If you do software development, you should use version control, and Cordova projects are no different. However, Cordova CLI generates a fair number of derived artifacts which shouldn’t be placed under version control.
The typical Cordova CLI project has at a minimum these directories in the project.
- www: where your html, css and javascript live
- merges: platforms specific html, css, javascript
- .cordova: ‘under the hood’ cordova files and directories, and lifecycle hook scripts
- platforms: platform specific build directories
- plugins: downloadable plugins
Based on this Stack Overflow question (which I asked), as well as my experience, the first three directories above should be versioned, and the latter two added to your version control system’s ignore file.
You can, of course, add additional top level directories, and as we continue to explore Cordova CLI, I will show you the directories I have found useful in my development. I don’t think it really matters much which version control system you use–just use one!
In the next post, I will discuss upgrading Cordova CLI, one of the great reasons to keep these directories under version control.