Migration from Webpack to Vite

[dex4er]

My intention was to replace Webpack with Vite and redesign the monorepository to avoid doubled (or even tripled) transpilation of the Javascript between different modes (ie. from ESM to CommonJS, between different versions of Node, etc.)

Webpack is great but there are several problems: general slowlesness and bloatness. Also it fails when it should not or it passes when there are obvious errors in the code. In contrary: we use Vite already for our extensions with more predicatble results.

The main blocker was DI framework we use and the plugin for Vite. Now #1474 uses explicit registration of DI components then it should unblock the migration. Other webpack plugins seems to have Vite alternatives or can be replaced with another idioms.

Also it might be still possible to create the Vite plugin that handles our DI components as well, but it is less important now.

Potential migration plan:

• Replace Webpack plugin for DI registration with alternative
• Redesign repository to avoid unecessary transcriptions:
  • Typescript instead of Javascript for packages?
  • Reduce numbers of packages?
• Vite prototype:
  • Deal with (S)CSS
  • Deal with TTF / other embedded files
• Improve configuration:
  • Enable dev mode with hot reload?

[robertobandini]

@mariomamo @leo-capvano @MatiasRoje @omarluq
If you have any suggestion, just let know thanks!
The same goes for anyone who wants to contribute of course!