Replace Moment.js in core with something smaller (what?)
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	Jdlrobson
	Sep 27 2016, 6:22 PM

Description

Moment.js is quite a large library and seems to replicate some of the logic we have in mw.msg. ~~In Popups for example, this library is used to render a message "Edited 33 minutes ago", and this accounts for over 50% of the code. (See T137775)~~~ [JR: Popups no longer uses]

In MobileFrontend rather than using Moment.js we use a small library to provide information about last modified time with units. We then use this information in getLastModifiedMessage to render one of several messages.

This approach seems cheaper.

My question: should we deprecate use of moment.js in core for a more simplistic library, based on the MobileFrontend library (or some other library), that can be used with messages?

Usages in core:

mediawiki.Upload.BookletLayout
mediawiki.ForeignStructuredUpload.BookletLayout
mediawiki.special.block
mediawiki.special.editrecovery
mediawiki.widgets.DateInputWidget
mediawiki.widgets.expiry

Details

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	Remove use of moment.js in Special:EditRecovery	mediawiki/core	master	+5 -3
	Declare moment.js dependency deprecated	mediawiki/core	master	+1 -0

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Status	Assigned	Task
Open	None	T146798 Replace Moment.js in core with something smaller (what?)
Resolved	• Nirzar	T137775 Popups should not use moment.js for a single line
Resolved	simon04	T224626 MultimediaViewer should not use moment.js for a single line
Resolved	ppelberg	T224635 MobileFrontend should not use moment.js for just one use case in the editor

Event Timeline

Jdlrobson created this task.Sep 27 2016, 6:22 PM

Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptSep 27 2016, 6:22 PM

Jdlrobson added a subtask: T137775: Popups should not use moment.js for a single line.Sep 27 2016, 6:22 PM

Roan suggested https://github.com/jquery/globalize might be a good replacement but may equally be large.

Based on https://github.com/jquery/globalize#pick-the-modules-you-need it sounds like it might be smaller than moment, although those figures don't include the CLDR data that you need.

WMDE-leszek subscribed.Jan 26 2017, 9:06 AM

ovasileva closed subtask T137775: Popups should not use moment.js for a single line as Resolved.Feb 3 2017, 1:42 PM

Jdlrobson updated the task description. (Show Details)Feb 8 2017, 7:17 PM

Legoktm added a project: I18n.Feb 8 2017, 7:19 PM

Volker_E moved this task from Inbox to Backlog on the Front-end-Standards-Group board.Feb 8 2017, 7:27 PM

@Jdlrobson @Catrope “may equally be large” vs “might be smaller than moment”?!

Jdforrester-WMF subscribed.Feb 8 2017, 8:54 PM

• Prtksxna subscribed.Feb 13 2017, 10:18 AM

Tgr mentioned this in T181547: Regex DoS vulnerability in moment.js.Nov 28 2017, 6:58 PM

• Mholloway subscribed.Nov 28 2017, 7:01 PM

Jdforrester-WMF renamed this task from Do we really need Moment.js in core? to Should we replace Moment.js in core with something smaller? (If yes, what?).Nov 28 2017, 7:10 PM

Jdforrester-WMF triaged this task as Low priority.

Another possible alternative hot off the news: https://github.com/xx45/dayjs – described as ”Fast 2KB date library alternative to Moment.js with the same modern API“

In T146798#4155920, @Volker_E wrote:

Another possible alternative hot off the news: https://github.com/xx45/dayjs – described as ”Fast 2KB date library alternative to Moment.js with the same modern API“

Unfortunately AFAICT that one is small and fast by not doing i18n, which is a non-starter for us.

I'm not familiar with all of moment.js abilities, but there's discussion for “internationalization” https://github.com/xx45/dayjs/issues/36

Hot from the press: https://github.com/you-dont-need/You-Dont-Need-Momentjs

Do we use timezone localisation? This seems to be the biggest problem with moving away...

moment-timezone doesn't seem to be in use:

only core/resources/lib/moment, but no moment-timezone is present
no results for .tz referring to moment via codesearch (referring to the tz function of https://momentjs.com/timezone/)

In the meanwhile I18n has landed in dayjs, see https://github.com/iamkun/dayjs/blob/dev/docs/en/I18n.md

For simple formatting, the JavaScript [Date.toLocaleString](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date/toLocaleString) might be sufficient (providing good browser support for its basic usage).

