I’ve noticed that in several GitHub repositories, there’s a folder called vendor located at the root level. I’m interested in learning what this folder is used for, and why it’s significant for developers to include it in their projects.
Could anyone clarify what the contents of the vendor folder typically are and what functions it serves in managing a project? Additionally, I’ve come across the term ‘revendoring’ and would like to know what this process entails and when it might be necessary.
Any information or explanations would be greatly appreciated as I aim to get a better grasp of these standard patterns in repositories.
Manual vendor directory management is a nightmare, especially with multiple repos and different dependency managers.
I’ve watched teams burn hours on revendoring conflicts or forgotten vendor folder updates after adding packages. Worst part? Builds failing across environments because versions don’t match.
Automation fixes this. Set up workflows that catch dependency changes, update vendor directories, run tests, and handle revendoring for security patches automatically.
I’ve automated vendor management for several projects using workflow automation. It watches package files, triggers revendoring when needed, and keeps everything synced across the team. No more manual updates or missing dependencies.
Latenode makes this automation dead simple - you can hook up repo webhooks to dependency tools and build systems without writing custom scripts.
The vendor directory serves to hold local copies of third-party dependencies essential for your project. This setup allows you to avoid downloading these libraries repeatedly during builds, ensuring all developers are on the same page regarding dependency versions. While vendoring is more prevalent in languages like Go, it remains useful for maintaining consistent builds and mitigating dependency-related issues. Revendorings imply updating the vendor directory with the latest necessary dependencies, which should be done when libraries are updated or when security vulnerabilities are addressed.
the vendor dir’s like a cache for third-party stuff, keeps ur builds smooth and dependencies in check. it can feel bulky but helps avoid constant downloads. some love it, others find it kinda messy.
I’ve worked with big codebases, and vendor directories are a lifesaver in enterprise or air-gapped environments where you can’t hit the internet during builds. I’ve seen external package repos go down and kill builds for entire teams until we started vendoring properly. The biggest win is reproducible builds - you lock exact dependency versions locally, so builds from six months ago still work exactly the same today. Downside? Your repo gets huge and you need to stay on top of security patches in the vendor directory. For revendoring, I usually do it after major dependency updates or when vulnerability scanners start yelling about outdated packages. Really depends on your release cycle and how strict your security requirements are.