Files from resources randomly moves to conf directory after update 2.8.11 -> 2.9.5

[kostafey]

I have upgraded Play 2.8.11 -> 2.9.5 and encountered the following problem.
When I run sbt dist, some files (seem to be randomly selected) are moved from the resources directory to the conf directory.
Other files are still located in resources.

What is the reason for that, and how can I keep all resources in the resources directory?

[mkurz]

Which resources directory do you mean? src/main/resources?

[kostafey]

I used /resources from the root directory of the project. Most of the files from this directory moved to the /conf inside the final .zip file in /target/universal/ created by sbt distcommand.

Here is a part of my build.sbt file:

Compile / unmanagedResourceDirectories += baseDirectory.value / "resources"
Compile / unmanagedResourceDirectories += baseDirectory.value / "test/resources"

[mkurz]

I tried the same with a Play 2.8.22 and 3.0.5 Play app, with your described unmanagedResourceDirectories settings and all the files within the resources folder were put into the conf folder of the distribution, no matter if Play 2.8 or Play 3. So there is no difference and also this is totally expected. This is what the unmanagedResourceDirectories setting is here for. I can not see any problem with that. In sbt you can run show unmanagedResourceDirectories and you should see which directories are unmanaged resource dirs, like conf by default.

What I can not reproduce is that the files get "randomly" selected, and you write "most" of the files. I can not see that, maybe there is another problem with your setup or you mix the unmanagedResourceDirectories setting with others, like the mappings you describe below.

[kostafey]

Here is a workaround. To keep the required files in the resources folder they should be mentioned in build.sbt. These are actually the files that were previously listed explicitly in build.sbt and remained in resources after the build:

mappings in Universal += file("resources/someFile.xml") ->  "resources/someFile.xml"

[mkurz]

This is not a workaround, this is just how things work. Neither Play nor sbt nor sbt-native-packager does know anything about the resources folder or it's content, so with the mapping you tell sbt where to package a file within the distribution. Again, this is nothing special, this is just how it works.

[mkurz]

Like written, I can not reproduce a problem here and can not see what's actually wrong. All you describe is how things should work.

[kostafey]

Yes, there is actually no randomization at all. I just forgot about the mappings section in my build.sbt :). So, all the files that were not mentioned in mappings end up in the conf folder from resources after running sbt dist. But in some previous version of the Play, they just stay in resources as is. Should I revert and check it out again?

[mkurz]

But in some previous version of the Play, they just stay in resources as is.

OK, you mean that the resources folder basicially were copied 1:1 into the root of the distribution package. It's possible that happend in an old version of Play, but this behaviour was definitely wrong. I tested with latest Play and can confirm how things work now is correct.
So, if you do not define any unmanagedResourceDirectories then a resources folder will not be copied into the distribution. It's like Play does not know anything about it. You need to add it with unmanagedResourceDirectories so it gets copied into the conf folder.
And if you using mapping you can copy it wherever you want into the distribution.

One thing didn't get mentioned here yet: In https://www.playframework.com/documentation/3.0.x/Anatomy you can see there is this special dist folder you can use as well:

dist                     → Arbitrary files to be included in your projects distribution

So if you create a dist folder in the root of your project, all it's content will be copied 1:1 into the distribution.
E.g. dist/myfile will end up as myfile in the root of your dist. So if you want to copy a resources folder you can add it to dist/resources/ and it will be available as resources in your dist. This all can be done without configuring any unmanagedResourceDirectories or mappings Maybe that is easier for you.