• Synchronet v3.30 development started (*new* JavaScript library!)

    From Digital Man@VERT to All on Friday, April 10, 2026 01:00:07
    The last 24 hours has been the first time that Synchronet has run (mind you, just experimentally on Vertrauen) with a new JavaScript library (libmozjs-128) in many years!

    This is a huge change to Synchronet and unfortunately, isn't 100% backward compatible. A number of non-standard language features that were allowed in the old JavaScript engine (SpiderMonkey v1.8.5) are now not allowed. :-(

    I'm actively updating the JavaScript files that are included stock with Synchronet to make sure they'll be both backward and forward compatible, but I don't have control over all the 3rd party JavaScript files to test or update as needed.

    Here's a write-up about those incompatibilites and the things that Synchronet JS developers like you can do to insure your scripts are compatible with future and current (and even recent past) Synchronet releases:
    https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs/-/blob/next-js/docs/sm185_to_sm128_incompatibilities.md

    It's still too early for others to run this development branch for their BBS, but I just wanted to give you all the news and a head's up that *some* existing JavaScript files won't be immediately compatible with the next big Synchronet version bump (I'm calling v3.30).

    On the bright side, you'll get all the ECMAScript 2024 language features (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECMAScript_version_history) and performance and relability features included a modern JavaScript engine from Mozilla!
    Get excited!
    --
    digital man (rob)

    This Is Spinal Tap quote #42:
    What day the Lord created Spinal Tap and couldn't he have rested on that day? Norco, CA WX: 59.7øF, 89.0% humidity, 1 mph W wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From deon@VERT/ALTERANT to Digital Man on Friday, April 10, 2026 21:28:12
    Re: Synchronet v3.30 development started (*new* JavaScript library!)
    By: Digital Man to All on Fri Apr 10 2026 01:00 am

    Howdy,

    The last 24 hours has been the first time that Synchronet has run (mind you, just experimentally on Vertrauen) with a new JavaScript library (libmozjs-128) in many years!

    Yay :)

    It's still too early for others to run this development branch for their BBS, but I just wanted to give you all the news and a head's up that *some* existing JavaScript files won't be immediately compatible with the next big Synchronet version bump (I'm calling v3.30).

    Is it in a branch (I just went and had a look - "next-js")? Can we play with it and perhaps help identify the incompatibilities, or do we just have to patient and wait?

    Hoping as part of the SBBS build we can use an OS supplied library to save on build time?


    ...ëîåï

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ AnsiTEX bringing back videotex but with ANSI
  • From Ragnarok@VERT/DOCKSUD to Digital Man on Friday, April 10, 2026 10:19:26
    El 10/4/26 a las 05:00, Digital Man (VERT) escribi¢:
    The last 24 hours has been the first time that Synchronet has run (mind
    you, just experimentally on Vertrauen) with a new JavaScript library (libmozjs-128) in many years!

    good news.
    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Dock Sud BBS TLD 24 HS - bbs.docksud.com.ar
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Digital Man on Friday, April 10, 2026 09:00:57
    Re: Synchronet v3.30 development started (*new* JavaScript library!)
    By: Digital Man to All on Fri Apr 10 2026 01:00 am

    The last 24 hours has been the first time that Synchronet has run (mind you, just experimentally on Vertrauen) with a new JavaScript library (libmozjs-128) in many years!

    This is a huge change to Synchronet and unfortunately, isn't 100% backward compatible. A number of non-standard language features that were allowed in the old JavaScript engine (SpiderMonkey v1.8.5) are now not allowed. :-(

    On the bright side, you'll get all the ECMAScript 2024 language features (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECMAScript_version_history) and performance and relability features included a modern JavaScript engine from Mozilla! Get excited!

    I think that will be an overall good update.

    Nightfox

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Digital Man@VERT to deon on Friday, April 10, 2026 10:23:05
    Re: Synchronet v3.30 development started (*new* JavaScript library!)
    By: deon to Digital Man on Fri Apr 10 2026 09:28 pm

    The last 24 hours has been the first time that Synchronet has run (mind you, just experimentally on Vertrauen) with a new JavaScript library (libmozjs-128) in many years!

    Yay :)

    It's still too early for others to run this development branch for their BBS, but I just wanted to give you all the news and a head's up that *some* existing JavaScript files won't be immediately compatible with the next big Synchronet version bump (I'm calling v3.30).

    Is it in a branch (I just went and had a look - "next-js")? Can we play with it and perhaps help identify the incompatibilities, or do we just have to patient and wait?

    If you really want to build and run it, yes, the branch is 'next-js', but there are plenty of known issues (e.g. no Windows build support yet) and many of the stock scripts still fail with errors.

    Hoping as part of the SBBS build we can use an OS supplied library to save on build time?

    Yes, the plan is to use the system's libmozjs-dev-128 package if/while there is one. For Windows, I'll continue to vendor the built binaries and headers in the repo for Windows (only).

    And speaking of Windows, this does mean the end of Windows 7 support for new Synchronet versions: Spidermonkey 128 only supports Windows 8 and later. But gladly, Spidermonkey 128 still supports 32-bit Windows editions (of 8 and 10).
    --
    digital man (rob)

    This Is Spinal Tap quote #32:
    Derek Smalls: [A jog?] We don't have time for that.
    Norco, CA WX: 70.0øF, 66.0% humidity, 0 mph NE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net