Move back to npm

[bunnymatic]

It seems like npm is gaining favor again and yarn is losing support.

Should we think about moving this app back to assume only npm and not include yarn?

Let's discuss. If we decide, I can probably put together a PR.

thoughts: @will-wow @alexwdaniel @mattbrictson @hannahhoward

[mattbrictson]

The tide does seem to be shifting back to npm but there is one major holdout: webpacker, which is bundled by default with all new Rails apps. My understanding is that yarn is hardcoded into the build system: rails/webpacker#1746

If we anticipate that we will regularly be combining React and Rails via webpacker then it seems that using yarn would be the path of least resistance.

That said, I am not a fan of webpacker in general and would probably explore an alternative for integrating React and Rails.

Just curious, what is the main argument for npm over yarn? It's bundled with Node so one less thing to install?

[bunnymatic]

It's been 2 years and we're still using yarn. I feel like the main argument is, as you said, one less install. But, it looks like webpacker is still using yarn. I think it's general install time and lock management may still be a little better. So maybe we close this until the tide really turns.

[mattbrictson]

In the last 2 years I have grown to appreciate webpacker. Considering webpacker is a standard part of Rails, I am probably going to follow their lead on yarn.

Also some more recent developments:

• npm audit, which was something that tempted me to switch to npm in the past, is now considered a bad feature, so I no longer have that fomo
• npm supports yarn.lock files out of the box, so the cost of switching to npm (if you don't like what spraygun gives you), should be low

I'll close this issue for now.