A full version history of the babel-core package with size, number of distributed files and dependency evolution.
Babel-core, a vital component in JavaScript development, has undergone numerous iterations, showcasing continuous improvements and adaptation to the evolving landscape of JavaScript standards. Versions 4.x to 5.x, released predominantly in early 2015, focused on transforming ES6 code into compatible ES5, emphasizing source maps for debugging. Core dependencies like acorn-babel, core-js, and regenerator-babel were foundational, though saw upgrades along the way. Notably, version 5.0.0 saw a shift, dropping acorn-babel while solidifying a dependency on core-js version 0.8.0 .
The 6.x series, starting late 2015, marked a significant architectural overhaul. This involved modularizing Babel into smaller packages, such as babel-generator, babel-traverse, and babel-types, fostering greater flexibility and maintainability. A key pattern was to release a version of babylon then several versions of babel-core following with that specific babylon version. Also the versions added or improved react support, babel runtime added and other developer tooling improvements. With dependencies managed separately, ensuring compatible versions across these modules became a key consideration. These versions also saw deprecation of dependencies when modules where adopted internally. The releases in general where also faster than those of the previous versions. This modular approach has allowed Babel-core to cater to diverse needs whilst adhering to the specifications.