A full version history of the babel-loader package with size, number of distributed files and dependency evolution.
Babel-loader, a crucial webpack module, has undergone significant evolution reflected in its numerous versions. Initially crafted by Luis Couto, it bridges Babel's code transformation capabilities with webpack's module bundling. Early versions (4.x) focused on basic functionality, with dependencies like loader-utils and peer dependencies on specific webpack and babel-core versions.
Version 5.x saw increased dependency on babel-core and introduced object-assign. Development dependencies expanded, including testing frameworks like mocha and tools like istanbul for code coverage. Version 6.x marked a significant shift, aligning with Babel 6 and incorporating find-cache-dir for improved caching. The peer dependency requirements updated to reflect the newer Babel core.
Versions 7.x refined the loader, gradually adopting newer webpack versions and maintaining Babel 6 compatibility. Later on, version 8.x adopted Babel 7 requiring peer dependencies like @babel/core version: 7.0.0. With version 9.x, the tool started being compatible with Webpack 5. The latest version, 10, released early 2025, keeps the compatibility with Babel 7 but requires Webpack 5.61, also, find-up was added as a dependency to the project, replacing old unused ones. Throughout its evolution, babel-loader continuously adapted to the changing landscapes of both Babel and webpack, always striving to provide a seamless integration for developers. The tool's evolution shows the commitment of the maintainers to keep up to date with new tools and to provide a great experience to the users.