angular / angular-cli

OS?
Mac OSX El Capitan
Versions.
angular-cli: local (v1.0.0-beta.10, branch: webpack)
node: 4.4.7
os: darwin x64
Repro steps.
I've pulled down the Angular-cli project and am building it locally, so I am using the new webpack version.
The project that I am building uses Crypto libraries (via a dependency of a dependency ...).
When I was running ng build I was seeing the dependency built like this:

    /* WEBPACK VAR INJECTION */(function(Buffer) {'use strict';

    var crypto = __webpack_require__(147);
    var BufferUtil = __webpack_require__(21);
    var $ = __webpack_require__(15);

    var Hash = module.exports;

    Hash.sha1 = function(buf) {
      $.checkArgument(BufferUtil.isBuffer(buf));
      return crypto.createHash('sha1').update(buf).digest();
    };
    ...

And then when I looked at module 147 (I.E. the crypto module) I was seeing nothing there:

/***/ },
/* 147 */
/***/ function(module, exports, __webpack_require__) {

/***/ },

After a while of searching I took a look in the Angular-CLI code and saw that part of the webpack config (addon/ng2/models/webpack-build-common.ts) was this:

node: {
      global: 'window',
      crypto: 'empty',
      module: false,
      clearImmediate: false,
      setImmediate: false
    }

When I remove crypto: 'empty' everything builds correctly with the crypto module getting pulled in.

So my question is, why have you specified that crypto should be empty?
Is there any way to fix this more permanently?

@TheLarkInn: Could you explain the crypto: 'empty' option added here:

angular-cli/addon/ng2/models/webpack-build-common.ts

Line 86 in cf04a93

crypto: 'empty',

Most projects by default aren't using crypto so removing that buildin results in smaller bundles. We'll implement a way to control this in the future.

I've had to fork the Angular CLI just to get my project to build properly. I don't think a build tool should be opinionated in this way. I spent over a day debugging to figure this out. Can you add the option in for this as soon as possible, I want to get off of my fork otherwise I am going to miss updates.

Unless I'm missing something here, it's kinda relevant to notice that we're building for the browser environment. Browser does not have crypto.

That we're using webpack to build the app, and that webpack is a node app is completely incidental: that could change to something else (SystemJS for instance) and your app would break as well.

I understand that you can't change your dependency of a dependency, but it doesn't sound like it would work in a non-node environment anyway. In that sense, I do not think we should include crypto.

That makes no sense, you are actively preventing anyone from building a Web app with crypto in it. Browsers do have crypto support: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/crypto

@TheLarkInn, @filipesilva: If you won't re-open this issue to fix it, please at least suggest a workaround for people that want to use Cryptography in Angular.

(And BTW, this same project did build with the SystemJS version of Angular CLI)

@TheLarkInn, @filipesilva: Are you able to reply to the above?

@jmc265 so the node buildins are something that can vary per implementation of your app, and I see the merit of including them, however we need a clear and concise design around this proposal. If we expose these configuration properties, we need to do it in a way that will make sense to users, etc. What does this do? How do I use it? Why do I need it? What are the challenges etc.

Design Process: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p_L-4RKY5PRMs9qdunpN56U66PTJSijfU2yb6V6KMuI/view

Linked above is our design process for creating a proposal for new features. I would certainly recommend you propose one for this feature for discussion.

@TheLarkInn I am really not understanding what you are asking for.
From my perspective, as a user of your build tool, all I am seeing is that I cannot build an app with cryptography in it, because of a limitation you specifically put in which I cannot configure nor override. You can see where I am coming from, can't you? It is so strange to me that a build tool has that limitation in, with the only reason being 'most projects don't use cryptography'. Well sure... But most projects don't use math.random, that doesn't mean you should forbid use of it in your build tool.

@TheLarkInn, @filipesilva: So you aren't going to fix this or provide any workaround? You are saying people who want to use crypto in their apps can't use Angular CLI...

@jmc265 I think the most important part of the conversation above was "we'll implement a way to control this in the future.". Right now the CLI team is working real hard on supporting the most mainstream use cases. For example, CLI doesn't even have the ability to use the Angular template precompiler yet, or really any ability at all to add plug-ins or special configurations or anything else that doesn't match the default set up. I suggest perhaps bringing this issue back up some months from now, after that and numerous other mainstream cases are working well and in wide use. It'll probably be easier to get attention on corner cases at that time. You are correct above to say that, for the moment if you need a webpack or other setting beyond what CLI can do today, a good backup plan is to switch over to a (much more complex) "seed" project which drops the entire webpack configuration right in your project where you can edit it easily.

