README

A command-line tool that helps you optimize your package distribution size by automatically managing .gitattributes export-ignore rules.

Note: This package was previously known as export-ignore-check. The functionality remains the same, but the name better reflects its purpose of optimizing distribution size.

Why?

When you publish a package to Packagist, Composer creates a distribution archive using git archive. Files and directories that are not needed in production (like tests, documentation, CI configs) should be excluded using .gitattributes export-ignore to:

Reduce package size
Speed up installation
Improve CI/CD pipeline performance
Keep production packages clean

This tool helps you identify what should be excluded and can automatically fix your .gitattributes file.

Installation

composer require savinmikhail/dist-size-optimizer

Usage

Check Current Project

To check your current project (recommended during development):

vendor/bin/dist-size-optimizer check

This will:

Create a git archive of your project (simulating Packagist's distribution)
Scan for files that should be excluded
Show you what to add to your .gitattributes file
Automatically append the suggested patterns to your .gitattributes file

Note: When checking your current project, the tool uses git archive HEAD, which means it only includes committed changes. Make sure to commit your changes before running the check to get accurate results.

Check Any Package

To check any package from Packagist:

vendor/bin/dist-size-optimizer check vendor/package

For example:

vendor/bin/dist-size-optimizer check symfony/console

Output Options

Dry Run

By default, the tool will automatically append suggested patterns to your .gitattributes file. Use --dry-run to only see what would be added without making any changes:

vendor/bin/dist-size-optimizer check --dry-run

JSON Output

Add --json flag to get machine-readable output:

vendor/bin/dist-size-optimizer check --json

Custom Config

By default, the tool uses a predefined set of patterns to check. You can provide your own config file:

vendor/bin/dist-size-optimizer check --config=/path/to/config.php
# or using short option
vendor/bin/dist-size-optimizer check -c /path/to/config.php

The config file should be a PHP file that returns an array of patterns to check:

<?php

return [
    'tests/',
    '.gitignore',
    // ... your patterns
];

Example Output

Directories that should be excluded using export-ignore:
  • `/tests/`
  • `/docs/`
  • `/.github/`

Files that should be excluded using export-ignore:
  • `/.gitignore`
  • `/.editorconfig`
  • `/phpunit.xml.dist`
  • `/README.md`

To fix this, add the following lines to your `.gitattributes` file:
  /tests/	export-ignore
  /docs/	export-ignore
  /.github/	export-ignore
  /.gitignore	export-ignore
  /.editorconfig	export-ignore
  /phpunit.xml.dist	export-ignore
  /README.md	export-ignore

🌿 Your package size could be reduced by approximately 2.5 MB!
🚀 This improves installation time, reduces archive size, and helps CI/CD pipelines.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

savinmikhail / dist-size-optimizer

Maintainers

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