Hi, We have an “app” which we distribute to iOS/Android externally and through a webserver internally. To make this possible we use cordova-ios, cordova-android and cordova-browser from a single codebase, so that our codebase can assume it’s always running in a Cordova context, has a deviceready event, a cordova browser object, etc.
For this reason I would not be in favor of deprecating cordova-browser. I have no issue with the deprecation of the “cordova serve” command and/or the cordova-serve package. In cordova-browser the cordova-serve package is currently used within the cordova run command, but there are other ways of bootstrapping a browser that could be used there. So changing the run command there to point to documentation/blog (through logging a message and a link to the console) or something similar would allow the removal of the cordova-serve dependency from cordova-browser, while keeping our use-case viable. Regards, Bas Bosman > On 19 Aug 2025, at 09:22, Bryan Ellis <er...@apache.org> wrote: > > This discussion will focus on the potential removal of the `cordova serve` > command from the Cordova CLI. Since we're preparing for the next major CLI > release, now is the best time to decide and, if agreed, include this change. > > A vote thread will also be opened. > > **In my opinion, the `cordova serve` command should be removed.** > > In over 8 years of working with Cordova, I've never found a real-world need > for this command beyond verifying that it still works during CLI releases. > > * **Landing page metadata**: There is no benefit of this screen since the > metadata can already be obtained via `cordova info`. > * **Platform pages**: I believe the purpose of these pages is used for > testing the app. One thing to note is that during the startup of the page, > dialogs will display. This dialog was once used as a bridge for > communication with the native side, but it's no longer relevant. > * **Using serve for testing?**: The only remaining use case where people > might use this command is for the ability to serve the app locally so they > can open and test it on an emulator or device's browser. But since browsers > and WebViews don't behave the same, this isn't an adequate testing method. > It's far more reliable to build the app and run it in a simulator, > emulator, or on a real device. > > For modern development workflows, tools like **webpack dev server** (or > similar) are better suited. Developers can configure the `<content>` > element of their app's config.xml to point to this local dev server. > > **Given that:** > > * The alternatives are better, and > * `cordova serve` doesn't provide accurate or useful results, > > **I believe we should deprecate and remove the `cordova serve` command.** > > If voted and passed, we would be able to drop the **cordova-serve** package > from **cordova-lib**, reducing dependencies to maintain for CLI releases. > > If you have any reasons for keeping this command, please share. And keep > the vote in the voting thread. > I'll be preparing a separate thread as well to discuss the deprecation of > **cordova-serve** itself, and potentially **cordova-browser**, which also > depends on it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@cordova.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@cordova.apache.org
