govuk-prototype-kit
govuk-prototype-kit copied to clipboard
alphagov
[EPIC] Remove v6 support
It has been nearly 4 years since version 7 and the introduction of GOV.UK Frontend to replace Elements.
Removing this functionality makes the codebase smaller, simpler and easier to maintain.
- [x] https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit/issues/1314
- [x] Decide when to release breaking change
- [x] https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit/issues/1308
- [x] Remove v6 code
- [x] https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit/issues/1184
- [ ] Update update script (https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit/issues/1330)
- [ ] Do the release
Question, will this affect users? I think @joelanman reached out on xgov Slack a couple of times asking if it would be a problem and got no response, affirmtively or otherwise. @ruthhammond suggests linking up with Imran and putting out a proposal doc to disseminate to try alternative avenue of comms. @NoraGDS points out that not all our users on Slack, and might be deep within a department and hard to reach, Imran could help with this.
So I think this means we need to expand this ticket to include comms, where we inform users that it's going to happen (fair warning), with info on what to do to avoid things breaking when it happens, but we're not asking for permission, just giving people fair warning. Then we'll do a major release with a breaking change with PR #1293.
We'll say to users that if they want to keep v6 compatibility they can use a version of the kit pre v12, but we'll say to users that we can't really help if there are issues with v6 compatibility after v13 has been released.
I think that removing v6 compatibility in an instance of the kit that has some parts using v6 and some parts not would mean that that only the parts using v6 would break - the rest would continue to work. But it might be worth testing to be sure.
Do we want to link up this release with any release to remove docs support? I would say yes, but didn't have time in meeting today to discuss it.
I think the next step we need to take is #1308, so this is in blocked while that goes on.
We need to decide when (roughly) we're going to release this change, before we can finish and release the comms.
@NoraGDS and I agree that we should review the backwards compatibility docs before doing this release (https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit/issues/1184), I've added it to the tasks.