react-universally/internal/docs/FAQ.md

A starter kit for universal react applications.

 - [Project Overview](/internal/docs/PROJECT_OVERVIEW.md)
 - [Project Configuration](/internal/docs/PROJECT_CONFIG.md)
 - [Package Script Commands](/internal/docs/PKG_SCRIPTS.md)
 - [Feature Branches](/internal/docs/FEATURE_BRANCHES.md)
 - [Deploy your very own Server Side Rendering React App in 5 easy steps](/internal/docs/DEPLOY_TO_NOW.md)
 - __[FAQ](/internal/docs/FAQ.md)__

# Frequently Asked Questions

___Q:___ __Why do you structure your dependencies like they are?__

The dependencies within `package.json` are structured so that the libraries required to transpile/bundle the source are contained within the `devDependencies` section, whilst the libraries required during the server runtime are contained within the `dependencies` section.

If you perform build tasks on your production environment you must ensure that you have allowed the installation of the `devDependencies` too (Heroku, for example doesn't do this by default).

There have been talks about creating a "dist" build, which would avoid target environment build steps however Webpack has an issue with bundle node_module dependencies if they include `require` statements using expressions/variables to resolve the module names.

___Q:___ __My project fails to build and execute when I deploy it to my host__

The likely issue in this case, is that your hosting provider doesn't install the `devDependencies` by default.  The dependencies within `package.json` are structured so that the libraries required to transpile/bundle the source are contained within the `devDependencies` section, whilst the libraries required during the server runtime are contained within the `dependencies` section.
You two options to fix this:

 1. Prebuild your project and then deploy it along with the build output.
 2. Change your host configuration so that it will install the `devDependencies` too.  In the case of Heroku for example see [here](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/nodejs-support#devdependencies).

___Q:___ __How do I keep my project up to date with changes/fixes made on `react-universally`?__

This project wants to be a base starter kit allowing you to mould it as you like for each of your project's needs.  This comes with the trade off that updates/fixes will be more "involved" to apply.

One example workflow is:

```bash
# First clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/ctrlplusb/react-universally my-project

# Go into your project
cd my-project

# Now rename the "origin" git remote to "upstream"
git remote rename origin upstream

# I would then recommend creating a hosted repository for your
# project.

# Then add your newly created repository as the new "origin"
git remote add origin https://github.com/my-github-username/my-project

# Then push the master branch. This will also bind it to new
# "origin" remote.
git push -u origin master

# You can now code/commit/push to origin as normal.
# If you want to at some stage get new changes from the
# react-universally project, then do something like this:

# First fetch the latest changes
git fetch upstream

# Then merge them into your project
git merge upstream/master

# Deal with the merge conflicts, delete the yarn.lock file and
# rebuild it, then commit and push.
```