refactor!: remove the --prefetch option

OPTIONS.md

@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ Options:
   --no-hot                                                                           Disables Hot Module Replacement.
   --analyze                                                                          It invokes webpack-bundle-analyzer plugin to get bundle information.
   --progress [value]                                                                 Print compilation progress during build.
-  --prefetch <value>                                                                 Prefetch this request.
   -j, --json [value]                                                                 Prints result as JSON or store it in a file.
   --no-amd                                                                           Negative 'amd' option.
   --bail                                                                             Report the first error as a hard error instead of tolerating it.

packages/webpack-cli/README.md

@@ -95,7 +95,6 @@ npx webpack-cli --help verbose
   --mode <value>                Defines the mode to pass to webpack.
   --name <value>                Name of the configuration. Used when loading multiple configurations.
   -o, --output-path <value>     Output location of the file generated by webpack e.g. ./dist/.
-  --prefetch <value>            Prefetch this request
   --stats [value]               It instructs webpack on how to treat the stats e.g. verbose.
   --no-stats                    Disable stats output.
   -t, --target <value...>       Sets the build target e.g. node.

packages/webpack-cli/src/plugins/CLIPlugin.ts

@@ -9,12 +9,6 @@ export class CLIPlugin {
     this.options = options;
   }
 
-  setupPrefetchPlugin(compiler: Compiler) {
-    const { PrefetchPlugin } = compiler.webpack || require("webpack");
-
-    new PrefetchPlugin(null, this.options.prefetch).apply(compiler);
-  }
-
   async setupBundleAnalyzerPlugin(compiler: Compiler) {
     // eslint-disable-next-line node/no-extraneous-require,@typescript-eslint/no-var-requires
     const { BundleAnalyzerPlugin } = require("webpack-bundle-analyzer");
@@ -111,10 +105,6 @@ export class CLIPlugin {
       this.setupProgressPlugin(compiler);
     }
 
-    if (this.options.prefetch) {
-      this.setupPrefetchPlugin(compiler);
-    }
-
     if (this.options.analyze) {
       this.setupBundleAnalyzerPlugin(compiler);
     }

packages/webpack-cli/src/webpack-cli.ts

@@ -832,15 +832,6 @@ class WebpackCLI implements IWebpackCLI {
         ],
         description: "Print compilation progress during build.",
       },
-      {
-        name: "prefetch",
-        configs: [
-          {
-            type: "string",
-          },
-        ],
-        description: "Prefetch this request.",
-      },
 
       // Output options
       {
@@ -2291,7 +2282,6 @@ class WebpackCLI implements IWebpackCLI {
           configPath: config.path.get(item),
           helpfulOutput: !options.json,
           progress: options.progress,
-          prefetch: options.prefetch,
           analyze: options.analyze,
         }),
       );