iconv-loader webpack issue

[iongion]

As you are aware, this works if library found is iconv, but what if the fallback is on iconv-lite ?

'use strict';

var iconv_package;
var Iconv;

try {
    // this is to fool browserify so it doesn't try (in vain) to install iconv.
    iconv_package = 'iconv';
    Iconv = require(iconv_package).Iconv;
} catch (E) {
    // node-iconv not present
}

module.exports = Iconv;

webpack output

WARNING in ./~/encoding/lib/iconv-loader.js
9:12-34 Critical dependency: the request of a dependency is an expression`

I am using webpack more like a bundler to ship single-file functions at AWS lambda for execution(there is no npm available there) and to also bundle dependencies(binary files are bundled too, by a manual script I maintain)

This change removes any issues:

'use strict';
module.exports = require('iconv-lite').Iconv;

But it will probably blow-apart when the dep is iconv and not iconv-lite, I don't know how to solve this only for my project.

What if the wrapper is more like this ?

'use strict';
var Iconv = null;
// this is to fool browserify so it doesn't try (in vain) to install iconv.
try {
  Iconv = require('iconv-lite').Iconv;
} catch (LE) {
  try {
    Iconv = require('iconv').Iconv;
  } catch (E) {
    // node-iconv not present
  }
}
module.exports = Iconv;

[JCharante]

I have the same issue

[ThomasVuillaume]

Same issue here

[pepihasenfuss]

Thank you, it worked for me!

[iongion]

@pepihasenfuss beware, it might still create issues if you use things such as node-fetch, I've got that and when I apply my replacement, this explodes:

TypeError: Iconv is not a constructor
    at convertIconv (W:\Workspace\swingman\node_modules\encoding\lib\encoding.js:76:13)
    at convert (W:\Workspace\swingman\node_modules\encoding\lib\encoding.js:39:22)
    at Body._convert (W:\Workspace\swingman\node_modules\node-fetch\lib\body.js:221:9)
    at Gunzip.<anonymous> (W:\Workspace\swingman\node_modules\node-fetch\lib\body.js:148:17)

Following up inside node_modules/encoding/lib/encoding.js I see this:

// Load Iconv from an external file to be able to disable Iconv for webpack
// Add /\/iconv-loader$/ to webpack.IgnorePlugin to ignore it
var Iconv = require('./iconv-loader');

I do not think this library is built to fallback gracefully from one to another, judging by the function argument useLite function convert(str, to, from, useLite) - ... but what If an external library such as node-fetch calls this with useLite = false ... and there is no iconv installed, and this is exactly the case I am in.

CORRECTION

The exception I get is ignorable, due to this code:

        try {
            result = convertIconv(str, to, from);
        } catch (E) {
            console.error(E);
            try {
                result = convertIconvLite(str, to, from);
            } catch (E) {
                console.error(E);
                result = str;
            }
        }

In the fallback(first try..catch), it should not be console.error but more of a notice
So scratch all, patch still works and I will need to change it so that it removes the console.error too!

Until the author has time for this, I have made a simple patch in vanilla JS, that you can call in the postinstall, save this in a postinstall.js

// IIFE
(function() {

'use strict';

// node
var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');

// Patch encoding module due to iconv issues -> make it use iconv-lite
(function() {
  var PATCH_VERSION = '0.1.12';
  var PATCH_MODULE = 'encoding';
  var PATCH_REASON = 'Use iconv-lite instead of iconv, helpful for webpack bundling';
  console.log('patching `%s`(%s) module', PATCH_MODULE, PATCH_VERSION);
  var pathToModule = path.join(path.dirname(__dirname), 'node_modules', PATCH_MODULE);
  var pathToModulePackage = path.join(pathToModule, 'package.json');
  var pathToModulePatchedFile1 = path.join(pathToModule, 'lib/iconv-loader.js');
  var pathToModulePatchedFile2 = path.join(pathToModule, 'lib/encoding.js');
  var moduleInfo = require(pathToModulePackage);
  if (moduleInfo.version !== PATCH_VERSION) {
    console.error(
      'patching `encoding` failed - expected `%s` but detected `%s`',
      PATCH_VERSION,
      moduleInfo.version
    );
    process.exit(1);
  }
  var contents;
  if (fs.existsSync(pathToModulePatchedFile1)) {
    contents = [
      '\'use strict\';',
      'module.exports = require(\'iconv-lite\');',
      '',
    ].join('\n');
    fs.writeFileSync(pathToModulePatchedFile1, contents);
  } else {
    console.error('patching `%s` failed because the file does not exist in', PATCH_MODULE, pathToModule);
    process.exit(1);
  }
  if (fs.existsSync(pathToModulePatchedFile2)) {
    contents = fs.readFileSync(pathToModulePatchedFile2).toString();
    contents = contents.replace('console.error(E);','');
    fs.writeFileSync(pathToModulePatchedFile2, contents);
  } else {
    console.error('patching `%s` failed because the file does not exist in', PATCH_MODULE, pathToModule);
    process.exit(1);
  }
  console.log('patching `%s`, reason: `%s` - completed', PATCH_MODULE, PATCH_REASON);
})();

})(this);

In your package.json:

...
  "scripts": {
    ...
    "postinstall": "node ./postinstall.js"
  }
...

