Is this library still being developed?

[joonhocho]

Hello,

I am searching for native-side navigation library. Currently, this or wix/react-native-navigation seems to be the best options. But, at a glance, this library is not being (actively) developed anymore.

I watched the video why airbnb created this library, and found it very interesting and appealing. Could someone share any future plans?

[neilyoung]

https://github.com/airbnb/native-navigation/issues/114

It's dead, Jim

[sneerin]

seriously, is it?

[MacKentoch]

So if I sum up the situation in React Native:

• Navigator is gone
• all navigators alternatives are dying in the same time
• react navigation (supposed to replace Navigator) is NOT stable (I used it for multiple projects) and not even seriously maintained as it should be as a CORE feature of mobile developpement.

Now I'm even wondering if I should not go back to pure native to feel insured not to face a wall, and more surprising to save time (I spent too much time upgrading for a long term application, rewriting because of core Navigation system changing from here and there...)?

I used React Native for mobile and not for VR or web.

It seems like directions are more like trying to make it universal: I personally don't care universallity. I just care simplicity, performance and time saving.

[joonhocho]

@MacKentoch I agree with you. It really is painful that the such basic, if not the most basic, thing in mobile development like navigation is not really solved yet in react native after two years. I think it comes down to that too much efforts going into wrong directions. I've seriously tried many JS based RN navigation libraries, NavigationExperimental, react-router-native, ex-navigation, react-navigation. In the end, I don't think JS based navigation is the right way to go. It just feels too clunky and there are too many problems to be solved. Apple and Android have put a lot of their time and efforts solving and optimizing navigation in their own platforms, and I don't think it's wise to completely ignore them and rewrite your own solution in js. I am currently migrating to wix/react-native-navigation v2, and it will be my last try. I will be actively contributing to it as I find lacking features. I won't be going back to js based solution. It was too much time wasted only to realize js based solution is not going to be good enough to feel native. I really wish Facebook realizes this and put navigation as the core feature for React Native.

[sneerin]

wix navigation is broken by design, if you look into how it's integrated it requires too much for integration e.g. Android MainApplication should be extending their class so that you can't be multidex for example. I recommend you contribute to this project since it's architecture is more clear. If it's still alive this is the future, unless something new and shining will appear.

[patrickkempff]

The lack of a viable navitation solution is really astounding to me. Based on all the different solutions I tried, I think this library has the most potential. I am willing to contribute on a regular basis but the lack project maintenance is preventing me from doing that.

@lelandrichardson Any updates on when you guys can give this project the attention it deserves? Or are you guys willing to add additional maintainers so this project can get up to speed again?

[joonhocho]

@sneerin If I am not wrong the last commit to this project is two months old. Even if I try to contribute, they won't be merging it. so.

[tpisto]

Dear all! I very much share your frustration about viable native navigation solution for React Native. And I also agree that this repository is the most promising solution to solve the React Native Navigation mayhem. As open source project author myself I also understand the burden of maintaining any OS project. Case is that many OS projects are just openly published part of some feature used commercially - and thus the development is paid by the employer or the customer. But as employer or customer focus shifts to other things, your resources to maintain the project changes a lot. I think this is the case in this project too.

The beauty of any OS project is that we can fork them and create new solution. So, we can gather a group of enthusiasts and fork this repo to "final-solution-to-native-navigation" and start marketing it. I can make beautiful website for it =) Also we can have a policy that anyone contributing to the project becomes a maintainer.

ps. As a sidenote I personally think that Swift is not a curse, it's a blessing =). So I think it would be nice to keep this project written in Swift and start exploring the XCode 9 Swift static linking of this.

[patrickkempff]

@tpisto I agree, thanks. I am are very interested in investing time and effort long term. Not sure how to gather. Any ideas?

[fforres]

I'd agree with @tpisto, would enjoy getting on board. We've had out set of (Many) frustrations with react-navigation, both on the code and project roadmap https://github.com/react-community/react-navigation/issues/2476 that we are surely in need for a viable solution.

PS: I'd call @fdiaz to work on this.

(Yapo weono fixea la güea)

[nitaliano]

I agree we need a solution that a community is in charge of and not a company. It needs to have a group of maintainers, this is something core to react-native being successful. I would be happy to invest time into a project like this with others so we can finally fix this navigation problem and have a true native solution.

[sneerin]

To develop this project we need :

1. One person with competence in Android,
2. One person with iOS/swift skills,
3. JS guru

I don't believe that all platform ninja guy could know all the possible platform issues. wix tried but what they deliver is really limited from a native developer point of view We should create a mail list and create slack channel. So that we can coordinate efforts and make a promotion among other developers. Any other suggestions on tools to start?

Personally, I'll try to communicate and got the answer from original developers. It would be silly to start this project and after 1 month of work receive a new release here in case they are silently working hard 🙄. I don't belive in that but who knows...

[Andreyco]

I'd love to help with JS codebase if time allows me to do so!

@sneerin it is very good idea to get in touch with maintainers, please do so! Is there someone willing to fork and/or manage channel/mailing list after we get some info from maintainers?

[nitaliano]

I would have no problem creating a fork and adding people as collaborators.

[sneerin]

Let's set a deadline until Friday, before we fork. So that airnb folks will have 2 days to answer.

