Android app crashes in release mode, OK in debug/run (ns 8.4.0)

[nmandyam]

Issue Description

I have an app built over the years and migrated to ns 8 recently. The iOS version works perfectly, the Android version fails without error.

Running the app using ns debug android or ns run android works fine, but ns run with --release ... fails consistently with no error shown. Creating an APK and installing on an Android device also fails without an error shown.

I have looked and tried suggestions from other posters with similar problems, including trying to unsucessfully downgrade to webpack 4 and with the webpack option of config.optimization.usedExports(false). None of them make any difference to the behaviour.

Reproduction

My release command is:
ns run android --release --keyStorePath<keystore> --keyStorePassword <passwd> --keyStoreAlias <alias> --keyStoreAliasPassword <alias-passwd> --log trace

I have no logs - when running with --log trace, the last line says spawn: D:\AppData\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\adb "-s" "emulator-5554" "logcat" "--pid=7476".

The behaviour is identical when I use a regular connected device instead of the emulator.

In the response to the command echo 'y' | npx nativescript-envinfo, I don't know why the version of nativescript is not shown. Here's the response to ns doctor:

✔ Getting environment information

No issues were detected.
✔ Your ANDROID_HOME environment variable is set and points to correct directory.
✔ Your adb from the Android SDK is correctly installed.
✔ The Android SDK is installed.
✔ A compatible Android SDK for compilation is found.
✔ Javac is installed and is configured properly.
✔ The Java Development Kit (JDK) is installed and is configured properly.
✔ Local builds for iOS can be executed only on a macOS system. To build for iOS on a different operating system, you can use the NativeScript cloud infrastructure.
✔ Getting NativeScript components versions information...
✔ Component nativescript has 8.4.0 version and is up to date.
✔ Component @nativescript/core has 8.4.5 version and is up to date.
✖ Component @nativescript/ios is not installed.
✔ Component @nativescript/android has 8.4.0 version and is up to date.

Relevant log output (if applicable)

No response

Environment

OS: Windows 10 10.0.22621
CPU: (8) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8665U CPU @ 1.90GHz
Shell: Not Found
node: 14.21.2
npm: 6.14.17
nativescript: Not Found

# android
java: Not Found
ndk: Not Found
apis: Not Found
build_tools: Not Found
system_images: Not Found

# ios
xcode: Not Found
cocoapods: Not Found
python: Not Found
python3: Not Found
ruby: Not Found
platforms: Not Found

Dependencies

"dependencies": {
  "@codelab/nativescript-multi-select": "^2.0.1",
  "@nativescript/animated-circle": "^1.1.7",
  "@nativescript/apple-sign-in": "^1.0.0",
  "@nativescript/camera": "^5.0.15",
  "@nativescript/core": "^8.3.6",
  "@nativescript/firebase": "^11.1.3",
  "@nativescript/geolocation": "^8.1.0",
  "@nativescript/local-notifications": "^6.0.0",
  "@nativescript/social-share": "^2.3.0",
  "@nativescript/theme": "^3.0.2",
  "@nstudio/nativescript-cardview": "^2.0.1",
  "@nstudio/nativescript-checkbox": "^2.0.5",
  "@nstudio/nativescript-floatingactionbutton": "^3.0.4",
  "@proplugins/nativescript-dom": "^2.2.3",
  "@triniwiz/nativescript-toasty": "^4.1.3",
  "@triniwiz/nativescript-videorecorder": "^4.0.2",
  "cookie": "^0.3.1",
  "crypto-js": "^3.1.9-1",
  "deepmerge-json": "^1.3.2",
  "delay": "^4.3.0",
  "email-validator": "^2.0.4",
  "fs-extra": "^10.1.0",
  "html-entities": "^1.2.1",
  "https-proxy-agent": "^3.0.0",
  "hydra-page-previewer": "^0.2.1",
  "jsdom": "^15.1.1",
  "linkifyjs": "^2.1.8",
  "moment": "^2.14.1",
  "moment-timezone": "^0.5.25",
  "nativescript-clipboard": "^2.1.1",
  "nativescript-drawingpad": "^3.1.0",
  "nativescript-drop-down": "^6.0.2",
  "nativescript-exit": "^1.0.1",
  "nativescript-menu": "^1.1.7",
  "nativescript-modal-datetimepicker": "^2.1.5",
  "nativescript-popup": "^1.5.0",
  "nativescript-remote-builds": "^1.1.1",
  "nativescript-timedatepicker": "^1.2.1",
  "nativescript-ui-calendar": "^14.2.1",
  "nativescript-ui-chart": "^14.2.1",
  "nativescript-ui-listview": "^14.2.4",
  "nativescript-ui-sidedrawer": "^14.2.1",
  "nativescript-urlhandler": "^1.3.0",
  "net": "^1.0.2",
  "node-html-parser": "^1.1.16",
  "os": "^0.1.2",
  "promise-map-series": "^0.2.3",
  "tls": "0.0.1",
  "util": "^0.12.5"
},
"devDependencies": {
  "@nativescript/android": "8.4.0",
  "@nativescript/webpack": "~5.0.12",
  "babel-types": "^6.26.0"
}

Please accept these terms

• I have searched the existing issues as well as StackOverflow and this has not been posted before
• This is a bug report
• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[CatchABus]

It's indeed a strange issue and the problem might reside in your webpack configuration or one of plugins.
I suggest that you seek for help in {N} discord server as this needs further discussion.

[nmandyam]

The problem was with one specific node module. I removed that, rebuilt the app and all is OK.
The node module that causes the crash in the released APK is node-html-parser.
I don't know if the instrumentation can be improved to report on these things somehow. If it can, that would save us days of work and frustration. :(