Cannot set property length of [object Object]

[oroce]

Buffer 3.5.0 breaks in Chrome (45.0.2454.85 (Official Build) (64-bit))

What I'm getting is

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot set property length of [object Object] which has only a getter

It happens when buffer tries to set .prototype.length to undefined, here: https://github.com/feross/buffer/blob/master/index.js#L372

I discovered this while I was rolling out our app's new version. Later I'm gonna try to put together a small demo.

(I'm using browserify 11.11.0 which uses buffer@3.5.0)

[byronanderson]

+1, causing me to need to start using npm shrinkwrap to get buffer 3.4.3

[CrisFavero]

+1

[feross]

Can someone share code to reproduce this error? I can't trigger it and the whole test suite passes on every supported browser...

[dcousens]

Assuming this bug can be confirmed, what is the best course of action anyway?

[feross]

Depends on the cause. We can either try to fix it, or revert the instanceof improvement I shipped in v3.5.0.

[CrisFavero]

The code i had that was causing this to show up was while using webpack and was unfortunately several libraries deep where it was triggered so i don't have a simple test case I know the file that directly had threw the error while using a buffer was https://github.com/primus/primus/blob/master/transformer.js likely not very helpful but you might be able to see a use case that would break it which is more obvious to you having written the buffer library

[nolanlawson]

@marioatlp Can you provide a stacktrace so we know where transformer was calling Buffer?

[oroce]

haha it seems I could reproduce the issue. It's not buffer but babelify when it is used as global transform breaks buffer.

Showcase: (check the console)

• --transform: http://purposeindustries.github.io/buffer-bug79/index.html
• --global-transform: http://purposeindustries.github.io/buffer-bug79/index-global.html

Code: https://github.com/purposeindustries/buffer-bug79

ps: you can solve the global transform by simply ignoring buffer: browserify index.js --global-transform [ babelify --ignore buffer ] -o dist.js

[jlbruno]

Looks like we're getting the same issue.
Also using webpack and babel together.

[oroce]

@jlbruno in webpack: add node_modules to the exclude list

module: {
  loaders: [
    {
      test: /\.jsx?$/,
      exclude: /node_modules/,
      loader: 'babel'
    }
  ]
}

[CrisFavero]

@oroce That solution is only helpful if the issue is a .jsx file in node_modules my issue was in standard JS. an alternative work around until this is fixed is to add to package.json dependencies section
"buffer": "3.4.3",
and to add to your webpack config file:

plugins: [
        new webpack.ContextReplacementPlugin(/buffer/, require('buffer'))
    ]

[jlbruno]

Ok, thanks....looks like 3 solutions have worked. Shrinkwrap (locking buffer to 3.4.3 by editing node-libs-browser package.json), excluding node_modules, and adding buffer at a top level dependency locked to v 3.4.3.

Thanks all. Time to figure out which is the least of the evils.