[sneerin]

I'll keep you posted guys.

[Andreyco]

@sneerin if no luck, try to ping Leland on twitter, seems to be responsive

[lelandrichardson]

Hey Everyone,

First I'd like to say that despite my absence and lack of communication, I am really appreciative with how constructive and friendly the conversation in this thread is. That's definitely not what you always see... so thanks :)

Also thank you @sneerin for reaching out to me via email. The update from the airbnb maintenance side of this is mostly the same as it has been, unfortunately. Maintaining this library will likely not be a priority until we are actively using it ourselves, and the task of migrating over to it continues to be pushed back in priority relative to other projects, and there is only so much that our team of two can do.

That said, I wholeheartedly agree that this is not enough reason for people who want to use and contribute to this library to not be able to do so!

I am not quite sure what the right thing to do here is, but I am happy to hear ideas. I think so long as Airbnb is not actively maintaining this library, but other people want to be, there's a good argument to be made for the repo to be moved (as opposed to a fork being created). I'm a member of the react-community github organization (of which react-navigation is also under) if people here think it would be agreeable to move it under that org.

I still very much believe this project is important to the React Native picture, and as such, it is difficult for me to personally relinquish all control over direction of the project, but I think that is probably what makes the most sense at this point. Over the last couple of months I have really begun to get burnt out by OSS and w/ some other personal things, I am finding it very difficult to bring myself to engage in the many conversations, debates, issues, etc. I envy those who seem to be able to do this day in and day out :)

At a high level, I agree with @sneerin: for this project to be successful, I believe it is important for there to be contributors that have experience in each of the three platforms. In addition, I am happy to provide any guidance on the direction of this project, as well as provide context to the decisions that were made. Unfortunately for several reasons, mentions on github are not a great way to get in touch with me at this point. Email, twitter, or slack I should be fairly responsive on though. I hesitate to give any sort of "constraints" around how I'd like to see this project develop in the future outright (although I have many thoughts), but i will say that there are aspects of this library that would be important to preserve if Airbnb were to eventually migrate to it, and it might be in the best interest of it to at least try to preserve those aspects.

If this plan sounds reasonable to people, I can start the process of moving the repo if we have folks that are committed to maintaining it. Who here considers themselves in that group? It would be reassuring to know if we had some folks from both ios/android backgrounds in addition to JS.

Thanks

[prscX]

Hi @lelandrichardson, The plan sounds good

I have a fair understanding/exp of Android and JS. It would be my pleasure to be one of the committed contributor for this project

Thanks

[Almouro]

Hi @lelandrichardson,

Been following this conversation and this plan does sound good! At BAM, we’re currently using native-navigation to integrate React Native inside existing native applications, and it saved us so much time! We have a fork with a few modifications for our project. Thanks for creating this great module!

I would love to contribute back to the community, by being a committed maintainer! I have mostly experience in Javascript, but I do have some native experience with Java and Swift.

[MacKentoch]

Really pleased to read how it evolves.

I'm a javascript developer with an iOS native experience, so count me in to contribute.

Navigation is a pillar in mobile dev. So better move to improve it than waiting for a magical solution.

[joonhocho]

I am a JS guy (JS being my current best language, made many websites / node backend / node OSS packages) with deep Swift experience (have made an iOS app only using Swift). I have a little Android experience, but I have done some serious Java work, too. I am now working mostly on Node.js and React Native. So feel free to add me to the list.

[patrickkempff]

I did a lot of native iOS and Android projects over the years (started with iPhoneOS 2.1 in 2009) but I’ve never been able to contribute back to the open source community on a regular basis. I really love react and the potential of react-native. So please count me in!

[nitaliano]

@lelandrichardson I would like to be involved with helping maintain this. I have experience with both platforms and JS. I currently work on all react native things for Mapbox.

[sospedra]

@lelandrichardson you've another pal here this lib has a huge potential, it's actually here, just see all the very good PR pending to merge it's just about let it fly free 🐦

ping me when we can start working on the new react-navigation (hope it's asap)

[sneerin]

Ok guys,

• There are at least 2 companies with commercial interest

• We have 2+ Android developers

• 2+ JS developers

• 2+ iOS Developers

As a next step We should

1. Define goal, review roadmap

2. Setup communications

Guys, who are interested in development, please send me details to email in profile

[renatoagds]

Hi all!

I really liked the plan to continue the development of this library and I want to help if it's happen.

Here in loggi we're using it and we have a fork too.

I'll subscribe this issue so I could keep posted about the news.

[anderskev]

Have experience in Android, iOS (Obj-C and Swift) and JS, with JS being my weak point there. Would love to help once things get organized.

[drriguz]

I'm currently developing a password app in react native, I have tried lot's of navigation libraries but not really satisfied of them. Hope this project will continue and I'm willing to do something.

[prscX]

Hi @sneerin

You can increment companies count by +1 :smile:

I am a lead architect at MetricStream. It's a GRC (Governance, Risk, Compliance) based company. We provide solutions which allow organizations to govern in a safe and better manner

We have around 8 mobile offering across all major platforms (Android, iOS and Windows). Here we truly feel that Airbnb Native Navigation is very well architected and has great potential to become a single best solution for RN Navigation

I have emailed you the details, please include us as one of the committed contributors for this project

Thanks