GitHub actions dropping support for node < 16

[nfischer]

See this blog post: https://github.blog/changelog/2023-06-13-github-actions-all-actions-will-run-on-node16-instead-of-node12-by-default/

For some reason GitHub is removing support for testing our code against Node 8 through 15 (which is the majority of what we test). We can temporarily workaround this by adding a line in .github/workflows/main.yml:

env:
  ACTIONS_ALLOW_USE_UNSECURE_NODE_VERSION: true

Unfortunately, we also need a solution long-term. We may just have to lose test coverage for older versions, which might also mean we have to prematurely drop support for earlier node versions.

Very disappointed by GitHub's decision, and by the NodeJS core team's insufficient support window. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (the latest LTS version) still uses node v12.22.9. I personally don't feel comfortable dropping support for the node version in Ubuntu LTS, since that would exclude a huge part of the Linux community. I hope we can hold off on completely dropping support until Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS comes out next year.