title: How to tell Webpack not to pack a config file
body: <p>I am using Webpack for an Angular 4/TypeScript project and in one of my modules, I want to access a <code>config.json</code> file with some values that must be configurable on the server (i.e., config values that can be changed at runtime instead of being fixed at compile time).</p>
  
  <p>In my source, I refer to that file using</p>
  
  <pre><code>let config = require('./../relative/path/config.json');
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It works nicely but webpack packs it up and in the resulting <code>dist</code> the values of the config file end up along with the rest in the <code>app.XXX.js</code> file.</p>
  
  <p>I tried to mark the file in <code>webpack.common.js</code> (which is referenced by the other webpack configuration files) by adding it to the <code>externals</code>, but that doesn't change anything. I had hoped that webpack would then simply not pack up the file but deploy it as-is to the <code>dist</code> directory.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Question:</strong> can I have my <code>config.json</code>, and have webpack <em>not</em> pack it but simply deploy it, so that I can modify or replace the file upon deployment instead of opening <code>app.XXX.js</code> and searching for the values?</p>