Explore update to Electron 4

[bpasero]

VSCode Exploration Builds with Electron 4.0.x:

• macOS: Download
• Linux: Download
• Windows: Download

[bpasero]

@Tyriar for some bizarre reason, vscode-nsfw fails to load for me even though I can compile it. This is on Windows 10:

[Astrantia]

When will be Electron 3 pushed to insiders and Electron 4 pushes to exploration?

[bpasero]

@Astrantia current idea is January 2019.

[Tyriar]

@bpasero weird, is the nsfw.node file there and/or is it trying to load the module from asar?

[bpasero]

I think it was there.

[bpasero]

@Tyriar this is when running out of sources, so ASAR is not involved. And I just checked, the nsfw.node file is there.

[bpasero]

@Tyriar I am not convinced this is an issue with vscode-nsfw because I can compile it with node.js 10.11.0, so I opened electron/electron#15436

[bpasero]

@Tyriar looks like this might be caused by nsfw setting this in binding.gyp:

"win_delay_load_hook": "false"

See electron/electron#15436 (comment)

However I am still struggling to load the module even after making this change: Axosoft/nsfw@master...Microsoft:electron-4.0.x

[bpasero]

I published [email protected] which should take care of this.

[dalDevelo]

@bpasero I've used the provided link to download the electron 4 build for macOS. Immediately after install, running 'process.versions.electron' in dev tools reports that v4.0.0 beta.7 is being used, however as soon as the application updates, the electron version number is rolled back to v3.0.9. Is this supposed to be the case, or is there something at your end that needs to be changed so that this build looks in a different location for electron 4 related 'exploration' updates?

[bpasero]

@dalDevelo yeah as long as exploration builds are not yet on Electron 4, you will have to configure update.channel: none in settings to prevent updates.

At this time I would stay away from using the Electron 4.0.x builds for any serious work.

[bpasero]

Now that insiders got Electron 3 I will make the exploration builds consume Electron 4.

[dalDevelo]

@bpasero what is the situation with the exploration builds if there are multiple stable Electron releases available? Electron 5 beta 1 was published yesterday. Assuming stable Electron 5 is released in the coming weeks, will VScode exploration jump to this version for exploration, or will the Electron 4 exploration continue to be worked on until it reaches insiders / main release, thus delaying Electron 5 adoption?

[bpasero]

@dalDevelo exploration will always be 1 version after the current version we have in insiders and only move on to the next once we increment the version in insiders.

[auchenberg]

@bpasero What's the platform consequences of upgrading to Electron 4.0? We'd loose Linux 32bit?

[bpasero]

@auchenberg yes likely

[gulshan]

Is it possible to skip 4 and update to Electron 5? The only v4 adoption blocking issue is said to be fixed in v5- electron/electron#16925

[bpasero]

We will try to get a release out with Electron 4 and at the same time start to look into adopting Electron 5. It is unlikely we would just skip one version given all the work that is involved.

[danilaml]

It looks like there are no blockers now and it's been in "Explore" state for quite some time. Is there any reason left why it's still Deferred?

[bpasero]

@danilaml this will land in insiders during June. We felt the current iteration was too short to push this already. If there are new blockers found, it may delay further though.

[maciejw]

is exploration build up to date with insiders and only difference is electron? if so, then maybe we have some issues, I'm using exploration build with electron 4.2 and extensions host crashes regularly during startup, sometimes while using editor.

[bpasero]

@maciejw which version are you on (check the commit hash from the about dialog). If it is latest then I would be happy for some reproducible steps how to get to these crashes if possible.

[maciejw]

@bpasero it was on 291cc2d, I'll let you know if this is still the issue I've just installed a2873dc. I wondered, was it an extensions fault maybe? I synced my settings including all extensions. when this crash will happen, callstack and details from dev console will be enough to help diagnose it? this issue happens randomly I did not find any particular pattern what causes it.

[bpasero]

@maciejw yeah we can revisit this once you can still reproduce, looks like you were on quite an old version of the exploration branch.

[maciejw]

@bpasero just after update to 3ac052e the error appeared, below is a console log

[Extension Host] debugger listening on port 39926
workbench.main.js:3311 Extension Host
workbench.main.js:3311 Debugger attached.
workbench.main.js:3183 Extension host terminated unexpectedly. Code:  3221225477  Signal:  null
_onExtensionHostCrashed @ workbench.main.js:3183
workbench.main.js:2380 Extension host terminated unexpectedly.
onDidNotificationChange @ workbench.main.js:2380

after window refresh works fine.

[bpasero]

@maciejw and you are not seeing this in our insiders build? Does it reproduce when you run with --disable-extensions?

[bpasero]

Pushed to master via 73643c6. Will be out in insiders end of week when we released stable.

[maciejw]

@bpasero I have not tried this switch since this error happens randomly. I run the same extensions on stable and insider and I have not noticed , we will see if this error persists on master.

[albertosantini]

In Electron v4 be aware also to Issue 683994: context.drawImage() slows down massively when drawing a few large images, a regression in the Canvas API.

Just my two cents. Thanks for the effort.

[bpasero]

^ @Tyriar

[Tyriar]

@albertosantini thanks for the info

[albertosantini]

@Tyriar Credits to Hyper Blog - Hyper 3 announce, I suppose you know. ;)

Electron V3

Hyper 3 bumps the underlying Electron from V1 to V3. We also tested V4, but a regression in the Canvas API forced us to stay on V3. The upgrade brings in newer versions of V8 and Node.js, and their corresponding bug fixes.