[BUG] Webpack builds are failing as new release 7.5.0 requiers node.js util

[janhommes]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Current Behavior

A webpack build is failing with the following error:

./node_modules/xxx/node_modules/semver/classes/semver.js:30:46-69 - Error: Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'util' in '/runner/_work/xxx/node_modules/xxx/node_modules/semver/classes'

BREAKING CHANGE: webpack < 5 used to include polyfills for node.js core modules by default.
This is no longer the case. Verify if you need this module and configure a polyfill for it.

If you want to include a polyfill, you need to:
	- add a fallback 'resolve.fallback: { "util": require.resolve("util/") }'
	- install 'util'
If you don't want to include a polyfill, you can use an empty module like this:
	resolve.fallback: { "util": false }

It was working in version 7.4.0

Expected Behavior

The webpack build should work without adding any node.js dependency as we want to use semver in the browser.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Setup a webpack build
2. add semver
3. Run webpack
4. See error above

I assume it was introduced due to this change:
v7.4.0...v7.5.0#diff-7917f8ef42ff71df5bde71c259d15feab8b147e3e6c2fde11b56cbf42cadea16R19

Environment

• npm: 6.14.17
• Node: 14.9.3
• OS: Ubuntu 20.04
• platform: Linux

[wraithgar]

This is obviously one of those "soft" areas of semver. We have an engines declaration and test in all the versions laid out there. Other environments are technically outside the support matrix.

Given the presence of tools like https://.com/browserify/node-util specifically for things like this I wonder if fixing one's webpack setup is appropriate.

[janhommes]

This is obviously one of those "soft" areas of semver. We have an engines declaration and test in all the versions laid out there. Other environments are technically outside the support matrix.

Given the presence of tools like https://.com/browserify/node-util specifically for things like this I wonder if fixing one's webpack setup is appropriate.

You might be right if you say node-semver does not support web apps. On the other hand, webpack is quite a common bundler, and a lot of people seem to use semver on the web(as you can see, in less than one day, already 4 other people seem to have run into this issue). At the same time, the breaking change is only a developer experience improvement, nothing really of high importance. Maybe there is even an easy workaround with JSON.stringify to fulfill both goals (not breaking, and logging the correct error)? Not sure, not a node expert.

[wraithgar]

You might be right if you say node-semver does not support web apps

I might be wrong too, this is a good issue that got opened and I'd rather have a short discussion instead of acting in haste.

If we decide to fix this, it would be good also to decide there is a basic support level in webpack et al for this lib and somehow enforce it in CI. I don't know what that looks like though.

Maybe there is even an easy workaround with JSON.stringify

This is definitely the right fix if we want to remove util.

[ljharb]

This is just webpack 5 being broken - a working node module bundler automatically polyfills node core modules whenever possible. I don't think it's part of semver to maintain compatibility with broken tools.

[wraithgar]

> JSON.stringify(y)
Uncaught TypeError: Converting circular structure to JSON
    --> starting at object with constructor 'Object'
    |     property 'x' -> object with constructor 'Object'
    --- property 'y' closes the circle
    at JSON.stringify (<anonymous>)
> util.inspect(y)
'<ref *1> { x: { a: 1, y: [Circular *1] } }'

JSON.stringify is not a good replacement for util.inspect

[ljharb]

@wraithgar you could certainly use https://npmjs.com/object-inspect if you like :-)

[wraithgar]

It does look like webpack itself has made the decision to make polyfills the responsibility of the consumer, and when they're encountered it's up to them to add where needed.

Bringing in a net new dependency for this error message seems like the wrong choice. I think this is down to "how webpack works" and "we can't add internals that need polyfilling" is not a contract node utils should need to support.

[ljharb]

I completely agree.

[wraithgar]

https://.com/inspect-js/object-inspect/blob/main/util.inspect.js ?