unnecessary-wrapper-gulp-plugins

Unnecessary wrapper gulp-* plugins

We will do something different here and have a recipe for each gulp-* plugin that simply wraps around an existing NodeJS library.

There are ```gulp-*`` plugins that are

• well-written
• well-maintained
• fills up a void in the gulp ecosystem
• actually add something of value

Meanwhile, there are some that can simply be replaced with a gulp recipe, with the help of some utility libraries to glue them together.

Unfortunately, these plugins come with additional overhead: an extra GitHub repository, npm module, maintainer, tests, semantics, etc. It's much simpler in this case to use the original module directly where you can, which is what vinyl-source-stream handles for you.

Why should we embrace existing NodeJS libraries?

(wip)

Sometimes this boil downs to a matter perspective, personal preference and what you are willing (or unwilling) to sacrifice

For reasons why existing NodeJS libraries should be embraced over thin wrapper plugins, read the following articles for some insight:

• Why you shouldn’t create a gulp plugin (or, how to stop worrying and learn to love existing node packages)
• gulp + browserify, the gulp-y way

Of course, this is just an opinion on the subject.

Error handling

(wip)

List of useful utility libraries (gulp glues)

Sometimes, what you need is just a little utility or two to cook up your perfect gulp recipe.

• vinyl-transform: Great for libraries that work on a filename and returns a ReadableStream (e.g: browserify)
• vinyl-map: Perfect for libraries that work on a filename and/or its buffer content and returns a string output (e.g: clean-css)
• vinyl-source-stream: Just the thing you need to convert a regular NodeJS ReadableStream to a gulp stream that emits streaming vinyl file objects
• vinyl-buffer: Usually paired with vinyl-source-stream, this library converts your streaming vinyl file objects (which you get from vinyl-source-stream) to a buffered form (which most gulp pipes usually work on)
• gulp-concat: Need to concatenate a bunch of input files into a single output file? This is the tool for you.

List of gulp-y recipes for each wrapper plugins

Wrapper plugin	Original library	Gulp recipe	Glue(s)	Note(s)
gulp-browserify	browserify	browserify.js	vinyl-transform	-
gulp-minify-css	clean-css	clean-css.js	vinyl-map	-
gulp-clean-css	clean-css	clean-css.js	vinyl-map	-
gulp-cleancss	clean-css	clean-css.js	vinyl-map	-
gulp-cssmin	clean-css	clean-css.js	vinyl-map	-
gulp-uglify	uglify-js	uglify-js.js	vinyl-map & gulp-concat	-
gulp-rimraf	rimraf	del.js	none	rimraf does not support glob patterns; use del instead. Credits: delete-files-folder
gulp-clean	rimraf	del.js	none	rimraf does not support glob patterns; use del instead. Credits: delete-files-folder