fix: catch exceptions setting Error.stackTraceLimit

[kevinoid]

PR Checklist

• Addresses an existing open issue: fixes fix: support errors with circular dependencies in object values with --parallel #5212
• That issue was marked as status: accepting prs
• Steps in CONTRIBUTING.md were taken

Overview

When node is run with --frozen-intrinsics, a TypeError is thrown when any intrinsic objects or their properties are modified. This occurs when attempting to set Error.stackTraceLimit. To avoid exiting due to an uncaught exception, catch the exception, debug log it, and continue.

[linux-foundation-easycla]

• ✅login: kevinoid / (dfbb22a)

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[kevinoid]

Note: Tests which load unexpected can't currently run with --frozen-intrinsics due to petkaantonov/bluebird#1717 (present in unexpected-bluebird) causing:

✖ ERROR: TypeError <Object <Object <[Object: null prototype] {}>>>: Cannot define property __BluebirdErrorTypes__, object is not extensible
    at Object.defineProperty (<anonymous>)
    at notEnumerableProp (/path/to/mocha/node_modules/unexpected-bluebird/js/main/util.js:106:9)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/path/to/mocha/node_modules/unexpected-bluebird/js/main/errors.js:99:5)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1469:14)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1548:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1288:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1104:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1311:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:179:18)
    at module.exports (/path/to/mocha/node_modules/unexpected-bluebird/js/main/promise.js:30:14)

Since .mocharc.yml requires test/setup.js which requires unexpected, nearly all invocations of mocha will fail.

We could smoke test this feature by calling node --frozen-intrinsics bin/mocha.js --version or do more thorough testing with a different --config which doesn't require unexpected, but I'm not sure the value is justified by the effort. It may be preferable to wait until the test dependencies support running under --frozen-intrinsics. What do you think?

[JoshuaKGoldberg]

LGTM, thanks!

[JoshuaKGoldberg]

This is really more of a bugfix than a feature - so it only necessitates a patch-level version bump.

We're also about to release major version 11 and don't have a separate branch set up to differentiate v10 and v11 releases or support backporting. So this should be good to go only after v11 is released this month.

[JoshuaKGoldberg]

Quick status update: Mocha 11 is stable and I'm just waiting this week in case something breaks. I'd be surprised if something does, but you never know! #5249

Assuming nothing goes wrong, I plan on merging this early next week. 🙂

[JoshuaKGoldberg]

[JoshuaKGoldberg]

Oh, and:

... It may be preferable to wait until the test dependencies support running under --frozen-intrinsics. What do you think?

I think there's no harm in Mocha fixing its support now. Eventually the test dependencies will too. No need for us to be the ones still blocking.