Release proposal: v3.0.0

[rvagg]

Currently this is a tracking PR for a 3.0.0 release, some discussion continues on from #1805. This proposal doesn't have a timeframe yet, there are too many unknowns at this stage but we may be able to proceed fairly quickly if things come together nicely.

To be honest I'm not sure exactly what the semver-major here is except for the V8 upgrade and I don't know the details about what's breaking in the C++ API there, perhaps @kkoopa, @bnoordhuis or @trevnorris could fill us in on the details of the breakage for the CHANGELOG? Is this the one where we get all the Maybe* API drama that's going to hurt for everyone?

V8 on the next branch is currently at 4.3.61.21, the CHANGELOG for that is at https://chromium.googlesource.com/v8/v8/+/4.3.61/ChangeLog

The only things on the JS side from scanning the changelog that may be relevant are:

• Remove --harmony-scoping flag.
• Implement subclassing Arrays (issue 3930).
• [es6] Fix for-const loops (issue 3983).

@domenic could I put it on your TODO list to give us a summary of what's changed on the JavaScript end, if anything?

One outstanding item of concern is that I got multiple failures of test-debug-port-from-cmdline.js on OSX, caused by a hanging background process listening on the debug port--I don't know if it was this test on a previous run that caused that hanging process or not, however. If this keeps on showing up then it'll have to hold up a release until we find a fix.

Current log of commits is as follows, but I expect us to get a v2.1.1 out so this will change.

• [70716fdd93] - deps: backport 7b24219346 from v8 upstream (Rod Vagg) #1805
• [b65f1ce278] - deps: update v8 to 4.3.61.21 (Chris Dickinson) iojs/io.js#1632
• [eea96ee2f0] - _Revert_ "dns: remove AI_V4MAPPED hint flag on FreeBSD" (cjihrig) iojs/io.js#1555
• [137f38dbf1] - doc: update v8 flags in man page (Michaël Zasso) iojs/io.js#1701
• [98649fd31a] - doc: add documentation for AtExit hook (Steve Sharp) #1014
• [eb1856dfd1] - doc: clarify stability of fs.watch and relatives (Rich Trott) #1775
• [a74c2c9458] - doc: state url decoding behavior (Josh Gummersall) #1731
• [ba76a9d872] - doc: remove bad semver-major entry from CHANGELOG (Rod Vagg) #1782
• [a6a3f8c78d] - doc: fix changelog s/2.0.3/2.1.0 (Rod Vagg)
• [1eec5f091a] - http: simplify code and remove unused properties (Brian White) #1572
• [5abd4ac079] - lib: simplify nextTick() usage (Brian White) #1612
• [853a2b3622] - net: do not set V4MAPPED on FreeBSD (Julien Gilli) iojs/io.js#1555
• [93a44d5228] - src: fix deferred events not working with -e (Ben Noordhuis) #1793
• [b89fd75058] - test: remove obsolete harmony flags (Chris Dickinson)
• [6dfca71af0] - test: don't lint autogenerated test/addons/doc-*/ (Ben Noordhuis) #1793
• [c2b8b30836] - test: remove stray copyright notices (Ben Noordhuis) #1793
• [280fb01daf] - test: fix deprecation warning in addons test (Ben Noordhuis) #1793

[rvagg]

First release candidate for testing: https://iojs.org/download/next-nightly/v2.1.1-next-nightly2015052770716fdd93/ v3.0.0-RC1 perhaps?

[jbergstroem]

Next seems to fail consistently on an arm7: https://jenkins-iojs.nodesource.com/job/iojs+any-pr+multi/nodes=armv7-wheezy/714/tapTestReport/test.tap-180/ -- might be a pr/issue for it somewhere. If that's the case, sorry for not searching properly.

[rvagg]

not consistent, but probably about as consistent as the OSX one, see https://jenkins-iojs.nodesource.com/job/iojs+any-pr+multi/713/ for a successful one for example

[trevnorris]

@rvagg I'm working on finishing the Uint8Array implementation of Buffer behind a flag. Though there are questions I have for the TC meeting tomorrow before it can be finished. This is something I would like to be released on v3.0, if possible.

If it is, I'll give you a full list of any API changes that come with it. Though it will be behind a flag, so one one should immediately feel it.

[kkoopa]

Is this the one where we get all the Maybe* API drama that's going to hurt for everyone?

Yes, every single native addon ever written will need extensive rewriting and it cannot really be automated in a sensible way. Every npm package depending on a native addon will also need updating to pull in the new versions from their upstreams. In total, 64 000 packages may need updating.

This is way worse than those crummy Isolates.

[rvagg]

@kkoopa what's the status of NAN for this? Is it having to wait for 2.0 to make this work? Got an ETA on that (sorry, I've been following but a little detached atm)

[kkoopa]

Definitely 2.0, there is not a snowball's chance in hell of NAN 1.x working on io.js 3.0. nan/next builds against iojs/next. What is missing is mostly documentation and a conversion script. The sooner someone writes this, the sooner it can be released.

[imyller]

My humble suggestion:

Maybe it is time to consider adding and maintaining a Foreign Function Interface (FFI) in the core? Something like the node-ffi provides. Not as a replacement for current addon system, but as a less volatile alternative.

That wouldn't help the immediate package breakage 3.x.x brings, but would steer addon developers who do not need the full V8 native access to implement their own bindings in pure JS in the future.

[kkoopa]

There already is.

[imyller]

@kkoopa Thanks, missed the FFI PR. Hope it goes through. Soon.

[kkoopa]

Simply adding FFI still won't solve anything for many years to come, as people want their addons running on many versions of Node.

[imyller]

I just hope this doesn't turn in to Python 2 vs 3 for Node if the breakage too widespread. 64,000 packages @kkoopa mentioned is a huge chunk of the ecosystem.

[kkoopa]

The problem with Python 2 vs Python 3 was that they kept on supporting Python 2 and even adding new features to it. They should have cut it off completely and let it die quickly and Python 2 would have died off within a year. Python 2 is strictly inferior to Python 3 and it is a shame that it is still in use.