removed symlink logic and using route bridging instead.

Also allowed plugins to define modules from their plugin.json

Gruntfile.js

@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
 			clientUpdated: {
 				files: [
 					'public/src/**/*.js',
-					'!public/src/modules/*.js',
 					'node_modules/nodebb-*/*.js', 'node_modules/nodebb-*/**/*.js',
 					'!node_modules/nodebb-*/node_modules/**',
 					'node_modules/templates.js/lib/templates.js',

public/src/modules/.gitignore

@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-# Warning: This directory contains auto-generated files (symlinked), and should
-# not be tracked by git. If you want to specifically have a file tracked by git,
-# please include it in this file.
-
-
-
-# Ignore all files in this directory...
-/*
-
-# except these folders...
-!/settings
-
-# and these files...
-!/.gitignore
-!/alerts.js
-!/autocomplete.js
-!/chat.js
-!/components.js
-!/coverPhoto.js
-!/csrf.js
-!/helpers.js
-!/iconSelect.js
-!/navigator.js
-!/notifications.js
-!/postSelect.js
-!/search.js
-!/settings.js
-!/share.js
-!/sort.js
-!/sounds.js
-!/string.js
-!/taskbar.js
-!/topicSelect.js
-!/translator.js
-!/uploader.js

src/meta.js

@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ var async = require('async'),
 			async.apply(plugins.clearRequireCache),
 			async.apply(plugins.reload),
 			async.apply(plugins.reloadRoutes),
-			async.apply(Meta.js.symlinkModules),
 			async.apply(Meta.css.minify),
 			async.apply(Meta.js.minify, 'nodebb.min.js'),
 			async.apply(Meta.js.minify, 'acp.min.js'),

src/meta/js.js

@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ var winston = require('winston'),
 	async = require('async'),
 	nconf = require('nconf'),
 	fs = require('fs'),
-	rimraf = require('rimraf'),
 	file = require('../file'),
 	plugins = require('../plugins'),
 	emitter = require('../emitter'),
@@ -79,7 +78,7 @@ module.exports = function(Meta) {
 				'public/src/modules/string.js'
 			],
 
-			// modules listed below are symlinked to public/src/modules so they can be defined anonymously
+			// modules listed below are routed through express (/src/modules) so they can be defined anonymously
 			modules: [
 				'./node_modules/chart.js/Chart.js',
 				'./node_modules/mousetrap/mousetrap.js',
@@ -89,38 +88,30 @@ module.exports = function(Meta) {
 		}
 	};
 
-	Meta.js.symlinkModules = function(callback) {
-		// Symlink all defined modules to /public/src/modules
-		var modulesLoaded = 0,
-			targetPath;
+	Meta.js.bridgeModules = function(app, callback) {
+		// Add routes for AMD-type modules to serve those files
+		console.log('bridging modules:', Meta.js.scripts.modules);
+		var numBridged = 0;
 
 		async.series([
 			function(next) {
 				async.each(Meta.js.scripts.modules, function(localPath, next) {
-					targetPath = path.join(__dirname, '../../public/src/modules', path.basename(localPath));
-
-					async.waterfall([
-						async.apply(fs.access, localPath, fs.R_OK),
-						async.apply(rimraf, targetPath),
-						async.apply(fs.link, localPath, targetPath)
-					], function(err) {
-						if (err) {
-							winston.error('[meta/js] Could not symlink `' + localPath + '` to modules folder');
-						} else {
-							winston.verbose('[meta/js] Symlinked `' + localPath + '` to modules folder');
-							++modulesLoaded;
-						}
-
-						next(err);
+					app.get(path.join('/src/modules/', path.basename(localPath)), function(req, res) {
+						return res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, '../../', localPath), {
+							maxAge: app.enabled('cache') ? 5184000000 : 0
+						});
 					});
+
+					++numBridged;
+					next();
 				}, next);
 			}
 		], function(err) {
 			if (err) {
-				winston.error('[meta/js] Encountered error while symlinking modules:' + err.message);
+				winston.error('[meta/js] Encountered error while bridging modules:' + err.message);
 			}
 
-			winston.verbose('[meta/js] ' + modulesLoaded + ' of ' + Meta.js.scripts.modules.length + ' modules symlinked');
+			winston.verbose('[meta/js] ' + numBridged + ' of ' + Meta.js.scripts.modules.length + ' modules bridged');
 			callback(err);
 		});
 	};

src/plugins/load.js

@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@ var fs = require('fs'),
 	winston = require('winston'),
 	nconf = require('nconf'),
 	_ = require('underscore'),
-	file = require('../file'),
-	utils = require('../../public/src/utils');
+	file = require('../file');
+
+var utils = require('../../public/src/utils'),
+	meta = require('../meta');
 
 
 module.exports = function(Plugins) {
@@ -40,6 +42,9 @@ module.exports = function(Plugins) {
 				function(next) {
 					mapClientSideScripts(pluginData, next);
 				},
+				function(next) {
+					mapClientModules(pluginData, next);
+				},
 				function(next) {
 					loadLanguages(pluginData, next);
 				}
@@ -163,7 +168,21 @@ module.exports = function(Plugins) {
 		}
 
 		callback();
-	}
+	};
+
+	function mapClientModules(pluginData, callback) {
+		if (Array.isArray(pluginData.modules)) {
+			if (global.env === 'development') {
+				winston.verbose('[plugins] Found ' + pluginData.modules.length + ' AMD-style module(s) for plugin ' + pluginData.id);
+			}
+
+			meta.js.scripts.modules = meta.js.scripts.modules.concat(pluginData.modules.map(function(file) {
+				return path.join('./node_modules/', pluginData.id, file);
+			}));
+		}
+
+		callback();
+	};
 
 	function loadLanguages(pluginData, callback) {
 		if (typeof pluginData.languages !== 'string') {

src/webserver.js

@@ -84,10 +84,10 @@ function initializeNodeBB(callback) {
 		function(next) {
 			plugins.init(app, middleware, next);
 		},
+		async.apply(meta.js.bridgeModules, app),
 		function(next) {
 			async.series([
 				async.apply(meta.templates.compile),
-				async.apply(meta.js.symlinkModules),
 				async.apply(!skipJS ? meta.js.minify : meta.js.getFromFile, 'nodebb.min.js'),
 				async.apply(!skipJS ? meta.js.minify : meta.js.getFromFile, 'acp.min.js'),
 				async.apply(meta.css.minify),