Provide frontend configuration at run-time

[jmakowski1123]

Problem

Having to rebuild containers with every configuration change is very expensive; possibly even more so than with theming changes.

Product/Platform Value

Dynamic image configuration enables platform use-cases that would not be practical otherwise. One example is multi-tenancy. Another is dynamic theming.

Acceptance Criteria

While it would not be possible to do away with build-time configuration entirely, it is possible to reduce the need for it by introducing a service that provides configuration at runtime.

Related or in-progress work

eduNext is actively working on this, and the basic mechanism is already in-place. It was introduced server-side via edx-platform#30473 (including an ADR), and client-side via frontend-platform#335.

Work is in-progress by eduNext to have all Tutor-supported MFEs use this mechanism.

• MFE runtime configuration wg-frontend#103

[kdmccormick]

Once this complete, we will need to modify tutor-mfe to take advantage of the runtime configuration: https://github.com/overhangio/2u-tutor-adoption/issues/87

[arbrandes]

eduNext spreadsheet that lists MFEs and their status in relation to runtime config support:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DDWx6jCBH39K-fUfBrT8UFzqqyGL-Gx0UeFujOkSNwU/edit#gid=0

Thread in the forum discussion this topic:

https://discuss.openedx.org/t/mfe-runtime-configuration/8495

[github-actions]

Thanks for your submission, @openedx/open-edx-project-managers will review shortly.

[kdmccormick]

This is done and shipped in Olive!