Alamofire? But why?

[atljeremy]

As a best practice, when writing client libraries, you should use the internal core API's that are provided by the platform to not force additional lib requirements on those using your lib. In some cases there's no avoiding it, but in the case of networking, this can and should be avoided. Not everyone is using Alamofire and doesn't want to add the additional dependency/bloat to their app.

Apple has made it easier and easier to write solid/stable networking code using the built in API's like URLSession. Is there something you're using in Alamofire that you can't get by using the platform provided networking API's? Hopefully the answer is no being that Alamofire is just a wrapper around URLSession. I'd love to see this lib updated to use the platform provided networking API's. Hell, if I had more time, I'd love to help with that effort.

Here are some articles/other libs that highlight this concept:

• https://sendgrid.com/blog/building-a-dependency-free-http-client-in-go/
• https://github.com/bustoutsolutions/siesta#what-it-doesnt-do
• https://thatthinginswift.com/write-your-own-api-clients-swift/

[greg-db]

Thanks for writing this up! I'm sending this along to the team.

[slizeray]

100% agree with @atljeremy !

[FabienLydoire]

@greg-db what's the status on this issue ? The dependency to Alamofire is segregated to the file DropboxTransportClient.swift. What's the technical reason for using Alamofire over URLSession ?

[greg-db]

@FabienLydoire This is still open with the team, but unfortunately I don't have any update or additional information to share.

[ioskunal]

Hey @FabienLydoire , @greg-db do we have any plans of removing Alamofire from the library?

[greg-db]

@greg-db I don't have any news or plans for this request to share. I'll reply here if/when I do.

[wilwet]

Please remove Alamofire dependency or keep it current. +1 either case.

[greg-db]

@wilwet Thanks for the feedback!

[alak]

Ping! Can you remove alamofire please ?

[greg-db]

@alak Thanks for checking in. I don't have an update on this unfortunately though. I'll follow up here if/when I do.

[ChrisPearce]

Is a change to remove the AlamoFire dependency currently on the roadmap?

[greg-db]

@ChrisPearce I don't have any news to share on this.

[greg-db]

The request to remove Alamofire entirely is still open, but for reference SwiftyDropbox now supports Alamofire 5 as of v8.0.0.

[ChrisPearce]

Is there anymore news on whether the dependency on AlamoFire will be removed?

[slizeray]

Good question! This request is open since almost 5 years...I guess it gives us some strong indication? LOL

[greg-db]

I don't have any update on this right now.

[greg-db]

We've released a beta version of SwiftyDropbox with some significant updates, such as to remove the dependency on Alamofire. You can find more information here: https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-API-Support-Feedback/Beta-version-of-major-SwiftyDropbox-update-available/td-p/695441

[FabienLydoire]

Great release @greg-db ! Congrats to the Team 👍🏻

[julianlocke]

The above mentioned beta has been promoted to stable release. Read more about it here: https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-API-Support-Feedback/Major-SwiftyDropbox-update-available/td-p/737816