@kylecordes: Thank you, that make sense.
As this is an accepted issue which has not yet been fixed, could we move this ticket back into Open status so that it can be tracked?

@jmc265 I'm just a drive-by, community, trying-to-be-helpful person using these technologies heavily, teaching some of them, reading lots of stuff, and sometimes commenting with explanations to help ease the workload of the team actually building this thing (so they can work more on building it). As for reopening issues... one of them would need to decide and comment on that.

I stand corrected: the browser environment does have crypto. Thus it makes sense to not bar it on a config level. I'll reopen this issue but don't have a timeline (nor strategy) for solving it.

Suggestions are welcome, but bear in mind we do not want to use node's crypto but instead use the browser one since it's part of the spec.

@jmc265 I'm also going to have to ask you to refrain from double posting though. I understand this issue is important for you but I get a load of notifications for this project, and more notifications do not make me get to issues faster. In fact, since I go over them in Google Inbox from oldest to newest, each time you double post the whole thread just gets moved to the top and thus it'll take longer to get seen.

This issue is also affecting me. I am using the fernet library which uses the crypto.randomBytes in Node. By default, Webpack uses crypto-browserify to make this work on the browser.

@jmc265 You can still use the Web Cryptography API if you want to do crypto

I am new to Angular and WebPack and for that matter Crypto but I struggled with this issue for two days before finding this reported issue. I think a good improvement would be to output to the console during the build to tell the user that that "Crypto" is being skipped. Also what is being skipped should be documented somewhere so it is easier to find. Since webpack supports crypto (and since AWS libraries now support webpack) I see more developers like me getting stuck with this. Thanks to @jmc265 for the workaround.

This issue is affecting me either. I'm tying to use crypto.createHash (bitpay/bitcore-lib#122). And it's supposed to be supported by webpack that uses crypto-browserify.

I agree that this decisions made by angular-cli team need to be documented. Is crypto being skipped? Please, say it.

@carlosfaria94 I'm closing your PR but adding the reasoning here so it's easier for people interested in this issue to follow.

I'm sorry but a change that exposes node's crypto will not go in at this moment. crypto-browserify is a partial implementation only. Web crypto might be coming but it's not here truly here yet.

Libraries that depend on crypto expect node's implementation. If it's meant to be used in the browser with Web Crypto API then there should be no problem with having node's crypto missing.

I understand that there are server-side libraries that kind of support working in the browser if crypto-browserify is available, but that's far from a standard. I don't think it's a good call in general to add it in the offchance some server-side libs won't completely break in the browser.

A possiblity in the near-ish future is to use a universal app instead. We're looking at adding some basic support soon.

Is there a plan for a workaround? For example the ability to pass command line parameters to not skip Crypto?

We are using Heroku and with the current implementation it makes it extremely difficult to allow Heroku to be in charge of building the app.

I realize you do not consider a dependency on crypto a good practice or a standard implementation and that is fine but without a workaround it is difficult to use Angular-CLI in an automated build scenario.

anything new on this? i am trying to use nats-io in an angular app create by the current angular-cli and require('nats') generates the error below. i suspect that this thread is relevant to this error.

nuid.js:73Uncaught TypeError: crypto.randomBytes is not a function

@bpair I'm currently using this package.json script to let Heroku build my app after it installs stuff:

"heroku-postbuild": "ng build --target=production -e ${NODE_ENV:-production} --aot"

It's not perfect as it's triggered when installing stuff, but it's not so bad and has worked for some time now :)

Also affected here.

Tried to use gencryption which has a dependency to crypto. The lib calls createHash(...) which leads to Uncaught TypeError: crypto.createHash is not a function.

Could this be an option on .angular.cli? I am affected too, and the solution already exists, and already exists on webpack using crypto-browserify. I see no reason to not allow that webpack functionality in angular-cli, even if it's set by default.

Closing with #1548 (comment) as the reasoning. For apps that need server-side crypto while using universal, please follow #1050.

Is there a workaround for this problem other than forking Angular CLI?

