Node.js 12.12 is here to bring a new flag to help work with embedders like Electron. In addition, source maps are now available for stack traces. Also Node 8 got once again a small update. Soon it will be over.
Node.js 12 new features
Node.js 12.12 brings new features for the JavaScript runtime environment. This includes a new CLI flag that prevents the use of native node addons if they are not context-aware. Such addons had problems when used with multi-process frameworks like Electron, since only one instance per process can be loaded. With the flag –force-context-aware the problems can now be bypassed.
Extended use of source maps
New to Node 12.12 is that source maps are now also available for stack traces. For this –source-map-support used. The original and the transpiled source will be issued as much as possible. The feature was implemented based on SourceMap.js, which comes with V8.
Another change to the version undoes something that was previously declared ready. JSON Modules had already been marked in Node as a stable feature, but are again marked as experimental with v12.12. This follows the Node team’s classification of the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG), which goes back to reporting a security issue with JSON modules in the W3C. More information about these and the other new features in Node 12.12 can be found in the release’s blog post .
Node 8: Soon to End of Life
Only a few days earlier, Node 8 had received another update. Node 8.16.2 brings according to blog post to the release only one noteworthy innovation: OpenSSL was updated to version 1.0.2.s. If you are still working with Node 8, you should consider not only installing this small update, but also upgrading to a newer version in a timely manner. Although Node 8 still receives security updates, this should only be the case until the end of December. As of December 31, 2019, Node 8 reaches its End of Life , which is parallel to the end of support for OpenSSL 1.0.2.