🐛dist/ directory isn't cleaned on repeated builds

[mikecfisher]

I have a very simple package that I'm using parcel to compile. When I run a build I notice that parcel generates new compiled javascript files with new hash numbers, but doesn't clean the old files. I've done extensive searching and can't seem to find a way to fix this. Is this the intended behavior?

Here's the command I'm running:

"build": "parcel build src/iframe.html"

Software	Version(s)
Parcel	1.7.1
Node	8.9.4
npm/Yarn	yarn 1.3.2
Operating System	Mac OS

[DeMoorJasper]

This is the intended behaviour. The hashes are content hashes.
These are used for invalidating browser cache, for changed files.
One way to (fix) this would be to put a remove command in front of the build command

[reflog]

There's a plugin for that parcel-plugin-clean-dist

[DeMoorJasper]

Closing this, as the plugin should resolve the issue

[helpermethod]

In package.json, add another script named prebuild:

"prebuild": "rm -rf dist"

prebuild will run automatically before the build script.
Only works on Linux/Unix systems but saves you a dependency.

[linvain]

@helpermethod Thanks! Actually it works on Windows too :)

[tjfwalker]

Only works on Linux/Unix systems

Then

"prebuild": "shx rm -rf dist/*"

where

shx is a wrapper around ShellJS Unix commands, providing an easy solution for simple Unix-like, cross-platform commands in npm package scripts

Though, then you lose that "saves you a dependency" upshot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[kiranvj]

In windows I had to use
"prebuild": "rmdir dist /s /q"

to make it work.

[RadValentin]

The parcel-plugin-clean-dist isn't taking PRs or being actively maintained and, at least on my setup, doesn't seem to actually wipe the /dist directory. So I made an alternative parcel-plugin-nuke-dist, feel free to give it a shot 😄

[FynnZW]

To prevent different behaviour on windows/linux, rimraf also works great:

npm install rimraf --save-dev

in package.json:
"prebuild": "rimraf dist",

[yoanmalie]

Hey, "prebuild" work also on macOS, no need to install plugin 🎉

Tested on maOS 10.14.6.

[Grawl]

this should not be solved using a plugin

this is not an optional feature

every Parcel user have a tons of unused files without this

[hayatbiralem]

In package.json, add another script named prebuild:

"prebuild": "rm -rf dist"

prebuild will run automatically before the build script.
Only works on Linux/Unix systems but saves you a dependency.

I'm using Cmder (Portable console emulator for Windows) and it supports linux based syntax so it works with Cmder too.

Thanks 👍