My very dirty workaround:
create fixAngularCrypto.js

var fs = require('fs')
console.log('running postinstall script to enable crypto')
fs.readFile('./node_modules/@angular/cli/models/webpack-configs/common.js', 'utf8', function (err,data) {
  if (err) {
    return console.log(err);
  }
  var result = data.replace(/crypto: \'empty\',/g, 'crypto: true,');

  fs.writeFile('./node_modules/@angular/cli/models/webpack-configs/common.js', result, 'utf8', function (err) {
     if (err) return console.log(err);
  });
});

add the following line in the script section of package.json:

"postinstall":"node fixAngularCrypto.js"

run npm install

Thanks @blascone. Your workaround solves my problem.

This workaround should be modified for the new version of @angular/cli I think.
-> Changing "common.js" to "browser.js" works for me.

thanks @blascone for the workaround. Dirty indeed but functional at least.

Hoping that a clean and proper solution will be find to allow enabling crypto on angular-cli with webpack.

Maybe once we get possibility of overriding default webpack config with a custom one ?

@blascone. Looks like your solution has been nullified in AngularJs 5!

@Sydwell yes. but you can execute ng eject and customize your local webpack.config.ts

@froid911 How would I go about customizing my webpack.config to allow node's crypto? I'm new to webpack.

@web-snake just change the crypto parameter on node to true

node: {
      global: 'window',
      crypto: true,  <---- from 'empty' to true
      module: false,
      clearImmediate: false,
      setImmediate: false
    }

@froid1911 where do I change this parameter in an angular-cli project ? I don't find any webpack.config.ts file ...

@GrandSchtroumpf you have to execute ng eject. Afterwards you'll see the file in your project directory.

Full steps for others coming to the thread:

ng eject
// Output: Ejection was successful.
// Open webpack.config.js
// Change these lines
"node": {
    "fs": "empty",
    "global": true,
    "crypto": true,  <---- from 'empty' to true
    "tls": "empty",
    "net": "empty",
    "process": true,
    "module": false,
    "clearImmediate": false,
    "setImmediate": false
  },

I have modified the crypto: true in webpack.config.js. Still facing the same issue

@Srinivas72 I am facing the same problem with angular you got any way out?

Yes was able to fix this.

create one javascript file in your project root folder.

add this code in to that.

var fs = require('fs');
console.log('running postinstall script to enable crypto');
fs.readFile('./node_modules/@angular/cli/models/webpack-configs/browser.js', 'utf8', function (err,data) {
if (err) {
return console.log(err);
}
var result = data.replace(/crypto: 'empty',/g, 'crypto: true,');

fs.writeFile('./node_modules/@angular/cli/models/webpack-configs/browser.js', result, 'utf8', function (err) {
if (err) return console.log(err);
});
});

in package.json

add "postinstall": "node yourfilename.js"

run npm install

it will resolve your issue.

@Srinivas72 thanks :) I was keeping the "postinstall" parameter at the wrong place. its working

@Srinivas72 Not working for me at least.

Update on Angular 6 @blascone solution won't work with the most recent Angular, as the file has been moved elsewhere.

Check out my gist https://gist.github.com/niespodd/1fa82da6f8c901d1c33d2fcbb762947d

@filipesilva Please, we gotta have a hook into the webpack config to allow advanced users to tweak certain settings, without having to eject (which causes a huge amount of overhead).

You have people rewriting the node_modules files, to achieve what should be simple.

Proposal
Doing an ng serve/whatever calls a hook file, where you can customize the webpack config related to the current ng command.

function webpackHook(config) {
   config.node = {
       crypto: true,
   }

   const args = require('yargs').argv;
   if (args.stats) {
    try {
         console.log('Adding Stats Plugin');
         const BundleAnalyzerPlugin = require('webpack-bundle-analyzer').BundleAnalyzerPlugin;
         config.plugins.push(new BundleAnalyzerPlugin());
      } catch (e) {
         console.error('webpack-bundle-analyzer not installed - `npm i webpack-bundle-analyzer --save-dev`');
      }
   }

   return config;
}

A hook file like this would probably remove the need to eject in the first place.

I couldn't agree more with @larssn . Just a simple hook would easily remove our need to eject (we just need a single webpack plugin). This is primarily why we can't even upgrade to Angular 6 as the cli is missing the eject feature. Ejecting the project is a huge pain and makes upgrades much more difficult.

@larssn I'd suggest you create a new ticket with this request instead of in a closed ticket.

@michael-letcher Thanks Michael, I did just that.

