Add watch and serve subcommands to wasm-pack

text/010-wasm-pack-watch-and-serve.md

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+- Start Date: 2019-03-06
+- RFC PR: https://github.com/rustwasm/rfcs/pull/10
+- Tracking Issue: (leave this empty)
+
+# Summary
+[summary]: #summary
+
+Add two new sub-commands to `wasm-pack`:
+
+1. `watch`: watch the crate's files and automatically rebuild whenever they
+   change.
+2. `serve`: start an HTTP server for the crate directory on `localhost`.
+
+# Motivation
+[motivation]: #motivation
+
+Enable a smooth and complete local development experience for users who are not
+using a JavaScript bundler.
+
+In particular, we would like to [remove the `npm` and bundler usage from our
+Game of Life tutorial][no-bundler-in-docs] without requiring readers to install
+any additional tools other than the Rust toolchain and `wasm-pack` when setting
+up their development environment. The goal here being less moving parts to learn
+and tools to wrangle when first exploring Rust and WebAssembly.
+
+Additionally, we would like to make sure that the local development server uses
+the `application/wasm` MIME type when serving Wasm binaries. This enables the
+`WebAssembly.instantiateStreaming` fast-path for users.
+
+[no-bundler-in-docs]: https://github.com/rustwasm/book/issues/150
+
+# Stakeholders
+[stakeholders]: #stakeholders
+
+The stakeholders are primarily people that are doing Rust and Wasm development
+without a JavaScript bundler, which potentially will include all of our new
+users who are just starting the Game of Life tutorial. Most of this demographic
+is probably not watching the RFCs repository, and only some are regularly coming
+to working group meetings, so it makes sense to advertise this RFC in TWiRaWA
+and on our @rustwasm Twitter account.
+
+# Detailed Explanation
+[detailed-explanation]: #detailed-explanation
+
+We will add two new subcommands to `wasm-pack`:
+
+1. `watch`
+2. `serve`
+
+## `wasm-pack watch`
+
+The `watch` subcommand will observe the crate directory for changes and
+automatically re-build when files change.
+
+### Command Line Interface
+
+The `watch` command takes an identical set of command line arguments as
+`wasm-pack build` does.
+
+```
+USAGE:
+    wasm-pack watch [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [path] [-- <extra_options>...]
+
+FLAGS:
+        --dev              Create a development build. Enable debug info, and disable optimizations.
+        --no-typescript    By default a *.d.ts file is generated for the generated JS file, but this flag will disable
+                           generating this TypeScript file.
+    -h, --help             Prints help information
+        --profiling        Create a profiling build. Enable optimizations and debug info.
+        --release          Create a release build. Enable optimizations and disable debug info.
+    -V, --version          Prints version information
+
+OPTIONS:
+    -m, --mode <mode>          Sets steps to be run. [possible values: no-install, normal, force] [default: normal]
+    -d, --out-dir <out_dir>    Sets the output directory with a relative path. [default: pkg]
+    -s, --scope <scope>        The npm scope to use in package.json, if any.
+    -t, --target <target>      Sets the target environment. [possible values: browser, nodejs, no-modules] [default:
+                               browser]
+
+ARGS:
+    <path>                The path to the Rust crate.
+    <extra_options>...    List of extra options to pass to `cargo build`
+```
+
+### Implementation
+
+We can use [the `notify` crate][notify] to watch the filesystem for
+changes. Initially, we will just watch the crate directory for
+changes. Eventually, we can use [`cargo build --build-plan`][build-plan] to get
+a list of files that we should be watching.
+
+[notify]: https://crates.io/crates/notify
+[build-plan]: https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/issues/5579
+
+## `wasm-pack serve`
+
+The `serve` subcommand starts a local Web server in the crate directory, watches
+for file changes, and re-builds the crate on changes.
+
+### Command Line Interface
+
+The `serve` subcommand takes a superset of the arguments that `wasm-pack build`
+takes. Like other `wasm-pack` subcommands, it takes an optional path to the
+crate directory as a positional argument, but if that is missing, then it
+defaults to the current directory. It has the usual flags for controlling the
+build profile, and the target environment. It takes extra options after `--`
+that get passed through straight to `cargo build`.
+
+Additionally, it has a `--no-watch` flag to disable watching the crate for
+changes to kick off automatic re-builds, and a `--port` option to specifiy the
+port the local server should bind to.
+
+```
+USAGE:
+    wasm-pack serve [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [path] [-- <extra_options>...]
+
+FLAGS:
+        --dev              Create a development build. Enable debug info, and disable optimizations.
+        --no-typescript    By default a *.d.ts file is generated for the generated JS file, but this flag will disable
+                           generating this TypeScript file.
+    -h, --help             Prints help information
+        --profiling        Create a profiling build. Enable optimizations and debug info.
+        --release          Create a release build. Enable optimizations and disable debug info.
