[nkkollaw]

I use and love React, but I'm also a little scared of it. I opened this little app I did 1 year ago in React 15, and it's completely incompatible with what I use now.

Every time I read of a new release I get this chill down my spine for a second.

[brianvaughn]

Our upgrade process is very gradual. As long as you've fixed all of the dev warnings for the last minor release of a given version, you should be able to upgrade to the next major without any problem.

[wolco]

For someone who hasn't opened the app in three years going through the upgrading process for each major version/minor high version would be more difficult vs rewriting for most smaller components.

To the parent's parent's point Javascript has evolved since 2015 and comparing what a 2015 app looks like to a 2018 app is day and night.

[brianvaughn]

Upgrading any project after 3 years of inactivity would be difficult, regardless of framework.

I did not mean to imply that you would need to step through every minor version though. I was just saying that- if you were using e.g. 15, update to the latest 15 release (15.6.2) and fixing warnings in it before updating to 16.

[nkkollaw]

The problem is when--like in my case--people develop a project for a client and then go on with their lives, until the client notices a bug, or wants to implement a new feature months after.

I tried to explain the client that I needed to upgrade the code before even being able to understand what the problem was, and I lost the client.

As much as they suck, PHP apps from 10 years ago are still working great, and so are jQuery-based apps from 5 years ago.

Would never go back to either one, though.

[vbezhenar]

Why do you need to upgrade the code to fix a bug or implement a new feature? I don't understand that. Keep React version and do what client wants.

[nkkollaw]

Things wouldn't even compile.

Don't forget that a React project might be made of many libraries--not just React itself--that might be worse at supporting legacy versions and guaranteeing mooth upgrades.

[brianvaughn]

I'm not sure why you would need to upgrade your app in that case. Is the problem that our documentation only reflects the latest release?

[nkkollaw]

Things wouldn't even compile.

Don't forget that a React project might be made of many libraries--not just React itself--that might be worse at supporting legacy versions and guaranteeing mooth upgrades.

[danabramov]

Could you clarify how React is different from jQuery in that sense? Not sure I’m following.

[nkkollaw]

Maybe because it's an older and therefore feature-complete/mature project, or maybe because it's not being actively developed anymore (I really don't know), but jQuery's API has hardly changed in the past few years.

For this reason, jQuery-based projects from 3-4 years ago still work completely fine (including jQuery plugins), and I would imagine will keep working for years to come.

React is continuously evolving, and 1 year is enough to make React code and/or code in plugins used in a React project obsolete. Because of this, React projects break more easily if one doesn't or can't keep upgrading the code (for instance, because it was a client you don't work with anymore).

This is not good or bad, or anyone's fault, it's just how it is.

Like I said in previous comments, I would never go back to writing PHP or jQuery apps, but this is definitely an issue--either intrinsic of using an evolving technology like React, or caused by relying on too many plugins from authors that don't have the resources to keep supporting legacy APIs or upgrade their plugins to using the new ones.

[ncphillips]

That's interesting, my experience has been the exact opposite. I'm really impressed at how good they are at sticking to semver.

[nkkollaw]

It might be plugins.