less-loader: latest version breaks alias resolution

[zzacharo]

The latest version 6.1.2 breaks the assets build giving the error:

ERROR in ./node_modules/semantic-ui-less/semantic.less (./node_modules/css-loader??ref--8-1!./node_modules/less-loader/dist/cjs.js??ref--8-2!./node_modules/semantic-ui-less/semantic.less)
    Module build failed (from ./node_modules/less-loader/dist/cjs.js):

    @import (multiple) '../../theme.config';
    ^
    Less resolver error:
    '../../theme.config' wasn't found. Tried - /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/node_modules/semantic-ui-less/theme.config,../../theme.config

    Webpack resolver error details:
    resolve '../../theme.config' in '/Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/node_modules/semantic-ui-less/definitions/modules'
      using description file: /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/node_modules/semantic-ui-less/package.json (relative path: ./definitions/modules)
        aliased with mapping '../../theme.config': '/Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config' to '/Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config'
          using description file: /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/node_modules/semantic-ui-less/package.json (relative path: ./definitions/modules)
            Field 'browser' doesn't contain a valid alias configuration
            using description file: /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/package.json (relative path: ./less/theme.config)
              no extension
                Field 'browser' doesn't contain a valid alias configuration
                existing file: /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config
                  /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config doesn't match the restriction /\.(le|c)ss$/i
              .less
                Field 'browser' doesn't contain a valid alias configuration
                /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config.less doesn't exist
              .css
                Field 'browser' doesn't contain a valid alias configuration
                /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config.css doesn't exist
              as directory
                /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config is not a directory

    Webpack resolver error missing:
    /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config.less,/Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config.css,/Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/less/theme.config

          Error in /Users/zzacharo/.virtualenvs/webpack-test-oPSfLRWq/var/instance/assets/node_modules/semantic-ui-less/definitions/modules/transition.less (line 19, column 0)

Hints

In the latest release, they changed the resolution logic and this might be the cause. Needs more investigation.

General thoughts

• We should probably commit a package-lock.json so we don't have these incidents when a new release is out. Now, I see that if you do that, you don't test probably new releases, taking benefit of the ^ symbol. But, I would say for when we build for production we need to lock the js dependencies otherwise we don't have a solid deployment.
• The less-loader is listed under devDependencies (See here). Shouldn't we install only dependencies when we build the project? If this is the desired behavior, then we "misuse" in a way how we declare dependencies.

[ppanero]

https://github.com/webpack-contrib/less-loader/issues/366

[BalazsBago]

Hi, Do You have a workaround for this issue? I still encounter it with the current version of invenio-rdm (https://github.com/inveniosoftware/invenio-app-rdm/releases/tag/v0.18.8).

[zzacharo]

@BalazsBago which version of less-loader do you have locally installed? Maybe for more help, you could use the InvenioRDM discord channel :)

[BalazsBago]

@zzacharo I have tried 6.2.0 (this is expected version based on the packages.json in invenio-assests#1.2.5), 6.1.0 and 7.2.1, but all of them produced the same error. Thanks for the tip, I am going to join the discord channel of InvenioRDM.