Changes in translations don't change hash when using webpack

[bgotink]

Command

build

Is this a regression?

• Yes, this behavior used to work in the previous version

The previous version in which this bug was not present was

No response

Description

Changing a translation doesn't result in changed hashes when using webpack. This makes it impossible for us to cache these resources for any reasonable length of time.

We've got quite a few applications still using webpack for various reasons, including out-of-memory issues when switching over to esbuild.

Minimal Reproduction

https://github.com/bgotink/angular-repro-29977

Exception or Error

Your Environment

# Node 20
$ ng version
Unknown error: Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: require() of ES Module /private/var/folders/ln/p78fxy4n3bl_mq1mzbrs0d1m0000gp/T/tmp.XpwGy5w3sU/repro/node_modules/string-width/index.js from /private/var/folders/ln/p78fxy4n3bl_mq1mzbrs0d1m0000gp/T/tmp.XpwGy5w3sU/repro/node_modules/cliui/build/index.cjs not supported.
Instead change the require of index.js in /private/var/folders/ln/p78fxy4n3bl_mq1mzbrs0d1m0000gp/T/tmp.XpwGy5w3sU/repro/node_modules/cliui/build/index.cjs to a dynamic import() which is available in all CommonJS modules.

# Node 22
$ ng version
An unhandled exception occurred: s.stringWidth is not a function
See "/private/var/folders/ln/p78fxy4n3bl_mq1mzbrs0d1m0000gp/T/ng-7DEnhx/angular-errors.log" for further details.

I don't know all of what's in ng version but I can tell you the repro repo uses version 19.2.5 of the packages in this repo.

Anything else relevant?

No response

[alan-agius4]

This limitation is well known and has always existed.

The assumption applies only if no code changes were made in the application release, the only updates involved translations for a single locale, and the build tools remained unchanged from the previous release. While this scenario can occur, it is relatively rare. Currently, there are no plans to add features that would alter how file hashes are generated for Webpack-based builders.

We strongly recommend switching to the esbuild-based builder, which include new features and is not affected by this limitation. If you encounter any issues, please file a report.

[bgotink]

Thanks for the response!

I predicted this answer and have already told the projects suffering from this issue to either ensure there's always a code change or see about switching to esbuild when they update to Angular 19.