package.json vs config.xml for cordova plugins

Question

What is the right way to manage Cordova's plugins & platforms ?

On a project using [email protected] & [email protected], I face 2 possibilities:

with Cordova (config.xml)

cordova create dummy-project && cd dummy-project
cordova platform add browser --save
cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-device --save

## If forgot to add `--save` option, manually update config.xml
#cordova platform save
#cordova plugin save

# reset platforms & plugins, like we just checked out the repository
rm -rf platforms plugins

# `cordova prepare` automatically setup platforms & plugins
# dependencies via config.xml
cordova prepare

Pros

Platforms and plugins belong to the Cordova realm, so it seems intuitive to use cordova

Platforms and plugins versions are saved in config.xml like below:

<plugin name="cordova-plugin-device" spec="~1.0.1" />
<engine name="browser" spec="~4.0.0" />

Multiple developers who checkouts the repo will get the same dependencies

Cons

Yet another config file config.xml which clutters the project's root directory
Duplicate infos in plugins/fetch.json and platforms/platforms.json ?
Must explicitly add --save option

with Ionic (package.json)

ionic start dummy-project blank && cd dummy-project
ionic platform add browser
ionic plugin add cordova-plugin-device

# reset platforms & plugins, like we just checked out the repository
rm -rf platforms plugins

# fetch platforms & plugins dependencies via package.json
ionic state restore

Pros

Project's dependencies consolidated into package.json with the following custom keys:
- cordovaPlugins
- cordovaPlatforms
Autosave behaviour when adding a platform or plugin

Cons

No version pinning for plugins nor platforms in package.json (that's a huge blocker for me)
Why not put cordova plugins & platforms into dependencies since they are NPM packages anyway ? ionic could symlink the dependancies between node_modules & {plugins,platforms}/

Are the ionic & cordova developers considering a unification/refactorisation of this matter ?

I personally keep my cordova-cli and ionic-cli@beta updated, and use ionic plugin add cordova-plugin-name --save and it works for me (should update both the dependencies) — Zorgatone

jakub.g jakub.g · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-02T13:56:33

Edit: second update! 2017.05.

It changes again - this time on Cordova side. Cordova 7 adds support for package.json!

See on Cordova blog: http://cordova.apache.org/news/2017/05/04/cordova-7.html

Edit: update 2016.05.

It seems that many ionic commands were created due to lack of the features in cordova, but since cordova caught up and implemented many new features, the ionic maintainers are considering dumping their command like ionic state in favor of the ones provided by cordova.

So it seems that going the "cordova way" might be more future-proof.

See those tickets:

Original answer (2016.03.):

It's a matter of person taste I'd say. Whatever solution you go through, it's best to be consistent and then always use cordova plugin add ... or ionic plugin add and not mix the two.

FYI you can have version pinning with ionic's solution, but true, you have to put it manually, or you have to specify the version explicitly during installation e.g. ionic plugin add [email protected]. Definitely there's room for improvements in ionic CLI regarding that.

For example, this is our package.json with pinned plugin versions and platform versions as well, and also pinned github SHA1:

  "cordovaPlugins": [
    "[email protected]",
    "[email protected]",
    "[email protected]",
    {
      "locator": "https://github.com/Initsogar/cordova-webintent.git#3d12378de9f38be900761a0ad06ab697cf6d9add",
      "id": "com.borismus.webintent"
    },
    {
      "variables": {
        "APP_ID": "123456789987654321",
        "APP_NAME": "TEST"
      },
      "locator": "[email protected]",
      "id": "[email protected]"
    }
  ],
  "cordovaPlatforms": [
    "[email protected]"
  ]

Then when you do ionic state restore it will honor the versions listed.