build: complete webpack 4→5 migration (config cleanup per official guide)

[ilteoood]

Description

Completes the webpack 4 → 5 migration for this repo following the official migration guide.
Closes #1368
Closes #1338

Context: The webpack version in this repo was already bumped to 5.x over time (5.68.0 in #1087-era work, since bumped by dependabot to 5.111.1), but the guide's configuration-migration steps were never applied — our webpack configs and the create-spectacle generator still emitted webpack 4 idioms. This PR applies the remaining steps from the guide's "Clean up configuration" section:

Guide step	Change
output.library / output.libraryTarget → output.library object ({ name, type })	webpack.config.base.js
Replace file-loader with Asset Modules (type: 'asset/resource')	webpack.config.base.js, create-spectacle webpack template
Replace raw-loader with Asset Modules (type: 'asset/source')	examples/md/webpack.config.js, create-spectacle webpack template
Upgrade webpack-cli to the latest version	^4.10.0 → ^5.1.4 (root + generated projects)
Remove deprecated loader deps	Drop raw-loader from root devDependencies; drop file-loader from generated package.json

Notes:

• webpack-cli is pinned to ^5.1.4 (not the newer 6/7 majors) because those integrate the dev-server CLI and expect webpack-dev-server 5+, while this repo is on dev-server 4 (a separate dependabot bump to 5.2.6 is already pending). webpack-cli@5 is the latest release designed purely for webpack 5 builds.
• The create-spectacle generator previously emitted a webpack config referencing raw-loader without listing it in the generated package.json devDependencies — generated markdown decks could not build. Asset Modules need no loader package, which fixes this and removes file-loader from generated deps entirely.
• ProvidePlugin (process/browser) and all other config options were checked against the guide; no other outdated options ([hash], optimization.* renames, Rule.query/Rule.loaders, node.fs, IgnorePlugin regexp, etc.) are in use.

Type of Change

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue) — generated markdown decks were missing a needed loader dep
• New feature
• Breaking change
• Documentation update

How Has This Been Tested?

• Baseline vs. migration: all four webpack examples (js, md, mdx, typescript) compile successfully before and after; output bundles are equivalent (the md example inlines slides.md as the identical string via asset/source).
• node --trace-deprecation builds produce zero deprecation warnings (guide: "Make sure your build has no errors or warnings").
• webpack.validate() confirms webpack.config.base.js (new output.library object form) and the generated configs pass webpack 5 schema validation.
• E2E'd an image import through the new asset/resource rule (emits a content-hashed asset), since no example currently imports images.
• E2E'd the generator: created tsx and md decks via create-spectacle CLI and built both successfully with webpack 5.111.1 / webpack-cli 5 (markdown content inlines correctly; only benign bundle-size hints in production mode).
• pnpm run --filter ./packages/create-spectacle test — 4/4 pass.
• pnpm run --filter ./packages/spectacle test — 115/115 pass (18 suites).
• Lint, prettier, and types:check all pass for the touched workspaces.

Checklist

• I have included a changeset if this change will require a version change to one of the packages.
• I have performed a self-review of my own code
• My changes generate no new warnings

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated
spectacle-docs-website	Ready	Preview	Sep 24, 2026 3:36pm UTC

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🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: dd1458f

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 1 package

Name	Type
create-spectacle	Patch

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