Ask HN: Truly “open source” create-react-app?

1 points by zhirzh 8 years ago | 3 comments

Since facebook isn't going to change licence anytime soon, how long before JS community comes up with a truly "open source" create-react-app?

acemarke 8 years ago |

The question is mostly nonsensical. Create-React-App is an abstraction over a prebuilt Webpack+Babel config, with a bunch of niceties for developer experience like an in-page error overlay, linting for common mistakes, and so on. The template it uses for a new app adds React and ReactDOM to your dependencies, and imports React into the couple starting files, but it's entirely up to you what you do with the project's contents after that. If you want to delete any references to React and use Preact instead, you can. In fact, you could probably go start using Mithril or Vue or something else if you really wanted to.

maxscam 8 years ago |

> Since facebook isn't going to change licence anytime soon, how long before JS community comes up with a truly "open source" create-react-app?

Kind of confused what you mean, as I understand it both react and the boiler are open source, but facebook has this policy which apparently means they can revoke access if they want.. Anyway if this is the issue then your question is really about alternatives to react, which there are certainly a few of.

acemarke 8 years ago | |

No. The BSD+Patents license says that Facebook grants you a license to not only the software, but any potential patents they might have around React. _If_ you were to sue Facebook for something patent-related _first_, then you would lose the patents protection, but not the license to actually use the React software. Facebook has already granted you the license to use React in general, and can't/won't just "revoke access if they want".

I have a large number of links to further information and discussion on the topic at https://github.com/markerikson/react-redux-links/blob/master... .