One question is also how strict the localized output must be, e.g., I'm relating to the en locale override in core/resources/src/moment/moment-dmy.js.

In core we have a few calls to moment() (codesearch), in MobileFrontend only two (codesearch)

Would it make sense to submit a patch replacing the moment usage in an extension such as MobileFrontend or MultimediaViewer as a starting point?

simon04 mentioned this in T224626: MultimediaViewer should not use moment.js for a single line.May 29 2019, 8:47 PM

simon04 added a subtask: T224626: MultimediaViewer should not use moment.js for a single line.

• Mholloway unsubscribed.May 29 2019, 9:32 PM

simon04 added a subtask: T224635: MobileFrontend should not use moment.js for just one use case in the editor.May 29 2019, 10:36 PM

Jdforrester-WMF closed subtask T224626: MultimediaViewer should not use moment.js for a single line as Resolved.May 31 2019, 9:16 PM

Amorymeltzer subscribed.Nov 13 2019, 10:56 AM

ppelberg closed subtask T224635: MobileFrontend should not use moment.js for just one use case in the editor as Resolved.Jan 21 2022, 4:21 AM

Nardog subscribed.Apr 28 2022, 9:48 AM

Quoting https://momentjs.com/docs/#/-project-status/ :

we would like to discourage Moment from being used in new projects going forward. Instead, we would like to recommend alternatives that are excellent choices for use in modern applications today

Aklapper renamed this task from Should we replace Moment.js in core with something smaller? (If yes, what?) to Replace Moment.js in core with something smaller (what?).Aug 25 2022, 8:16 AM

Aklapper added projects: Technical-Debt, MediaWiki-General.

• Prtksxna unsubscribed.Aug 29 2022, 3:45 AM

Dringsim subscribed.Jun 27 2023, 4:19 PM

Tgr mentioned this in T336198: Positive reinforcement: Investigate client-side and server-side performance characteristics of new impact module.Jul 18 2023, 2:18 AM

Sgs mentioned this in T342237: Use Intl instead of moment.Jul 19 2023, 12:19 PM

We could evaluate using Intl, not sure if it covers all of moment's timezone use cases but probably enough for simple date formatting. GrowthExperiments and other extensions are already using it. Probably some old browser compatibility would be desired, a partial polyfill maybe.

Aklapper mentioned this in T223988: Wrong grammatical case of month names in Slavic languages in StructuredDiscussions extension.Sep 4 2023, 10:55 AM

Chlod subscribed.Dec 16 2023, 3:35 PM

I suggested MediaWiki date formatter keywords to Moment.js in 2014 https://github.com/moment/moment/issues/1454 due to localization needs in moment.js to fully support MediaWiki and it was closed years later referring to the page also linked above, "We now generally consider Moment to be a legacy project in maintenance mode. It is not dead, but it is indeed done.", so guess the correct direction here would be first deprecate moment.js module then try to reduce the uses till the removal as it doesn't support needed localization stuff (non-Gregorian calendars) which browser-own Intl does support for free.

Change #1062961 had a related patch set uploaded (by Ebrahim; author: Ebrahim):

[mediawiki/core@master] Declare moment.js dependency deprecated

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1062961

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Aug 15 2024, 7:26 AM

TheDJ updated the task description. (Show Details)Aug 15 2024, 11:39 AM

Change #1062961 abandoned by Ebrahim:

[mediawiki/core@master] Declare moment.js dependency deprecated

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1062961

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Aug 16 2024, 4:30 AM

@Ebrahim https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Stable_interface_policy/Frontend#Deprecation_process documents the deprecation process in case that's helpful.

with something smaller (what?)

For personal as well as professional projects, I've started using dayjs which amounts to 3kB gzipped (https://bundlephobia.com/package/dayjs@1.11.12). – https://day.js.org/