Why would Magento look in base skin folder instead of current skin folder?

Question

In my local.xml I have added a new javascript load command. It is exactly the same as another javascript.

<action method="addItem">
    <type>skin_js</type
    <name>rateyo/jquery.rateyo.min.js</name>
</action>
<action method="addItem">
    <type>skin_js</type>
    <name>jquery.cbpContentSlider.js</name>
</action>

Yet I get a 404 in the browser because the link created for the second is in base, not in my theme.

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://.../skin/frontend/rwd/alpine2/rateyo/jquery.rateyo.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://.../skin/frontend/base/default/jquery.cbpContentSlider.js"></script>

WHY????????

I flush every cache, don't have compilation on, dont have merging, this is the dev site so no full page cache installed etc. etc. etc. Even though it sounds absurd I tried putting it in a subfolder, since that is one difference, but it has the same problem.

Why is one generated with correct skin reference and the other one not?

updating with a few more details

calling .../skin/frontend/rwd/alpine2/js/jquery.cbpContentSlider.js in the browser works, which shows that file is in the wrong place. But the URL Magento generates, which has the js removed, does not work.

Answer 1

When Magento looks in the base theme, this is generally because the file does not exist in your theme.

You should double check if the jquery.cbpContentSlider.js file is in skin/frontend/rwd/alpine2/ folder .