As I develop my library, my TypeScript files reside in the src directory. To streamline the process, I have set up the tsc compiler to generate JavaScript files in a separate js folder, with the final bundled scripts stored in a dist folder.
Considering that the js and dist folders are essentially derivatives of the TypeScript source code in src, it may not be necessary to include them in the git repository. By excluding these folders in the .gitignore file and including them in .npmignore, they will still be part of the npm release package.
Before each release, I conduct tests using the files from the js folder. Passing these tests ensures that both js and dist directories are properly prepared for publication on npm.
One drawback of this approach is that cloning the repository would not provide access to the compiled files directly; users would need to run npm install and build the files themselves. However, avoiding bloated commits by omitting pre-compiled files could outweigh this inconvenience.
Is it considered poor practice to exclude js and dist folders from version control in git?