Should webassets auto-generate files (was: pull_external hides the real error)

[sontek]

If you include an asset that doesn't exist in a bundle, now that there is the pull_external function you get an IOError rather than an exception letting you know an asset you have included doesn't exist.

[sontek]

the pull_external also doesn't seem ideal, some of us would not want webassets touching the disk unless we told it to.

[miracle2k]

I don't know if this is true. pull_external runs when generating URLs in debug mode. Whether included files are valid is already checked before that, in resolve_contents.

When I added pull_external, I actually did have some second thoughts, for exactly the reason you say. Still, I think there is possibly a valuable feature there...

[miracle2k]

#168 touches on the same thing (should webassets auto-generated files and/or filenames not explicitly given in any output= instruction), so I'm leaving this question open for now.