ngDevMode is not defined, when building Angular 15.2 or higher

[vzakharov-rxnt]

Problem

After upgrading from prior 15.2 to 15.2 or later (including latest 16.x), I am getting ngDevMode is not defined error on app load. The error is terminating, app does not load.

I am using custom webpack plugin and esbuild-loader to build my app.

I reproduced the issue using standard Angular boilerplate project here:

• https://ng-esbuild-minify.netlify.app/
• https://github.com/vzakharov-rxnt/ng-esbuild-minify

To prove that it works fine in 15.1, I created a branch where the issue is fixed, and opened a PR to merge. Only package.json was changed, downgrading Angular to 15.1. PR triggers CI build, so you can confirm that the issue is indeed fixed:

• Fix site loading issue by downgrading to Angular 15.1.x vzakharov-rxnt/ng-esbuild-minify#1
• https://deploy-preview-1--ng-esbuild-minify.netlify.app/

Angular team rejected my ticket as unsupported, apparently they don't support custom webpack at all.

Relevant bits of the custom webpack config, if commented out, the build works fine.

const { EsbuildPlugin } = require("esbuild-loader");
//...

if (options.optimization) {
  // https://how-to.dev/how-to-speed-up-angular-cli-app-with-esbuild-loader
  // remove 2 first minimizers, hoping they are the TerserPlugin
  config.optimization.minimizer.shift();
  config.optimization.minimizer.shift();

  config.optimization.minimizer.unshift(
    new EsbuildPlugin(),
  );
}

Expected behavior

If Angular CLI can minify it without build or startup errors, so should the EsbuildPlugin.

Minimal reproduction URL

https://ng-esbuild-minify.netlify.app/

Version

"esbuild-loader": "4.0.2",

Node.js version

v18.17.1

Package manager

npm

Operating system

Windows

Contributions

• I plan to open a pull request for this issue
• I plan to make a financial contribution to this project

[JeanMeche]

You can already do what you want be defining ngDevMode in a similar way the Angular CLI does it :

new EsbuildPlugin({
   define: { ngDevMode: "undefined" },
})

The current CLI implementation for reference : https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/blob/6a97d41b7d8c4cdecaf1b6d57f730a2e5ac326d8/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/tools/esbuild/application-code-bundle.ts#L261

[vzakharov-rxnt]

It worked! Thank you, @JeanMeche.
I am surprised Angular team rejected the issue with such a simple solution.