gulpjs/gulp

Better document using ordered-read-stream to handle multiple streams being returned

Open

#1269 opened on Sep 21, 2015

View on GitHub
 (8 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (32,979 stars) (4,166 forks)batch import
documentationgulp4help wanted

Description

A really commonly asked question, and one of the recipes, is how to return multiple streams in one task. The answer is to use merge-stream, of course, but would it be easier for users / cut down the number of support questions if merge-stream were a dependency of gulp and returning an array of streams called it automatically?

So this:

var gulp = require('gulp');
var merge = require('merge-stream');

gulp.task('test', function() {
  var bootstrap = gulp.src('bootstrap/js/*.js')
    .pipe(gulp.dest('public/bootstrap'));

  var jquery = gulp.src('jquery.cookie/jquery.cookie.js')
    .pipe(gulp.dest('public/jquery'));

  return merge(bootstrap, jquery);
});

Would turn into this:

var gulp = require('gulp');

gulp.task('test', function() {
  var bootstrap = gulp.src('bootstrap/js/*.js')
    .pipe(gulp.dest('public/bootstrap'));

  var jquery = gulp.src('jquery.cookie/jquery.cookie.js')
    .pipe(gulp.dest('public/jquery'));

  return [bootstrap, jquery];
});

It's pretty much the same, but a lot simpler to someone who doesn't understand streams or nodejs. Also, really easy to implement.

Thoughts?

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascriptnodejs
Domain
build systemtooling
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
Node.js streamsgulp task system
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
30
Research direction
The issue proposes making merge stream a dependency of gulp and automatically merging arrays of streams returned from tasks. To implement, examine gulp's task runner (likely orchestrator) to detect array returns and pipe them through merge stream. Check the current state of merge stream npm package and consider using ordered read stream if needed. Review linked comments for consensus and any technical constraints. No pull requests exist; the issue is open but stale since 2015.