Is there a releases page for the Compose Multiplatform Compiler? It would be nice to use Renovate/De...

# compose-desktop

[eygraber]

Is there a releases page for the Compose Multiplatform Compiler? It would be nice to use Renovate/Dependabot to keep it up to date.

Also, is it expected to trail Jetpack Compose Compiler releases by 1-3 months, or is the compiler on a different release schedule (like the Jetpack Compose Compiler)?

[jw]

It works fine with renovate or dependabot today

[jw]

I have successfully helped lobby for compiler only releases, such as the one for .22

[jw]

It used to release more frequently, but has gotten much slower the last 6-8 months

[jw]

There's really no reason it should ever take more than a few days, just like the Google one shouldn't take more than a day. But the limitations rarely seem to be technical anymore

[eygraber]

If I use:

compose {
    kotlinCompilerPlugin.set("<some version>")
}

would that be enough to trigger Renovate/Dependabot or would I have to add a "dummy" compileOnly dependency on it?

[jw]

I keep it in the version catalog with the full Maven coordinate

[jw]

https://github.com/cashapp/redwood/blob/985f0a7675c158fccbe5aa1476a56d5f11cbe881/build.gradle#L132-L136

[eygraber]

Ah right I forgot that they don't check to see if you actually use the dependency. Thanks!

[eygraber]

Does the Jetpack Compiler have an issue that prevents it from being used with Redwood?

[jw]

We rely on JS and native heavily and the fixes for those targets are upstreamed far too slowly. Google releases a version to target new Kotlin and break JS and/or native, JetBrains releases their version weeks later with the fixes, maybe it gets upstreamed but then there's never a release for just that. Cycle repeats.

[eygraber]

sad panda

I'm using Jetpack compiler for some libraries that I have JS targets for and so far so good (although they're relatively straightforward). Just hoping this doesn't bite me in the future, and I have to change around my builds again

[jw]

You won't. We used to flip flop. Now we do nothing but the JetBrains one. I only wish the Android DSL accepted a full version catalog reference rather than only a version so we could more easily replace theirs completely.

[jw]

Or that they would just relinquish control and move it to a GitHub repo instead of the black hole that is AOSP

[eygraber]

My only issue with the JetBrains one is the slow release cycle for newer versions of Kotlin, which is somehow slower than Google.

I guess I could just be patient and wait for newer versions of Kotlin to be supported but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[jw]

JB Compose compiler 1.5.0 out just now.

[eygraber]

Is it worth switching from Google's for multiplatform projects?

[jw]

If you're using the JetBrains Compose plugin you already have

[eygraber]

I override it with Google's explicitly

[jw]

Well it's liable to be broken on JS or native occasionally then because Google doesn't test those targets. If you only use JVM then shouldn't be a problem