NW.js

NW.js v0.44.5 Released with Chromium Security Update

2020/03/18

NW.js 0.44.5 is released for Chromium security update, and a fix for crashes. This should be the last 0.44 release as 0.45.0 will be released soon with Chromium 81.

Most issues blocking NW1 removal are resolved in this release. I'll wait another 1 or 2 major versions to start NW1 code removal. So it's time to remove the --disable-features=nw2 switch from your application if you are using it. Report NW2 issues (and CC #7230 if it's blocking) and I'll fix them soon.

Since 0.42.4 NW2 mode became the default. NW2 is another key step of the project with major refactoring completed for more features and better quality. Please do read more on this when you upgrade: NW2 announcement.

Previously NW 0.44 was released with Chromium 80, which contains usual under-the-hood performance and stability tweaks, but there are also some cool new features to explore. It supports Content Indexing, ECMAScript Modules in Web Workers, Compression Streams and more. V8 JavaScript Engine 8.0 adds Optional chaining and reduces heap by 40% via Pointer compression. Please check Chromium blog and v8 blog for details. For a complete list of all features (including experimental features) in this release, see the Chrome 80 milestone hotlist.

I've made the 0.44 branch ready soon after Chromium beta bumps to 80. Thanks to the testers for their valuable feedback and bug reports. I've been working on 2 branches simultaneously: a released branch on current Chromium stable and a beta branch on Chromium beta.

Best regards,
Roger Wang

ChangeLog

Full ChangeLog: https://github.com/nwjs/nw.js/blob/nw44/CHANGELOG.md

Download

SDK build:

Binary for other platforms: https://dl.nwjs.io/v0.44.5/

There are 2 builds for each platform - normal build, and SDK build. Normal build doesn't have devtools, only SDK build does. It can be opened by pressing F12 (Cmd-Alt-I on OSX). SDK packages also have more development tools to be exposed in the following releases, as well as the NaCl support.

Our build infrastructure enables live binary build from git tip so you can access to the latest binary from https://dl.nwjs.io/live-build/

Known issues

http://docs.nwjs.io/en/latest/For%20Users/Migration/From%200.12%20to%200.13/#known-issues

Discussion

See our mailing list to discuss on this release: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/nwjs-general/5VCmjDcVA3c/0NC8cVbDAwAJ