are several steps one should take before using the development version of Mibew Messenger from the repository:

  1. Obtain a local copy of the repository using git clone, download button, or in another way.
  2. Make sure that PHP is installed and can be used in CLI mode.
  3. Install node.js and npm.
  4. Install Gulp.
  5. Navigate to src/ directory of the local copy of the repository.
  6. Install npm dependencies using npm install.
  7. Run Gulp to build Mibew Messenger using gulp default.

Finally, .tar.gz and .zip archives of the ready-to-use development version of Mibew Messenger will be available in src/release directory.

The default task that was given above is just one of many available build tasks. The full list of build tasks can be obtained by running gulp -T in src/ directory of the repository. Here are descriptions of several most frequently used tasks:

  • gulp rebuild: installs all necessary dependencies and compile (minifies, concats, ...) all files that should be compiled. The result of the task is a redy-to-use development version of Mibew Messenger.
  • gulp default: the same as gulp rebuild but also packs Mibew Messenger into the installation archives in src/release/ directory.
  • gulp phpcs: runs PHP Code Sniffer to check whether the source code complies with the coding style.