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I'm developing a JavaScript/React application in Intellij Idea and I'm using webpack-dev-server to incrementally build my files. That means that the dev server is watching the files and if a file gets changes, webpack rebuilds it. Pretty standard scenario.

Unfortunately, webpack sometimes decides to ignore certain files. I can change them all I want but webpack does nothing. I have not been able to determine any pattern on which files get ignored. It's arbitrary. Sometimes I just create a new file and webpack ignores it.

What is interesting though is that it only happens when I perform the save using Intellij Idea. If I open the file in another editor (for example vim) and save it, the file gets correctly rebuilt. Actually, simple touch file.js is enough to trigger rebuilding.

I guess there is something wrong in how Intellij Idea saves files. Any ideas?

tobik
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2 Answers2

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This is due to an IDE feature known as "safe write". When enabled, the IDE will write the changes to a temporary file over the real one. This means webpack's file watching mechanism cannot pick up the changes. Disable this feature to fix the problem. Reference.

Juho Vepsäläinen
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For me this did not work, I'm posting this in case anyone has the same scenario. After each save, webpack watch script builds the new bundles and I'm reloading all files from disk (CTRL + ALT + Y). Only after that the changes are visible.

There is an open issue "Background" changes by external tool not being picked up until VFS refresh happens regarding this behavior: file is saved but one has to reload all from disk in order to see the changes (for example in the browser).

hugoalexandremf
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