Do we want people to use renovate-reproductions/base as base for their reproductions?

[HonkingGoose]

Tell us more.

For context read this first:

• fix(npm): replace pnpm overrides in right position #28606 (comment)

We have a renovate-reproductions/base repository. Do we want people to use this repository as a base to start their reproductions?

I guess not, because that repository has a lot of files. For example, sometimes we only need a renovate.json file and a simple package.json file to get a working reproduction.

[viceice]

no, it's simply another test repo.

[karlhorky]

Thanks for opening this discussion!

Do we want people to use this repository as a base to start their reproductions?

I guess not, because that repository has a lot of files.

no, it's simply another test repo.

Ok, I understand that it is perceived as potentially situationally overkill for Renovate maintainers.

Eg. listening to this seems to make sense to me at first:

For example, sometimes we only need a renovate.json file and a simple package.json file to get a working reproduction.

One thing that this leaves out is the experience of community members, often those who don't have visibility into:

1. What is the "current version" of best practices for creating a reproduction
2. What is required (or not required) for reproductions of different complexity

So codifying these details into 1 (or 2 or 3, if there are different levels of complexity of reproduction) maintained reproduction templates - even if the simpler level(s) of complexity are only 2 files in a repo - would in my experience in open source communities lead to:

A) higher community engagement, especially from those who are less involved right now
B) reduced back and forth between Renovate maintainers and the community, when reproductions are either not simple enough or do not check certain boxes

Even having contributed a few things to the Renovate codebases over the years, I would have to put in some effort, thinking and tie into "how to create a nice, simple reproduction", which will be a chilling effect to a lot of potential contributions.

Prior Art

• Next.js CodeSandbox reproduction template https://codesandbox.io/p/sandbox/github/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples/reproduction-template
• Testing Library Reproduction Template https://github.com/testing-library/dom-testing-library-template
• Ent Template Repository For Bug Reporting https://github.com/ent/bug
• Reproduction Template of ESLint Stylistic https://github.com/eslint-community/eslint-stylistic-repro-template
• GitHub template for creating a Rspack minimal reproducible example https://github.com/web-infra-dev/rspack-repro
• Renode issue reproduction template https://github.com/renode/renode-issue-reproduction-template
• Vue Test Utils Reproduction Template issue creation template repro template on StackBlitz
• shadcn-svelte Reproduction Template https://github.com/huntabyte/shadcn-repro-template
• Ant Design reproduction template repro template on CodeSandbox Link to docs
• Storybook reproduction generator in the CLI https://storybook.js.org/docs/contribute/how-to-reproduce#initial-setup
• Porsche Design reproduction generator with StackBlitz https://twitter.com/stackblitz/status/1648341661762633729
• Apollo GraphQL template for creating minimal reproductions https://github.com/apollographql/next-apollo-example

Automation of Reproduction Creation

• Bun automatic reproduction generator idea https://twitter.com/jarredsumner/status/1781214396263661985

[HonkingGoose]

Another prior art thing: Material for MkDocs, creating a reproduction, that we may get inspired by.

[karlhorky]

Nice, I expanded on my list of reproduction templates and generators above as well

(also added a new section for "Automation of Reproduction Creation", which is next level automation that the TypeScript team has implemented and other teams are experimenting with)

[HonkingGoose]

@karlhorky Is there a repository that lists all these reproduction examples? It would be very nice to have a single, nicely formatted readme, in a "reproductions best practices" repository. A benefit of putting it in a repository is that you can get drive by contributions from users, when the spot a nice new example.

[karlhorky]

Good idea - I created a repo here:

• https://github.com/karlhorky/awesome-open-source-automation

Just need to wait 30 days to submit to https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome

[HonkingGoose]

That's good documentation, and good background (although long and detailed - hard to find the information of "how can I create a repro in 30 seconds")

You're right, we should get to the point quicker. I'll rewrite this soon! 😄

• Rewrite minimal reproduction guide to get to the point quicker #28730

Regardless of how easy it is to read, I would argue that such documentation does not replace a one-click reproduction creator (it could supplement it though).

It would be very nice to have a "one click" reproduction system for Renovate. I fear that creating such a thing would be very hard, as there are many configurations and platforms that end-users can have.

[rarkins]

I think it would be great to have some "perfect" examples of reproductions to refer to. They're meant to be minimal, so the example is almost self-documenting - everything is there for a reason