PLIP: use `Vite` instead of `webpack`

[petschki]

PLIP (Plone Improvement Proposal)

Responsible Persons

Proposer: Peter Mathis @petschki

Seconder:

Abstract

As a part of the code modernization of mockup, we're examining the possibility to replacement webpack with Vite.

Motivation

Use a modern frontend develpoment build-tool and bundling-tool for mockup.

Assumptions

Since we're using webpacks module federation we need a replacement for that in Vite.

Proposal & Implementation

Upgrade the bundling configurations for Vite and add documentation for addon developers how to upgrade their codebase reusing mockup modules.

Risks

Replacing webpacks module federation can be tricky. We need a solution how to develop addons by re-using the mockup codebase (eg mosaic)

Maybe even <script type="importmap"> could be a way to go.

Participants

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[mtoepfl]

We also considered migrating from Webpack to Vite a few month ago.
However, we decided to switch to rspack/rsbuild instead, as it is a smaller and simpler step.

It is a fast Rust-based web bundler which is able to replace webpack with compatible API.

It was absolutely manageable for us and not too time-consuming.

rspack is fast and seems to be very well-maintained. Very good Docs! Module Federation is also supported.
https://rsbuild.rs/guide/advanced/module-federation

We managed to implement all our customizations through plugins for rsbuild, which was also relatively easy. So we got a configuration which allows iterating very fast.

The dev server startup and bundle creation became more than 10 times faster — for example, dropping from 40 seconds to under 3.

This might also be worth considering for the Classic UI, or at least useful as an intermediate step.