[material-next] Drop the @mui/material-next package

[mnajdova]

We are dropping the @mui/material-next package.

Here is why. We have multiple ways to work on the next major version:

• Two codebases, one active version focus:
  • Focus on the next branch, go under heavy breaking changes there, and have a master branch where we backport fixes, sometimes.
  • Focus on the master branch, where we focus on the next major, no major changes, and have a vX branch for the older version where we backport fixes, sometimes.
• One codebase, two active versions:
  • Achieve this with two npm packages, @mui/material and @mui/material-next.

We are already working on the next Material UI version. We don't have the bandwidth to focus on both versions at the same time, and it is a maintenance burden to keep the package alive.

The next time we work on a major, updates, we will be much likely continue to work on a single version at a time, at least, as long as we we feel spread too thin, where we can only have a single active major version.

[mui-bot]

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• docs/data/material/components/badges/badges.md
• docs/data/material/components/button-group/button-group.md
• docs/data/material/components/buttons/buttons.md
• docs/data/material/components/chips/chips.md
• docs/data/material/components/dividers/dividers.md

@mui/material-next: parsed: -100.00% 😍, gzip: -100.00% 😍

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[mnajdova]

I wasn't sure if I should update the second part of https://mui.com/blog/2023-material-ui-v6-and-beyond/#material-ui-v7, where we mention the package. I left it for now.

[DiegoAndai]

• Will he latest released version of the package still be available to users?
• Should we keep the components' "Material Design 3 version" section? I think it's better to add a callout explaining that the material-next package is not being worked on while we wait to start working on v7. Simply removing it seems that it might scare people.

[mnajdova]

Will he latest released version of the package still be available to users?

Yes, I don't plan to remove it from npm now. We are discontinuing the work on it.

Should we keep the components' "Material Design 3 version" section? I think it's better to add a callout explaining that the material-next package is not being worked on while we wait to start working on v7. Simply removing it seems that it might scare people.

I think it may be misleading to keep the demos, we do not want people to keep experimenting with this package, that was the sole purpose for adding these. Based on the number of downloads I wouldn't worry: https://npm-stat.com/charts.html?package=%40mui%2Fmaterial-next&from=2023-03-17&to=2024-03-17

[DiegoAndai]

I think it may be misleading to keep the demos

Good point. Let's go ahead then.

We can leave a comment in #29345 explaining why those were removed.

I wasn't sure if I should update the second part of https://mui.com/blog/2023-material-ui-v6-and-beyond/#material-ui-v7, where we mention the package. I left it for now.

I would update it, under the same argument that we're removing the demos.

[mnajdova]

I wasn't sure if I should update the second part of https://mui.com/blog/2023-material-ui-v6-and-beyond/#material-ui-v7, where we mention the package. I left it for now.

I would update it, under the same argument that we're removing the demos.

Fair enough, updated and I also updated the all components page to not show the MD3 tags anywhere.

[DiegoAndai]

Fair enough, updated and I also updated the all components page to not show the MD3 tags anywhere.

cc: @danilo-leal

[oliviertassinari]

It looks like https://www.npmjs.com/package/@mui/material-next should have been deprecated. People got confused about it, e.g. https://x.com/michioxd/status/1873768653625368644.

Fixed:

PR description updated to also clarify why.