Plugin does not clean output directory in watch mode

[realmhamdy]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Clone my repo here
2. npm install
3. Run webpack --watch in the project dir. The output is generated as expected:

ls -l dist
index.html  main.e4ff9438d89750f15374.js  runtime~main.297929bbe0221ed990a6.js

4. Modify main.js and save. The output is rebuilt, with 4 files instead of 3:

ls -l dist
index.html                    main.e4ff9438d89750f15374.js
main.64d950fb1144a8614c58.js  runtime~main.297929bbe0221ed990a6.js

If you repeat step 4, you get 5 files, then 6...

Is there something wrong with my build? Isn't this a supported use case?

[octaharon]

It's perfectly fine, since watch mode compiles everything to the memory, there's nothing to clear. You can see this behavior is intended here, so there's an option (watch:true) you could try:
https://github.com/johnagan/clean-webpack-plugin/blob/master/index.js#L199

[axefrog]

@octaharon Aren't you confusing watch mode with webpack-dev-server? The latter compiles to memory so it can serve changes after recompilation, but regular watch mode is all about regenerating the output folder when files change. Compiling it only to memory would be pointless.

[chrisdothtml]

Same problem here. Even if I provide watch: true, it still doesn't work in watch mode

EDIT: Nevermind, I didn't realize the paths provided were relative to the webpack config file and not the CWD (it wasn't clearing for me because I provided the wrong clear path). Providing watch: true works as expected in watch mode.

Not sure why this wouldn't be enabled by default, or why it's even an option in the first place though

[tedbarth]

It does not feel like a good usability if you have to set { watch = true } first to enable cleaning when files changed while having webpack started with --watch flag. A lot more people will hit the situation we hit here.

I suggest you change the default to watch = true.

[johnagan]

Not sure why this wouldn't be enabled by default, or why it's even an option in the first place though

I tend to agree here... Let me see about changing it to default.

[chrisblossom]

Closed in v2.0.0 via #99. See johnagan/clean-webpack-plugin#usage. Please open a new issue if you continue to have problems.