[daliborgogic]

@iongion Error: Cannot find module '/home/dlbr/dev/node_modules/encoding/package.json'

Correct path is:

...
var pathToModule = path.join(__dirname, 'node_modules', PATCH_MODULE);
...

package.json:

...
  "scripts": {
   ...
    "postinstall": "node postinstall.js"
  }
...

[MehdiITService]

it worked for me changing the content of the file 'iconv-loader.js' to :
'use strict';
module.exports = require('iconv-lite').Iconv;

thank u very much

[aleixsuau]

Thanks @iongion , your solution (...require('iconv-lite').Iconv) stops the "Critical dependency: the request..." alert, but there is another effect that remains: webpack keeps adding the entire iconv-lite to the final bundle, which is 493kb. (angular cli project) :(

Any idea on this?

[iongion]

@aleixsuau It depends on your use case, you might not be able to avoid it because it is really needed by your project requirements, you could give it a try as it is described here https://remarkablemark.org/blog/2017/02/25/webpack-ignore-module

[andriy-f]

Why not just add new webpack.IgnorePlugin(/\/iconv-loader$/), to webpack? It removes warnign

[LukasBombach]

@andriy-f this basically mean not using this pliugin which cannot be the solution for using this plugin

[ofhouse]

@iongion Thank you for the patch 👍

I am using it in a yarn workspace environment, so I've updated the resolution of the package in the script with require.resolve():

var pathToModule = path.join(path.dirname(__dirname), 'node_modules', PATCH_MODULE);
to
var pathToModule = path.dirname(require.resolve(PATCH_MODULE + '/package.json'));

Here is the full updated script:

// IIFE
(function() {

'use strict';

// node
var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');

// Patch encoding module due to iconv issues -> make it use iconv-lite
(function() {
  var PATCH_VERSION = '0.1.12';
  var PATCH_MODULE = 'encoding';
  var PATCH_REASON = 'Use iconv-lite instead of iconv, helpful for webpack bundling';
  console.log('patching `%s`(%s) module', PATCH_MODULE, PATCH_VERSION);
  var pathToModule = path.dirname(require.resolve(PATCH_MODULE + '/package.json'));
  var pathToModulePackage = path.join(pathToModule, 'package.json');
  var pathToModulePatchedFile1 = path.join(pathToModule, 'lib/iconv-loader.js');
  var pathToModulePatchedFile2 = path.join(pathToModule, 'lib/encoding.js');
  var moduleInfo = require(pathToModulePackage);
  if (moduleInfo.version !== PATCH_VERSION) {
    console.error(
      'patching `encoding` failed - expected `%s` but detected `%s`',
      PATCH_VERSION,
      moduleInfo.version
    );
    process.exit(1);
  }
  var contents;
  if (fs.existsSync(pathToModulePatchedFile1)) {
    contents = [
      '\'use strict\';',
      'module.exports = require(\'iconv-lite\');',
      '',
    ].join('\n');
    fs.writeFileSync(pathToModulePatchedFile1, contents);
  } else {
    console.error('patching `%s` failed because the file does not exist in', PATCH_MODULE, pathToModule);
    process.exit(1);
  }
  if (fs.existsSync(pathToModulePatchedFile2)) {
    contents = fs.readFileSync(pathToModulePatchedFile2).toString();
    contents = contents.replace('console.error(E);','');
    fs.writeFileSync(pathToModulePatchedFile2, contents);
  } else {
    console.error('patching `%s` failed because the file does not exist in', PATCH_MODULE, pathToModule);
    process.exit(1);
  }
  console.log('patching `%s`, reason: `%s` - completed', PATCH_MODULE, PATCH_REASON);
})();

})(this);

[jailsonpaca]

it worked for me changing the content of the file 'iconv-loader.js' to :
'use strict';
module.exports = require('iconv-lite').Iconv;

thank u very much

me too!

[simonmaass]

any update on this? will this be fixed soon?

[agustiza]

Second on this petition

[ton77v]

In your package.json:

...
  "scripts": {
    ...
    "postinstall": "node ./postinstall.js"
  }
...

Thanks a lot! This worked for me when I had the same issue with Sentry for Electron

I'll add a note for others who will find this =)

1. should write "node postinstall.js" without './'
2. I also had to change from
   var pathToModule = path.join(path.dirname(__dirname), 'node_modules', PATCH_MODULE)
   to
   var pathToModule = path.join(__dirname, 'node_modules', PATCH_MODULE)

[andris9]

Just wondering, why is this module even used by anyone? The goal for this module was to load compiled node-iconv and if not available, fallback to iconv-lite. If you never need node-iconv, then you could go straight to iconv-lite and skip this wrapper module entirely.

[ton77v]

Just wondering, why is this module even used by anyone? The goal for this module was to load compiled node-iconv and if not available, fallback to iconv-lite. If you never need node-iconv, then you could go straight to iconv-lite and skip this wrapper module entirely.

Absolutely no idea =) My case the warning appeared when I started to use deep import in https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-electron

Seems that the problem exists for a while there

[andris9]

It appears that this module is not used for its original purpose anymore anywhere so I guess I could just remove the iconv thing and keep iconv-lite like a normal dependency, so there would be no loader shenanigans needed.

[andris9]

fixed in v0.1.13