> I googled for a while, they would say that this is not possible unless one uses npm/node

Gnome Shell and Firefox/SeaMonkey/Mozilla Application Suite/Netscape 6+ (and Zotero[1]) are implemented on top of SpiderMonkey.

1. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46735616>

> I have had wanted to access the filesystem via JavaScript, just as I do via ruby or python

There are some (limited) ways to do so now: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System...

As for (1) vs (2), it’s not really an issue of JavaScript at all. The main question is, do you want to build something that runs in a browser? If you’re building a web app, you’ll have to use the sandboxed APIs (and probably JavaScript). If you don’t care about the runtime, yeah, you can use Node or Bun or Deno (or use another language altogether).

I've been using Deno a LOT for general shell scripting... it's been pretty nice in general. FWIW, Node, Bun and Deno have FS interfaces in the box, so yes, you can do it without npm modules. Though Deno allows you to directly reference the modules/repos from the script without needing a separate install step, package.json or node_modules directory.

It's also a single, self-updating executable and includes a lot in the box. Including SQLite3.

You are missing one option:

0) JavaScript must be abolished from the browser

Try webkitdirectory file attribute for browser access to the file system.