fix: Incorrect Dart and Flutter SDKs compatibility range

[Nidal-Bakir]

New Pull Request Checklist

• I am not disclosing a vulnerability.
• I am creating this PR in reference to an issue.

Issue Description

Closes: #872

Approach

Supporting older versions of the framework and language is not ideal because we miss out on new additional features. Additionally, if the Flutter team removes deprecated APIs (as they did in 3.9.x, see issue #861), it can cause problems for us because we still support an older version that had the deprecated API, while also needing to support a newer version that no longer has the API.

[parse-github-assistant]

I will reformat the title to use the proper commit message syntax.

[parse-github-assistant]

Thanks for opening this pull request!

• 🎉 We are excited about your hands-on contribution!

[codecov]

Codecov Report

Patch and project coverage have no change.

Comparison is base (319d4c3) 26.71% compared to head (8877807) 26.71%.

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##           master     #867   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   26.71%   26.71%           
=======================================
  Files          47       47           
  Lines        2905     2905           
=======================================
  Hits          776      776           
  Misses       2129     2129           

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[Nidal-Bakir]

Do not merge until the Changelog entry 5.0.0 is modified to indicate the bump of the min SDK version.
I will edit the Changelog entry 5.0.0 when #860 merged so I can see the entry in this PR

[mtrezza]

What's the purpose of this PR? It doesn't seem to be a breaking change, it's only an upgrade from >=2.12.0 <3.0.0 to
>=2.17.0 <3.0.0.

[Nidal-Bakir]

See the discussion

If we remove a property and therefore remove support for currently supported Flutter SDK versions then this is a breaking change. Let's discuss this in the issue

With this version upgrade, we will no longer support Dart versions older than 2.17.0.

[mbfakourii]

@Nidal-Bakir
I don't think it is a breaking change either
Are you sure about this?

[mtrezza]

@Nidal-Bakir You are correct with your comment that changing the lower bound would be a breaking change. But what is the purpose of this PR, why this lower bound change? Could you add a description to the PR?

[Nidal-Bakir]

But what is the purpose of this PR

I'm using a pull request to make this change because I don't see a good place to put it. We cannot make such a change with other pull requests. For example, we cannot bump the minimum required Dart SDK in this pull request (#860) because it would not be noticeable in the commit log. Therefore, I opened a new pull request specifically for this bump so that we can see it in the commit log

why this lower bound change?

Please read this #861 (comment) we have a discussion about it earlier.

Could you add a description to the PR?

You are right, I should provide a description for the pull request. I will add it right away.

[Nidal-Bakir]

I don't think it is a breaking change either
Are you sure about this?

#861 (comment)
Please read the comment I am referring to, as well as the comments that follow it.

[mtrezza]

I remember now, thanks. I think we need to find a strategy for when remove support for a dart or flutter version.

Usually we follow the long-term support schedule of the framework publisher, but I couldn't find any infos about that for Dart / Flutter.

Otherwise we are choosing an arbitrary date for when to drop support for a version and need a discussion every time we do that, which shouldn't be necessary.

[Nidal-Bakir]

I remember now, thanks.

You are most welcome

I think we need to find a strategy for when remove support for a dart or flutter version.

Basically, we do not need any special strategy for bumping the Dart SDK constraint. We simply bump the constraint like any other package. For example, take a look at this PR on the flutter-fire repository: feat: bump dart SDK constraint to 2.18. They did not even count it as a breaking change because, in the Flutter ecosystem, we do not have the concept of LTS or worry about any app that uses a Dart version older than the current stable one. This is because you should have migrated to a newer version a long time ago.

Usually we follow the long-term support schedule of the framework publisher, but I couldn't find any infos about that for Dart / Flutter.

Flutter does not have the concept of LTS you should always migrate to the latest stable release

[mtrezza]

I've opened #872 to discuss this in more detail.

[mtrezza]

• Removed the Dart <2.18 jobs from the CI, since this PR will set the Parse Dart SDK to require >= 2.18
• Updated the SDK range to >= 2.18 <3.1.0

[mtrezza]

I've added a flutter range, and the CI failed with:

Package validation found the following potential issue:

• The Flutter constraint should not have an upper bound.
  In your pubspec.yaml the constraint is currently >=3.3.0 <3.11.0.

  You can replace that with just the lower bound: >=3.3.0.

That's a truly interesting concept.

[mtrezza]

Only Flutter 3.10 fails with:

info • 'window' is deprecated and shouldn't be used. Look up the current FlutterView from the context via View.of(context) or consult the PlatformDispatcher directly instead. Deprecated to prepare for the upcoming multi-window support. This feature was deprecated after v3.7.0-32.0.pre • packages/flutter/lib/parse_server_sdk_flutter.dart:81:32 • deprecated_member_use
error • The named parameter 'vsync' isn't defined • packages/flutter/lib/src/utils/parse_live_list.dart:276:9 • undefined_named_parameter

What would be the next steps?

1. merge this and release Dart 5.0.0
2. fix the vsync issue and release Flutter 5.0.0

I believe @Nidal-Bakir mentioned that Flutter 3.10 will require Dart >= 2.19, is that still the case and if yes, what can we do about this, since this PR currently only will require >2.18.0

[Nidal-Bakir]

The Dart SDK is ready. We need to merge the following PRs to release version 5.0.0:

• This PR
• fix: Setting atomic operation on Parse Object returns operation instead of prospective value #860

Please note that neither of these pull requests includes a proper statement about Dart 5.0.0 in the changelog.

[mtrezza]

Could you add a changelog entry?

[Nidal-Bakir]

Could you add a changelog entry?

Sorry, but I am a bit confused about what should I put it. Should we merge this #860 first and then update the entry?

Since we need 2 PRs to release Dart 5.0.0.

#860 (review)

• Since this won't be released, there is no version 5.0.0, so it also can't be in the changelog yet.
• Reformatted the BREAKING CHANGES section to align with org-wide style.

[mtrezza]

We don't have auto-release yet, which would generate a changelog entry for each PR according to the commit message (=PR title). So what we do instead until when is with each PR add a changelog entry for the PR, just like it would be auto-generated.

So currently, the changelog entry would be the PR title, and if necessary - in addition - an entry in the BREAKING CHANGES section. Since we have the Unreleased line at the top of the changelog entry, it is clear that the entries underneath are not of a released version yet.

[mtrezza]

I've added the changelog entries for dart and flutter. This is kind of a rarity, as we have 1 PR that creates a changelog entry in both packages; I think that usually wouldn't work this way with auto release, but we can do it here. I don't mention the moving of the example projects, as they would normally be a refactor or docs commit and not appear in the changelog - they have no effect on the SDK itself.

[Nidal-Bakir]

Thanks for clarifying.

[mtrezza]

I think we can merge this?

[Nidal-Bakir]

Yes, we are ready.