+    -V, --version          Prints version information
+        --no-watch         Do not watch the crate for changes to automaticaly rebuild.
+
+OPTIONS:
+    -m, --mode <mode>          Sets steps to be run. [possible values: no-install, normal, force] [default: normal]
+    -d, --out-dir <out_dir>    Sets the output directory with a relative path. [default: pkg]
+    -s, --scope <scope>        The npm scope to use in package.json, if any.
+    -t, --target <target>      Sets the target environment. [possible values: browser, nodejs, no-modules] [default:
+                               browser]
+    -p, --port <port>          Bind to this port number with the local development HTTP server. [default: 8000]
+
+ARGS:
+    <path>                The path to the Rust crate.
+    <extra_options>...    List of extra options to pass to `cargo build`
+```
+
+### Implementation
+
+Rather than integrating an HTTP server into the `wasm-pack` binary itself, we
+should leverage its ability to download and run other binaries. Exactly *which*
+local HTTP server binary is left as an unresolved question.
+
+The subcommand will start the local HTTP server and then execute the `watch`
+subcommand (unless `--no-watch` is supplied).
+
+# Drawbacks, Rationale, and Alternatives
+
+The primary drawbacks are authoring and maintaining two more subcommands to
+implement functionality that is already available in external, third-party
+tools. We try to mitigate this downside by using existing local HTTP server
+binaries rather than building an HTTP server directly into `wasm-pack` itself.
+
+## Alternative: Build the HTTP Server into `wasm-pack`
+
+An alternative design would be to build the HTTP server into `wasm-pack` itself,
+using one of the existing crates for building Web servers like rocket, actix,
+hyper, tide, etc:
+
+* **Pros:**
+  * The `wasm-pack serve` command is ready to roll immediately after `wasm-pack`
+    is installed, and doesn't need to hit the network the first time you run
+    it. This situation only arises when folks who already downloaded `wasm-pack`
+    do their first build/serve offline, disconnected from the internet. This
+    seems like a niche enough situation that we can take the trade off.
+* **Cons:**
+  * Building the HTTP server into the `wasm-pack` binary is less robust: by
+    shelling out to an external binary for our local server, we get process
+    isolation, which makes error recovery simpler.
+  * More work to implement. `wasm-pack` already has plenty of infrastructure for
+    downloading and working with external binaries, so using external HTTP
+    servers should be fairly easy to implement.
+
+## Alternative: Only `serve` and Don't `watch`
+
+We could only implement the `serve` subcommand and not the `watch` subcommand or
+the filesystem watching functionality.
+
+My original motivation when writing this RFC was just to get a local server
+story sorted out. But I realized that for most users, if their build tool starts
+a local server, they expect new, post-`serve` file changes to be automatically
+rebuilt and reflected in the served things. This is what `webpack`, `jekyll`,
+`elm`, and `ember` CLIs do for a small selection. I think that this expectation
+is large enough that we have to support file watching and automatic rebuild if
+we support `serve` at all.
+
+That said, we could avoid having a `watch` *subcommand* and only expose the file
+watching functionality through the `serve` subcommand. At this point though,
+supporting the `watch` subcommand is a trivial amount of work, and there are use
+cases where it could be useful without the server: for example, JS bundler
+plugins could use it to re-build wasm packages, but then they are already
+running their own local server and are doing bundler-y stuff in-between the wasm
+package build and serving the newest wasm, like minifying some JS.
+
+## Alternative: Don't.
+
+Are we fine with the status quo where `wasm-pack` can neither locally serve
+files nor watch for file changes and auto rebuild? I think that *if* we want to
+remove the npm and bundler usage from the Game of Life tutorial, then the answer
+is "no". But maybe it isn't worth the hassle to port the Game of Life tutorial
+and add these `wasm-pack` features?
+
+# Unresolved Questions
+[unresolved]: #unresolved-questions
+
+* Which local HTTP server binary should we use?
+
+  | Server                              | Windows/macOs/Linux Binary Releases? | `application/wasm` MIME type? |
+  |-------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
+  | [`miniserve`][miniserve]            | Yes                                  | Yes                           |
+  | [`httplz`][https]                   | No                                   | Yes                           |
+  | [`simple-http-server`][simple-http] | Yes                                  | No                            |
+
+  There are probably even more options on crates.io than this, but these were
+  the ones that I found in a quick search and seemed actively maintained.
+
+  Given these results, I think we should pursue `miniserve` further: reach out
+  to the maintainers to make sure they are cool with it and don't intend on
+  ditching the project any time soon.
+
+  We *could* also write our own local server binary using existing crates for
+  writing Web servers, which shouldn't be *too* hard given our limited need for
+  features. But ideally we shouldn't need to do this given that `miniserve`
+  seems to fulfill all of our requirements.
+
+[https]: https://crates.io/crates/https
+[miniserve]: https://crates.io/crates/miniserve
+[simple-http]: https://crates.io/crates/simple-http-server