Is this deprecated?

[joshstrange]

(I originally posted this on the express component but here might be the better place)

The link to serverless.com/components (Wayback Machine) now redirects to the main framework page and there is zero mention of components on the website (aside from blog posts from 2+ years ago). That coupled with ignored PRs, open issues about basic things like support for larger memory lambdas, and the nodejs version still being pinned to 12 makes me assume this is no longer supported.

It would be nice to have an official deprecation instead of leaving up these repos for someone to stumble over and think they will work. Even the basic setup commands don't work:

> serverless init express-starter
Environment: darwin, node 12.22.7, framework 3.7.1, plugin 6.1.5, SDK 4.3.2
Docs:        docs.serverless.com
Support:     forum.serverless.com
Bugs:        github.com/serverless/serverless/issues

Error:
Serverless command "init express-starter" not found. Run "serverless help" for a list of all available commands.

[metaskills]

New to Serverless here, I lost so much time trying to figure out why this README was not working.

[metaskills]

Like all the guides use init and that is wrong right? https://github.com/serverless-components/express

[nick-myers-dt]

I came to this repo to ask the same question and was disappointed to see no response to this issue after 19 days.

I was trying to find recent progress or introduction of new serverless components and couldn't find any and was similarly confused by links in documentation pointing in not-very-helpful directions.

Combined with no issues being closed since 2021.

I shall assume that serverless components have been abandoned and the serverless team is looking elsewhere for the future.

[vinnyt123]

I would also love to know if this is deprecated... I guess the lack of response and activity in the repos indicates it is.

I believe the serverless components CLI is packaged separately to the regular CLI now.

You can run npm install -g @serverless/components to install the now separate serverless components CLI. Then you need to use components login and components deploy instead of what was previously serverless deploy etc. Strange that none of the documentation seems to have been updated.

Perhaps components init express-starter would work, although it seems like a bad idea to start a new app with serverless components at this point.

[bruceharrison1984]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who is confused

[wylie39]

I found a different org but there is no activity over there either.

[ryanolee]

Reading this this It looks like it may no longer evaluated by by the serverless team? Please do correct me if I am wrong on this though @medikoo 😅 !

For reference:

If that is the the case @medikoo would it be possibly to add a deprecation warning to this version of the serverless components repo in the readme just to make it clear this project it is not longer being evaluated directly by serverless? 👀

I can open up a pull request to indicate this if that would help?

[medikoo]

@ryanolee I've added notice to main readme, I hope it'll help to avoid confusion

[ryanolee]

Thanks @medikoo! Much appreciated given I think there was a bit of confusion around this. 🙌

[medikoo]

I've heard there are also concerns about the internal infrastructure to which apps are deployed. I've updated the info stating that it will be kept intact as long as it doesn't require any further maintenance from our side.

[ryanolee]

Once again thank you very much for making that distinction! Given that was part of our companies primary worry while building a strategy to migrate over to an alternate IAC mechanism given it relies on external build services serverless directly host as you say 🎉

Out of interest, though it is not really my place to say. Do you know if there were any ever any plans to open source the internal build tooling serverless uses in conjunction with serverless components considering the overall system seems deprecated?

Though I can 100% understand if the long term plan was to keep it closed source (Considering possible security implications alongside a whole host of other reasons 😆 ) / if you do not want to comment on this. Absolutely love the serverless framework and keep up the great work in either case @medikoo ❤️

[medikoo]

Do you know if there were any ever any plans to open source the internal build tooling serverless uses in conjunction with serverless components considering the overall system seems deprecated?

@ryanolee unfortunately there are no plans for that. One of the reasons is that internally its organization is mixed with our other internal services and that It'll require a significant time investment to prepare it for open sourcing

[ryanolee]

Ah that makes sense! Bit of a shame to hear but perfectly understandable. Thanks for answering that @medikoo! 🙌

[Seanw265]

@medikoo I hate to be so negative, but I have a few concerns about the way this is being handled.

Am I to understand that those who have deployed applications through Serverless Components are now reliant on unmaintained infrastructure provided by Serverless?

I've heard there are also concerns about the internal infrastructure to which apps are deployed. I've updated the info stating that it will be kept intact as long as it doesn't require any further maintenance from our side.

This infrastructure handles customers' source code and secrets. Will it continue to receive security vulnerability updates while still in use?

Is there a timeframe of when customers can expect the infrastructure to shut down? What if an upstream dependency publishes a required breaking change, will the service suddenly stop working? What about customers' existing deployments?

I'm surprised that there is no clearly communicated plan (is there a plan at all?) for how this service will be sunsetted. Is this how we should expect Serverless will eventually kill their current product offering?

[medikoo]

@Seanw265 as with most of the open-source software projects, this is a free solution that never came with any guarantee. It doesn't bring us any revenue, and we do not have the resources to invest in its further maintenance. Sorry, but you need to take it as it is.