Express future?

[agus7fauzi]

what's wrong with the express framework, why is it rarely updated, has express been neglected?

[dougwilson]

Hi, there. There is nothing wrong with it. Naturally a more mature project has less frequent updates; there is less things to fix and more features it has. It also means you know your apps you build work for years to come without accounting for massive breakages and upgrades to do.

If you think there are specific features you would like, let us know. If you find specific bugs, lets us know. You can also help directly by contributing code.

I hope that answers your question.

[agus7fauzi]

well, that makes sense too. But if what you say is true why Express version 5 is still an alpha version even though 5 years have passed, wouldn't that make no sense for an alpha version?

[dougwilson]

Hi @agus7fauzi are you looking for a specific feature from there? As for the status, there is a specific thread about that, with a list, links, checkboxes on state and more. There is no need to reiterate all the information again here. You're welcome to use the alpha and provide feedback (good or bad). You're also welcome to help out on the remaining issues. Ultimately we want a stable release without known issues. Just taking the existing version and just releasing it with known issues will result in a subpar experience compared to 4. The goal of this project is to release well tested and stable releases.

[nfantone]

Hi @dougwilson - long time v5 release follower here.

I frankly believe that this kind of comments may come from trolling, yes, but they also arise from a concerning lack of communication with the community. I know it's not, but express feels dead to many people. And we only have ourselves to blame for that. Just to give an example, the "specific thread" you mention about the 5.x release (which can be found here, BTW) is not only over half a decade old, but it's also not very visible. And, even after reading it, it's still not entirely clear what needs to be done, who is working on what and what is preventing the release. It doesn't help that it ends with a message promising a "new years resolution" to get express 5 out of alpha and write a blog post announcing it... from Jan 2020.

I want to help. Could you point me to a specific task that I may contribute to?

[dougwilson]

The todo list is the last comment on that thread, linking to open PRs. Is that not specific enough? What exactly are you looking for? I can help guide you instead of working on the code if that is what you would like. Perhaps a working session over Zoom may help? I can always do that outside of working hours if you want to hit me up over email to schedule something.

[nfantone]

The todo list is the last comment on that thread, linking to open PRs. Is that not specific enough?

I'm afraid it's not. Most of the linked PRs are years old, incomplete and hard to track (unless you are the implementor or have been following the specific issue). From reading the comments in many of them, it's also confusing why they haven't been merged so far or why progress stopped. Just take the top one, for instance, from 2018. It wraps up with you saying it will "land in the very next release" - but that never happened. It is finished? Does it need work?

I really appreciate you offering to mentor me, but it'd great if we could start by identifying one clear thing people (myself included) could contribute to.

[dougwilson]

Hi @nfantone apologies for that, I realized that after I already applied to you. How about this one: help get tests added to this PR so we can get it merged into 5.x and released? #4321 . Many people have asked for an updated path-to-regexp and right now the latest 5.x release still has the same old 0.1.x path-to-regexp and it desperately needs to be updated in the 5.x line, from both a maintenance point of view and it has been a very popular ask.

[nfantone]

You got it. Taking a look at it right now.

Is the target branch still right? I noticed we have 5.0 and a 5.x branches. Also, is there someone I could contact with regards to this specific issue?

[dougwilson]

the target branch still right? I noticed we have 5.0 and a 5.x branches.

Yea, it is correct. The contribution guide details what the difference between the branches are.

Also, is there someone I could contact with regards to this specific issue?

What specific issue are you referring to?

[nfantone]

The one you suggested taking a look at: #4321

[dougwilson]

Ah, sorry. That is a pull request, not an issue, so I was confused, sorry. Usually I would say for any PR, the best contact is the author of the PR. I'm not sure how long it would take to get a response since that one has not been around for a while. The back up would be myself or just don't ask any specific person and ask whatever you need clarification on in that thread and see who answers.

[nfantone]

@dougwilson You're welcome to take a look: #4752