Upvote it to show your support.
#10954

I'm getting this with mammoth.js (.docx importer):

WARNING in ./node_modules/mammoth/node_modules/sax/lib/sax.js
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'stream' in 'C:\Users\My NameKoodaus\project-name\node_modules\mammoth\node_modules\sax\lib'
ERROR in ./node_modules/mammoth/lib/docx/docx-reader.js
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'path' in 'C:\Users\My name\Koodaus\project-name\node_modules\mammoth\lib\docx'

I've tried reading all the discussions, but haven't found a specific way to solve this.

Just to clarify - if I would approach the creator of this specific library, what should I tell him/her to fix this? Does adding typings help? Or what is the instruction to give so that their library would work with Angular6?

@lehtiniemi : i might miss something but this doesn't seem related to crypto library

@Asone Ah, yes. It is related to this: angular/devkit#967 but in this thread filipesilva redirected the discussion into this thread. Or maybe he just mentioned it's discussed here, in this case my mistake. But the issue seems to have the same change in Angular CLI as the root cause.

I have the same error with tensorflow.js I can make any angular applications using the newest tesnsorflow versions.

the issue can be found here
tensorflow/tfjs#494

Having similar problems when trying to build an Electron app using Angular 6 and AppAuth-JS. The AppAuth module is saying it can't resolve 'crypto' (along with a bunch of other modules).

Is there still no workaround for this?

@admeister you could use the patch workaround. Create a patch.js file and make sure to run it postinstall

"postinstall": "node patch.js"

A patch file that works for me

const fs = require('fs');
const f = 'node_modules/@angular-devkit/build-angular/src/angular-cli-files/models/webpack-configs/browser.js';

fs.readFile(f, 'utf8', function (err,data) {
  if (err) {
    return console.log(err);
  }
  var result = data.replace(/node: false/g, 'node: {crypto: true, stream: true}');

  fs.writeFile(f, result, 'utf8', function (err) {
    if (err) return console.log(err);
  });
});

@filipesilva I do not believe this issue persist after 2 years.

You guys at angular-cli are killing the adoption of Angular in the development of distributed applications, which needs crypto to Web3.js work properly.

I tried this and works

In webpack.config

module.exports = {
  // .....
  externals: {
    fs: 'commonjs fs',
    path: 'commonjs path',
    crypto: 'commonjs crypto'
  }
}

This solved (for me) a problem with fs and another problem with crypto.randomBytes

@carlosfaria94 By following the browser instructions for web3.js, it can be used successfully without any modifications. Specifically the CDN based approach which also has the advantage of simplified license compliance.

It is also important to note that crypto is not being stripped out of anything. The module only exists within the Node.js platform. Browser platforms do not have such a module. A cross-platform library should ideally contain versions targeting both of the major platforms. There is in fact a browser platform specific API for cryptography (details) which will (for major browsers) leverage the underlying operating system's cryptography support.

Also, if Node.js's crypto is absolutely required and a javascript version of the algorithms is acceptable to the project's requirements, crypto-browserify can be used in combination with a tsconfig path mapping to map crypto to the package.

@carlosfaria94, if you want to use angular for Ethereum projects maybe you can use @ngeth instead of web3... It's built on top of angular and doesn't require crypto. It's still an early stage project, but you can already do JSON-RPC calls and use Contracts (bonus: it supports ABIEncoder V2).

Hi guys, I found a more permanent way of making crypto available for angular 6.
We can use Custom Angular CLI builds with Angular 6 :

1 - install @angular-builders/custom-webpack :
npm i -D @angular-builders/custom-webpack

2 - Add custom builder in angular.json :
In angular.json > project > architect > build > builder replace current value with :
@angular-builders/custom-webpack:browser

3 - Create a file webpack.config.js at the root of the project :
This will be loaded by the new builder (by default the filename is webpack.config.js but you can have a custom one if needed see here.
Note : This will append your config to the default webpack config from angular.

4 - Add node support in webpack.config.js :
Here is what is needed for web3 for example.

module.exports = {
  node: {
    crypto: true,
    http: true,
    https: true,
    os: true,
    vm: true,
    stream: true
  }
}

Thanks a lot to Evgeny Barabanov for his amazing article on this subject.
Please read and clap his article if you think this is useful. There is a bonus inside that explains how to keep using ng serve with custom builders.

