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Calling Intl.v8BreakIterator makes the process crash #3111

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Calling Intl.v8BreakIterator makes the process crash#3111
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srl295
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i18n-apiIssues and PRs related to Node.js internationalization support.v8 engineIssues and PRs related to the V8 dependency.

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@targos
targos
opened on Sep 29, 2015
node -p "new Intl.v8BreakIterator()"


#
# Fatal error in , line 0
# Failed to create ICU break iterator, are ICU data files missing?
#

==== C stack trace ===============================

 1: V8_Fatal
 2: v8::internal::BreakIterator::InitializeBreakIterator(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::String>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::JSObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::JSObject>)
 3: v8::internal::Runtime_CreateBreakIterator(int, v8::internal::Object**, v8::internal::Isolate*)
 4: 0x35e1cb4060bb
[1]    14295 illegal hardware instruction (core dumped)  node -p "new Intl.v8BreakIterator()"

This is the line where it happens:

node/deps/v8/src/i18n.cc

Line 914 in 64beab0

FATAL("Failed to create ICU break iterator, are ICU data files missing?");

I guess that the feature v8 is trying to load is not available with small-icu ? Anyway it seems wrong to experience a fatal error in this case.

Activity

  1. targos
    added
    v8 engineIssues and PRs related to the V8 dependency.
    i18n-apiIssues and PRs related to Node.js internationalization support.
    on Sep 29, 2015

  2. evanlucas commented on Sep 29, 2015

    @evanlucas
    evanlucas
    on Sep 29, 2015
    Contributor

    Yea, I'm seeing this also. It works when built with full-icu, but fails with small-icu

  3. bnoordhuis commented on Sep 29, 2015

    @bnoordhuis
    bnoordhuis
    on Sep 29, 2015
    Member

    /cc @nodejs/intl

  4. srl295 commented on Sep 30, 2015

    @srl295
    srl295
    on Sep 30, 2015
    Member

    V8 wanted this to be a fatal instead of just a soft error (exception or
    something. )

    Yes small Icu doesn't have the data needed for this undocumented feature.
    Takes significant space- Use full Icu.

    If this is an important feature lets get it added to ecma402

    El martes, 29 de septiembre de 2015, Ben Noordhuis notifications@github.com
    escribió:

    /cc @nodejs/intl https://github.com/orgs/nodejs/teams/intl

    —
    Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
    #3111 (comment).

  5. srl295 commented on Oct 6, 2015

    @srl295
    srl295
    on Oct 6, 2015
    Member

    Should we "delete" the Intl.v8BreakIterator property if we know at startup that it can't function? Thoughts anyone?

  6. caridy commented on Oct 6, 2015

    @caridy
    caridy
    on Oct 6, 2015

    Does anyone know what Intl.v8BreakIterator does?

    Maybe @ajklein knows more about this method.

  7. ajklein commented on Oct 6, 2015

    @ajklein
    ajklein
    on Oct 6, 2015
    Contributor

    @nciric would know much better than I (this is the best I could find: https://code.google.com/p/v8-i18n/wiki/BreakIterator).

  8. nciric commented on Oct 7, 2015

    @nciric
    nciric
    on Oct 7, 2015

    Break iterator does character/sentence segmentation in a locale friendly way. It relies on largish data files, and that's one of the reasons we added it to the Intl.* for Chrome/V8. Intl.v8BreakIterator is not part of ECMA 402 spec.

    Feel free to remove support for it from node. V8 may needed it for some internal projects.

  9. Fishrock123 commented on Oct 7, 2015

    @Fishrock123
    Fishrock123
    on Oct 7, 2015
    Contributor

    Should we "delete" the Intl.v8BreakIterator property if we know at startup that it can't function? Thoughts anyone?

    Nah just make it throw.

  10. srl295
    self-assigned this
    on Oct 24, 2015

  11. srl295 commented on Oct 24, 2015

    @srl295
    srl295
    on Oct 24, 2015
    Member

    OK. Current thought:

    • if the user sets a data path using env var or parameter (or in detect "full-icu" module #3460 full ICU is detected) , set process.icu_data_dir to that data path in node.cc
    • in node.js:
           if (process.config.variables.icu_small && !process.icu_data_dir) {
          Intl.v8BreakIterator=function(){throw Error('Data not available…');}
      }

  12. caridy commented on Oct 24, 2015

    @caridy
    caridy
    on Oct 24, 2015

    Does node exposes any other v8 specific functionality? I'm worry about portability of the code if you use v8BreakIterator().

  13. srl295 commented on Oct 27, 2015

    @srl295
    srl295
    on Oct 27, 2015
    Member

    @caridy no, nothing like that is exposed.

  14. 14 remaining items

  15. srl295
    added a commit that references this issue on May 3, 2016

    intl: Don't crash if v8BreakIterator not available

    c99f231
  16. srl295
    closed this as completedin cd752e8on May 4, 2016

  17. srl295 commented on May 4, 2016

    @srl295
    srl295
    on May 4, 2016
    Member
    $ node -p "new Intl.v8BreakIterator()"
{}
  18. evanlucas
    added a commit that references this issue on May 17, 2016

    intl: Don't crash if v8BreakIterator not available

    5966650
  19. MylesBorins
    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Oct 10, 2016

    intl: Don't crash if v8BreakIterator not available

    0d53956

    intl: Don't crash if v8BreakIterator not available

    b06323c
  20. rvagg
    added a commit that references this issue on Oct 18, 2016

    intl: Don't crash if v8BreakIterator not available

    d5d69fd
  21. MylesBorins
    added a commit that references this issue on Oct 26, 2016

    intl: Don't crash if v8BreakIterator not available

    2e29b76
  22. James3014
    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Mar 24, 2026

    MG / Nexus / Hardening Complete - Ready for Trial nodejs#3111

    ab31001

    chore: Nexus v9 Steel synchronization before nodejs#3111 trial

    aa65dae
  23. sjarmak
    added a commit that references this issue on Jul 27, 2026

    intl: Don't crash if v8BreakIterator not available

    cd752e8
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