# Why are files in publyic done differently?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-are-files-in-publyic-done-differently/105208>\
**Category:** Engines\
**Created:** [May 27, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-are-files-in-publyic-done-differently/105208 "2007-05-27T06:27:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![arjackson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/57b2e6/32.png) [@arjackson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/arjackson)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-are-files-in-publyic-done-differently/105208/1 "2007-05-27T06:27:32Z")

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Hi all,

With engines, the general use case is to create your own local methods  
to override any classes the engine creates. Why then are assets (ie  
stylesheets/javascripts etc) treated differently? They’re copied to the  
plugin\_assets folder. You then have to refer to them manually with  
:plugin =\> ‘…’ option.

I would have expected them to “just work” like the  
controllers/views/models without any copying, and if you want, you can  
put files with the same name in your local app’s public dir to override.  
Just curious, why was it done the way it is? Is there an easy way to  
make it so that plugin assets are copied directly to public?

-Andrew R.