Please note that the project is not actually using node’s crypto (which uses the operating systems underlying implementations) with the settings. But rather a JavaScript partial implementation of the module. This applies to the others as well.

@clydin thanks for the suggestion to use path mapping in tsconfig.json, works like a charm.

We are suffering this same issue. After upgrading from Angular 2.0.0 to Angular 6.1.10 we are using the CLI for ng build and we have no more web pack. Our web app is using pdf and jpeg and tiff images heavily. We are using the tiff.js library and the ng build is resulting in:

ERROR in ./node_modules/tiff.js/tiff.min.js
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'crypto' in 'C:\Users\jkahl1\Source\Repos\servicecenter-fe\node_modules\tiff.js'
ERROR in ./node_modules/tiff.js/tiff.min.js
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'fs' in 'C:\Users\jkahl1\Source\Repos\servicecenter-fe\node_modules\tiff.js'
ERROR in ./node_modules/tiff.js/tiff.min.js
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'path' in 'C:\Users\jkahl1\Source\Repos\servicecenter-fe\node_modules\tiff.js'

We tried:
angular.json - "scripts": ["./node_modules/tiff.js/tiff.min.js"] and get the same results.
Is there a CLI only way to get this library to build?
Please provide guidance.

Have you tried to use custom builders?

Install the builders :
npm install --save-dev @angular-builders/custom-webpack @angular-builders/dev-server.
Update angular.json
In angular.json change :

The builder of build (for ng build) with @angular-builders/custom-webpack:browser
The builder of serve (for ng serve) with @angular-builders/dev-server:generic

Append the default webpack config
Create a webpack.config.js file at the root of the project :

module.exports = {
  node: {
    path: true,
    crypto: true,
    fs: 'empty'
  }
}

Thank you Francois. This got the build to complete without errors.
Many thanks. I hope our web architect approves of this. Seems okay to me.
Is fs: 'empty' because it is a server-side library?

Sure, I'm glad it works. It's because there is no browser version of fs, which is good ^^. So you cannot use fs method in a browser. It's like child_process.

@GrandSchtroumpf's solution worked for me as well. But I'll just add to the pile and say that it would be great to see first-party support for this customization.

@bjohnson-va there is first party support. please see the last paragraph of my comment above #1548 (comment) for a non-webpack specific solution.

this is how I got it working via post-install script in Angular 6 with Angular CLI

const fs = require('fs');
const f = 'node_modules/@angular-devkit/build-angular/src/angular-cli-files/models/webpack-configs/browser.js';

fs.readFile(f, 'utf8', function (err, data) {
    if (err) {
        return console.log(err);
    }
    var result = data.replace(/node: false/g, "node: {fs: 'empty', crypto: true, stream: true }");

    fs.writeFile(f, result, 'utf8', function (err) {
        if (err) return console.log(err);
    });
});

just add whatever you need inside "node: {fs: 'empty', crypto: true, stream: true }"

@studds
could you show your configuration for crypto path mapping in tsconfig.json? thanks

OK, status update for Angular 7.2.11 and crypto freaks. My current configuration that is running uses this:

follow the whole article pointed out above, because the comment left out important steps: https://codeburst.io/customizing-angular-cli-6-build-an-alternative-to-ng-eject-a48304cd3b21
put the following in your extra-webpack.config.js:

module.exports = {
  node: {
    vm: true,
    stream: true
  },
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      "crypto": "crypto-browserify"
    }
  }
}

This replaces the crypto module with the (mostly compatible) crypto-browserify. Works here, YMMV.

@filipesilva I realize your comment is quite old but according to MDN every major browser is now supporting crypto and the dance around to fixing this is quite painful - any plans on rectifying this? https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Crypto_API

If using the web crypto API, there is no action required within the CLI. It is purely a browser API much like the DOM or other web APIs.

@clydin bcryptjs throws a warning
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'crypto' in ...
and I thought this is related - but it appears to be a harmless warning as it tries to access the node crypto module before reverting to the web crypto api - you can ignore my previous comment

Hi @ineiti ,

Your solution worked fine for the ng build but I could not make it work for ng serve. It looks like it loads the config file but completely ignores the alias. Do you have any idea what could be the problem?

To @Baidaly - currently I downgraded to tn == 5.1.1 and use nativescript-nodeify, which needs a small patch to run correctly with our library. Which is really unfortunate... I would like to have this problem solved in a nicer way.

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Webpack Config is stripping out Crypto