Dev server won't start with Node 18.7.0/npm 8.3.0

[franktopel]

I have set up a fresh "basic" project following the documentation, which seems to have worked fine so far. After doing

npm i

I tried

npm start

But the development server won't start.

Here's the terminal output:

franktopel@MacGottSmall  ~/workspace/mr-research/nyaf   main ±  npm start

> [email protected] start
> webpack-dev-server

ℹ ｢wds｣: Project is running at http://localhost:9000/
ℹ ｢wds｣: webpack output is served from /
ℹ ｢wds｣: Content not from webpack is served from /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/dist
ℹ ｢wds｣: 404s will fallback to /index.html
Error: error:0308010C:digital envelope routines::unsupported
    at new Hash (node:internal/crypto/hash:71:19)
    at Object.createHash (node:crypto:133:10)
    at module.exports (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/util/createHash.js:135:53)
    at NormalModule._initBuildHash (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/NormalModule.js:417:16)
    at handleParseError (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/NormalModule.js:471:10)
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/NormalModule.js:503:5
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/NormalModule.js:358:12
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:373:3
    at iterateNormalLoaders (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:214:10)
    at iterateNormalLoaders (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:221:10)
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:236:3
    at runSyncOrAsync (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:130:11)
    at iterateNormalLoaders (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:232:2)
    at Array.<anonymous> (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:205:4)
    at Storage.finished (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/enhanced-resolve/lib/CachedInputFileSystem.js:55:16)
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/enhanced-resolve/lib/CachedInputFileSystem.js:91:9
node:internal/crypto/hash:71
  this[kHandle] = new _Hash(algorithm, xofLen);
                  ^

Error: error:0308010C:digital envelope routines::unsupported
    at new Hash (node:internal/crypto/hash:71:19)
    at Object.createHash (node:crypto:133:10)
    at module.exports (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/util/createHash.js:135:53)
    at NormalModule._initBuildHash (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/NormalModule.js:417:16)
    at handleParseError (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/NormalModule.js:471:10)
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/NormalModule.js:503:5
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/webpack/lib/NormalModule.js:358:12
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:373:3
    at iterateNormalLoaders (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:214:10)
    at Array.<anonymous> (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/loader-runner/lib/LoaderRunner.js:205:4)
    at Storage.finished (/Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/enhanced-resolve/lib/CachedInputFileSystem.js:55:16)
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/enhanced-resolve/lib/CachedInputFileSystem.js:91:9
    at /Users/franktopel/workspace/mr-research/nyaf/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:123:16
    at FSReqCallback.readFileAfterClose [as oncomplete] (node:internal/fs/read_file_context:68:3) {
  opensslErrorStack: [ 'error:03000086:digital envelope routines::initialization error' ],
  library: 'digital envelope routines',
  reason: 'unsupported',
  code: 'ERR_OSSL_EVP_UNSUPPORTED'
}

[franktopel]

Switching down to Node 16 the dev server works. It's fine for the time being to work with Node 16; see this issue as a hint that some research/work needs to be done to keep your stuff working with the upcoming LTS version of Node.

[franktopel]

Apparently this is related to OpenSSL 3.0 by default no longer supporting certain encryption options for hashing. According to https://dtuto.com/questions/7200/opensslerrorstack this can be fixed like suggested in this PR; I can confirm it works for me (MacOS 12.5/Apple Silicon).