DEP0005: Buffer() is deprecated due to security and usability issues

[Neved4]

That function was deprecated as per nodejs/node#4660.

While manually installing the extension, the following warning appears:

code --install-extension ilatex.vsix
Installing extensions...
(node:46741) [DEP0005] DeprecationWarning: Buffer() is deprecated due to security and usability issues.
Please use the Buffer.alloc(), Buffer.allocUnsafe(), or Buffer.from() methods instead.
(Use `Electron --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
Extension 'ilatex.vsix' was successfully installed.

With --trace-deprecation we can locate where the deprecated function is being used:

Installing extensions...
(node:47479) [DEP0005] DeprecationWarning: Buffer() is deprecated due to security and usability issues.
Please use the Buffer.alloc(), Buffer.allocUnsafe(), or Buffer.from() methods instead.
    at showFlaggedDeprecation (node:buffer:191:11)
    at new Buffer (node:buffer:275:3)
    at /Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/node_modules.asar/fd-slicer/index.js:109:18
    at pendGo (/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/node_modules.asar/pend/index.js:54:3)
    at onCb (/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/node_modules.asar/pend/index.js:41:7)
    at /Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/node_modules.asar/fd-slicer/index.js:31:7
    at FSReqCallback.wrapper [as oncomplete] (node:fs:677:5)
Extension 'ilatex.vsix' was successfully installed.

The following is the line that's causing this:

ilatex/src/webview/template/static/js/pdf.js

Line 21298 in 822b590

input = new Buffer(literals);

To achieve the migration, we need to change its syntax:

new Buffer(string)   // Old
Buffer.from(string)  // New

In the codebase:

-input = new Buffer(literals);
+input = Buffer.from(literals);

---

Additionally, i-LaTeX is using version 2.3.200 of pdf.js:

ilatex/src/webview/template/static/js/pdf.js

Line 127 in 822b590

var pdfjsVersion = '2.3.200';

Last release of pdf.js currently is 3.9.179 and lacks this issue, so upgrading the dependency is another option to be considered.

[Daru13]

Sorry for the slow answer, and thank you for suggesting this fix/update! :)

After merging your fix, I tried updating PDF.js to the current last version (4.0.379), but it seems like they switched to ES modules starting from major version 4, which are—as far as I know—not readily compatible with the architecture of i-LaTeX's webview. However, the last release before that change, version 3.11.174, seems to work just fine. 671cae1 updates the code to use this version instead, which, indeed, does not seem to instantiate any Buffer object using new.