How to keep Ecto out of web layer

[axelson]

@josevalim

I think the reason why Ecto is seen more like accidental coupling is because you can’t use just part of it, so the cause and consequence always goes like “my database has to use it and therefore I have to use it”. That’s why we are considering at least removing the ecto_sql and ecto_migrations part out of Ecto, so that it becomes more of a toolkit for data mapping and data change than a database library.

What do you think?

I definitely agree. If the validations and changesets were usable without pulling in the SQL bits then it would go a long way. One of the benefits is it would let you analyze and ensure properties of your application just by looking at the application and dependency level, without even needing to look at the code (i.e. if the application doesn’t depend on ecto_sql then it cannot do any database access).