rclnodejs v1.6.0

Release Notes for rclnodejs v1.6.0 (2025-10-30)

🚀 Major Features

JSON-Safe Message Serialization (#1308)

• New Public API: Added serializationMode option to createSubscription()
  • 'default' - Native rclnodejs behavior
  • 'plain' - Converts TypedArrays to regular arrays (JSON-compatible)
  • 'json' - Full JSON-safe mode (handles TypedArrays, BigInt, NaN, Infinity)
• New Utility Functions:
  • rclnodejs.toJSONSafe(obj) - Converts objects to JSON-friendly format
  • rclnodejs.toJSONString(obj) - Directly converts to JSON string
• Problem Solved: Sensor messages with TypedArrays now work correctly with JSON.stringify(), web APIs, and logging workflows
• Fully backward compatible - existing code continues to work unchanged

📦 Dependency Cleanup

Removed external dependencies and replaced with native implementations:

• Removed compare-versions (#1303) - Implemented custom version comparison
• Removed fs-extra (#1302) - Using Node.js built-in fs module with custom utilities
• Removed doT template engine (#1297) - Replaced with native JavaScript template literals
• Removed terser (#1293) - Simplified to regex-based whitespace cleanup
• Removed is-close (#1295) - Implemented custom floating-point comparison

Result: Lighter package with fewer third-party dependencies, improved maintainability

🔧 Node.js Compatibility

Node.js v25 Support (#1313, #1314, #1315)

• Removed deprecated SlowBuffer - Eliminated Node.js v6 era compatibility code that was causing errors in v25

🏗️ Code Modernization

Template Engine Migration (#1297)

• Migrated from doT templates to native ES6 template literals
• Benefits: Better performance, improved maintainability, reduced dependencies

🔄 CI/CD Improvements

• GitHub Actions Updates (#1291): Upgraded setup-node action to v6.0.0
• Multi-version Testing: Expanded Node.js version coverage (v24, v25) across different platforms

Full Changelog: 1.5.2...1.6.0

🙏 Acknowledgments

Thanks to all contributors who helped identify issues and improve this release!