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@@ -1,11 +1,31 @@
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# Dependencies
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-See [web/docs/dependencies.md](../../web/docs/dependencies.md) for general web
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-specific dependencies. See [electron.md](electron.md) for our main dependency,
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-Electron. The rest of this document describes the remaining, desktop specific
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-dependencies that are used by the Photos desktop app.
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+## Electron
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-## Electron related
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+[Electron](https://www.electronjs.org) is a cross-platform (Linux, Windows,
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+macOS) way for creating desktop apps using TypeScript.
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+
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+Electron embeds Chromium and Node.js in the generated app's binary. The
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+generated app thus consists of two separate processes - the _main_ process, and
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+a _renderer_ process.
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+
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+- The _main_ process is runs the embedded node. This process can deal with the
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+ host OS - it is conceptually like a `node` repl running on your machine. In
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+ our case, the TypeScript code (in the `src/` directory) gets transpiled by
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+ `tsc` into JavaScript in the `build/app/` directory, which gets bundled in
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+ the generated app's binary and is loaded by the node (main) process when the
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+ app starts.
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+
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+- The _renderer_ process is a regular web app that gets loaded into the
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+ embedded Chromium. When the main process starts, it creates a new "window"
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+ that shows this embedded Chromium. In our case, we build and bundle a static
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+ export of the [Photos web app](../web/README.md) in the generated app. This
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+ gets loaded by the embedded Chromium at runtime, acting as the app's UI.
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+
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+### electron-builder
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+
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+[Electron Builder](https://www.electron.build) is used for packaging the app for
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+distribution.
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### next-electron-server
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Manav Rathi