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1# Bower {#sec-bower}
2
3[Bower](https://bower.io) is a package manager for web site front-end components. Bower packages (comprising of build artifacts and sometimes sources) are stored in `git` repositories, typically on Github. The package registry is run by the Bower team with package metadata coming from the `bower.json` file within each package.
4
5The end result of running Bower is a `bower_components` directory which can be included in the web app's build process.
6
7Bower can be run interactively, by installing `nodePackages.bower`. More interestingly, the Bower components can be declared in a Nix derivation, with the help of `nodePackages.bower2nix`.
8
9## bower2nix usage {#ssec-bower2nix-usage}
10
11Suppose you have a `bower.json` with the following contents:
12
13### Example bower.json {#ex-bowerJson}
14
15```json
16 "name": "my-web-app",
17 "dependencies": {
18 "angular": "~1.5.0",
19 "bootstrap": "~3.3.6"
20 }
21```
22
23Running `bower2nix` will produce something like the following output:
24
25```nix
26{ fetchbower, buildEnv }:
27buildEnv { name = "bower-env"; ignoreCollisions = true; paths = [
28 (fetchbower "angular" "1.5.3" "~1.5.0" "1749xb0firxdra4rzadm4q9x90v6pzkbd7xmcyjk6qfza09ykk9y")
29 (fetchbower "bootstrap" "3.3.6" "~3.3.6" "1vvqlpbfcy0k5pncfjaiskj3y6scwifxygfqnw393sjfxiviwmbv")
30 (fetchbower "jquery" "2.2.2" "1.9.1 - 2" "10sp5h98sqwk90y4k6hbdviwqzvzwqf47r3r51pakch5ii2y7js1")
31]; }
32```
33
34Using the `bower2nix` command line arguments, the output can be redirected to a file. A name like `bower-packages.nix` would be fine.
35
36The resulting derivation is a union of all the downloaded Bower packages (and their dependencies). To use it, they still need to be linked together by Bower, which is where `buildBowerComponents` is useful.
37
38## buildBowerComponents function {#ssec-build-bower-components}
39
40The function is implemented in [pkgs/development/bower-modules/generic/default.nix](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/development/bower-modules/generic/default.nix).
41
42### Example buildBowerComponents {#ex-buildBowerComponents}
43
44```nix
45{
46 bowerComponents = buildBowerComponents {
47 name = "my-web-app";
48 generated = ./bower-packages.nix; # note 1
49 src = myWebApp; # note 2
50 };
51}
52```
53
54In ["buildBowerComponents" example](#ex-buildBowerComponents) the following arguments are of special significance to the function:
55
561. `generated` specifies the file which was created by {command}`bower2nix`.
572. `src` is your project's sources. It needs to contain a {file}`bower.json` file.
58
59`buildBowerComponents` will run Bower to link together the output of `bower2nix`, resulting in a `bower_components` directory which can be used.
60
61Here is an example of a web frontend build process using `gulp`. You might use `grunt`, or anything else.
62
63### Example build script (gulpfile.js) {#ex-bowerGulpFile}
64
65```javascript
66var gulp = require('gulp');
67
68gulp.task('default', [], function () {
69 gulp.start('build');
70});
71
72gulp.task('build', [], function () {
73 console.log("Just a dummy gulp build");
74 gulp
75 .src(["./bower_components/**/*"])
76 .pipe(gulp.dest("./gulpdist/"));
77});
78```
79
80### Example Full example — default.nix {#ex-buildBowerComponentsDefaultNix}
81
82```nix
83{ myWebApp ? { outPath = ./.; name = "myWebApp"; }
84, pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {}
85}:
86
87pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
88 name = "my-web-app-frontend";
89 src = myWebApp;
90
91 buildInputs = [ pkgs.nodePackages.gulp ];
92
93 bowerComponents = pkgs.buildBowerComponents { # note 1
94 name = "my-web-app";
95 generated = ./bower-packages.nix;
96 src = myWebApp;
97 };
98
99 buildPhase = ''
100 cp --reflink=auto --no-preserve=mode -R $bowerComponents/bower_components . # note 2
101 export HOME=$PWD # note 3
102 ${pkgs.nodePackages.gulp}/bin/gulp build # note 4
103 '';
104
105 installPhase = "mv gulpdist $out";
106}
107```
108
109A few notes about [Full example — `default.nix`](#ex-buildBowerComponentsDefaultNix):
110
1111. The result of `buildBowerComponents` is an input to the frontend build.
1122. Whether to symlink or copy the {file}`bower_components` directory depends on the build tool in use.
113 In this case a copy is used to avoid {command}`gulp` silliness with permissions.
1143. {command}`gulp` requires `HOME` to refer to a writeable directory.
1154. The actual build command in this example is {command}`gulp`. Other tools could be used instead.
116
117## Troubleshooting {#ssec-bower2nix-troubleshooting}
118
119### ENOCACHE errors from buildBowerComponents {#enocache-errors-from-buildbowercomponents}
120
121This means that Bower was looking for a package version which doesn't exist in the generated `bower-packages.nix`.
122
123If `bower.json` has been updated, then run `bower2nix` again.
124
125It could also be a bug in `bower2nix` or `fetchbower`. If possible, try reformulating the version specification in `bower.json`.