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Every month some new batch of students use CRA for their final project. Every other month month I deal with some idiotic mess CRA has made that a 3-line patch

Every month some new batch of students use CRA for their final project. Every other month month I deal with some idiotic mess CRA has made that a 3-line patch to a config file would fix, but I can't fix that without ejecting, which all the advice tells them not to do. Often it's proxy problems, sometimes it's something else, I can't really keep track. I hate CRA, and I wish it would go die in a hole. Though... in this comment thread I learned of the existence of something called "craco", so maybe that'll solve my problems the next time some damn students use stupid CRA when they could just copy and paste the frickin' working webpack config we gave them in the previous assignment.

petetnt 7y ago
Hi jholman, part-time maintainer of CRA here. Sorry that Create React App has caused you and your students problems. Would have a specific list of issues (or specific ones like proxy issues) that you needed to eject for to fix that we could look at and improve in the future?
- mbeaudru 7y ago
  This one for instance: https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/6135 https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/6135 If you need to use CRA behind a different publicPath in dev (behind a gateway) you can't and need to eject.
52-6F-62 7y ago
I wouldn’t use language quite as strong as yours, but I have always preferred working without it outside of a quick prototype. It’s just so many dependencies that aren’t really needed... I can’t justify it. I’ve seen some messy, messy work as a result of it. It’s not even CRA’s direct fault, but it has a lot of people convinced that everything is there and you can just run with it from there. That is extended by some of the advice that if you need a small utility function you should just install a package instead of writing the 3-liner yourself. I find that kind of advice seems to be aligned with CRA in the community. And on a personal level I prefer having more control over my build methods. Not an overly huge fan of react-scripts on that note, either. All this said, I haven’t touched it for some time.
- brlewis 7y ago
  I only used it recently, 3.0.1, but it has seemed clean to me. But I'm the opposite re. build methods. I'd rather not think about build methods and just stay focused on the app.
- lioeters 7y ago
  I'm in the same camp, I feel neutral about CRA - it's great for getting set up quick, but comes with a whole jungle of complexity, even if it's under a simpler abstraction most of the time. I just bit the bullet a few years ago and invested time into learning all the moving parts of a full-stack React app, and created generic build scripts with common libraries - it has everything I need and nothing more. I've continued using it to this day, keeping it up to date has been painless mostly, and have built a number of business applications with it. A big advantage of CRA I see is that it provides a standard, well-developed and documented. It's suited for onboarding junior team members, as well as allowing people to jump into new codebases.
duxup 7y ago
"some idiotic mess CRA has made that a 3-line patch to a config file would fix, but I can't fix that without ejecting, which all the advice tells them not to do. Often it's proxy problems, sometimes it's something else" Would you mind providing some examples? It would be handy to know exactly what they are running into... so I do not.
Red_Leaves_Flyy 7y ago
If it's happened more than twice you should probably consider giving your current and future students information on how to handle the issues your previous students have faced. Going off the harsh language in your comment, your disdain for CRA may be showing to your students which may make you seem unapproachable.

petetnt 7y ago

Hi jholman, part-time maintainer of CRA here. Sorry that Create React App has caused you and your students problems. Would have a specific list of issues (or specific ones like proxy issues) that you needed to eject for to fix that we could look at and improve in the future?

mbeaudru 7y ago
This one for instance: https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/6135 https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/6135 If you need to use CRA behind a different publicPath in dev (behind a gateway) you can't and need to eject.

52-6F-62 7y ago

I wouldn’t use language quite as strong as yours, but I have always preferred working without it outside of a quick prototype. It’s just so many dependencies that aren’t really needed... I can’t justify it. I’ve seen some messy, messy work as a result of it. It’s not even CRA’s direct fault, but it has a lot of people convinced that everything is there and you can just run with it from there. That is extended by some of the advice that if you need a small utility function you should just install a package instead of writing the 3-liner yourself. I find that kind of advice seems to be aligned with CRA in the community. And on a personal level I prefer having more control over my build methods. Not an overly huge fan of react-scripts on that note, either. All this said, I haven’t touched it for some time.

brlewis 7y ago
I only used it recently, 3.0.1, but it has seemed clean to me. But I'm the opposite re. build methods. I'd rather not think about build methods and just stay focused on the app.
lioeters 7y ago
I'm in the same camp, I feel neutral about CRA - it's great for getting set up quick, but comes with a whole jungle of complexity, even if it's under a simpler abstraction most of the time. I just bit the bullet a few years ago and invested time into learning all the moving parts of a full-stack React app, and created generic build scripts with common libraries - it has everything I need and nothing more. I've continued using it to this day, keeping it up to date has been painless mostly, and have built a number of business applications with it. A big advantage of CRA I see is that it provides a standard, well-developed and documented. It's suited for onboarding junior team members, as well as allowing people to jump into new codebases.

duxup 7y ago

"some idiotic mess CRA has made that a 3-line patch to a config file would fix, but I can't fix that without ejecting, which all the advice tells them not to do. Often it's proxy problems, sometimes it's something else" Would you mind providing some examples? It would be handy to know exactly what they are running into... so I do not.

Red_Leaves_Flyy 7y ago

If it's happened more than twice you should probably consider giving your current and future students information on how to handle the issues your previous students have faced. Going off the harsh language in your comment, your disdain for CRA may be showing to your students which may make you seem unapproachable.