Support for Angular 15 about flex-layout

[SopraTests]

@alan-agius4 surely you can't mean there will not be an Angular 15 compatible release of flex layout? I always assumed no new functionality but did assume LTS meant at least providing a version that can be used with Angular 15.

On October 18th that blog post came out:
https://blog.angular.io/modern-css-in-angular-layouts-4a259dca9127

Our project plan was to upgrade immediately to Angular 15 then quickly release a new version of our product. However, we use flex-layout so therefore we cannot upgrade? It will be weeks before we can develop the replacement for this library. We've effectively been given a 4 week notice for removal not deprecation.

This puts us in a difficult spot.

[Maxxxell]

Stopping support Flex Layout is simply insane!

[alan-agius4]

@mattiLeBlanc, @angular/flex-layout is in LTS and the Angular team will stop publishing new releases of this experimental library starting in v15.

[alexhendel]

There already is a branch for Angular 15 support and a PR. So I am guessing the flex layout package will have a new version soon.

[CaerusKaru]

@alexhendel is correct, we will publish a v15 version. This will unpin the dependencies so, barring any structural breaking changes, this will not happen in the near future. We hope to get this version out this coming week.

[arambazamba]

I understand the part about clean css … But loosing alls the responsive media query aliases like .lt-md … and writing tons of media queries instead is simply a nightmare … I also have to mention that mateial:mdc update does not make thinks look better. I also wonder how to set the SideNav Position without MediaObserver … Very disappointing and lots of work for nothing!!

[michaelfaith]

I always assumed no new functionality but did assume LTS meant at least providing a version that can be used with Angular 15.

This was my understanding as well, that 15 would be the final version, and one year support commitment on that version, but nothing new after that. I hope that's correct? Otherwise, that's going to put a ton of companies in a really tough spot, only having a month's notice to find an alternative. The migration guides promised here haven't even been shared yet

[jpike88]

@alan-agius4 This library is 6 years old, and under the official angular namespace. It is averaging 352k downloads a week. How are you able to call it 'experimental' with a straight face? Normally, experimental projects say they are experimental, and it kind of loses that label when it's more than 10% the weekly downloads of @angular/cli itself.

Seriously, wtf?

[mattiLeBlanc]

I thought that the flex-layout lib added styles inline via javascript. So how would this result in a large CSS footprint?
I also regret seeing FlexLayout go, I think it is a very use library for positioning my View elements.

[alan-agius4]

This library is 6 years old, and under the official angular namespace. It is averaging 352k downloads a week. How are you able to call it 'experimental' with a straight face?

I can understand the confusion due to the usage of the namespace. This package however was always driven and maintained by the community. And while it was released for 6 years, the package was never released as a stable version. It was always released as non stable version with a beta suffix.

Normally, experimental projects say they are experimental, and it kind of loses that label when it's more than 10% the weekly downloads of @angular/cli itself.

Not really sure where you got your stats from.

But the downloads per week would not change that the fact that the package was never released as stable. A beta package even if it is downloaded downloaded 700 millions times / week remains a beta package.

[mtabaj]

@alan-agius4 I can't understand the angular team nor Google.
There are thousands of projects using this library, to review everything is almost impossible. So it means that A LOT of projects will stop continue with futures releases of Angular.
All the signs you emit are in the direction to stop using angular : flutter, without typescript and not using Material Design, etc.
Many developers are changing to React, and you are encouraging to accelerate this movement.

[sandrumirceaioan]

I guess we should start by fixing all the apps for our clients with "modern CSS", then go give React a try...

[Franweb79]

lan-agius4 This only shows that we can´t trust Angular team. What will be next, angular material?

You did one time with angularJS to angular 2, and we could understand framework was at its early stages, but this is simply mocking Angular users.

Is this your idea of "We recognize that you need stability from the Angular framework. Stability ensures that reusable components and libraries, tutorials, tools, and learned practices don't become obsolete unexpectedly. Stability is essential for the ecosystem around Angular to thrive"?

https://angular.io/guide/releases

Is this the stability you give us? Is this how you worry about "our learned practices don´t become obsolete unexpectedly"? Because you are doing exactly that.

"Well, it was experimental", you say. Then, the solution is deprecating a more than 300k/week library instead of doing it stable? Is this what you understand as "We recognize that you need stability from the Angular framework" when thousand of projects have used it?

Is this how you worry about "the stability we need from angular"?

Sorry but shows a total lack of respect for Angular users and maybe as @mtabaj says, is a good moment to think about switching to React. We don´t know what we can expect from Angular Team and Google in the future and I fear is nothing good. Developing with Angular has become a risk.

[Franweb79]

I guess we should start by fixing all the apps for our clients with "modern CSS", then go give React a try...

Thank god I have only one app with flex-layout, but I think I will keep on learning angular for possible jobs but start trying React or Vue, and as you said, maybe avoid Angular as my first frontend tool.

[twerske]

This conversation has strayed from the original topic regarding support for Angular v15 and I want to remind people commenting of the Code of Conduct.

As @CaerusKaru mentioned, a deprecated v15 support is in progress and the package is in LTS per our announcements here and here.

I understand the frustrations you shared. While the package is beta and does not fall under our release backwards compatibility commitment scope, we understand how many users rely on it. I personally think it's a signal of the team's commitment to community and stability that we are committed to providing LTS support for at least one year while users plan for migrations.

[CaerusKaru]

I apologize for the delay, and also for locking down this issue. The comments here were getting too heated. That being said, after much work on our end, we have unblocked the v15 release. Now we are just waiting until the holidays end and everyone is back from break so that we can cut a release. We appreciate your patience in the meantime. It's been a frustrating process for us as well.

[CaerusKaru]

Beta 42 with support for Angular v15 is live on NPM. Thank you all again for your patience as we've had to navigate a rather unusual past few months.