Uncaught RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded running grunt development

Question

I got this error:

angular.js:4767 Uncaught RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
    at Object.invoke (angular.js:4767)
    at angular.js:4574
    at forEach (angular.js:325)
    at createInjector (angular.js:4574)
    at doBootstrap (angular.js:1805)
    at bootstrap (angular.js:1826)
    at angularInit (angular.js:1711)
    at HTMLDocument.<anonymous> (angular.js:32539)
    at fire (jquery.js:3187)
    at Object.fireWith [as resolveWith] (jquery.js:3317)

I know it is not a loop in my code because the same project works in other environments, so I suspect the problem is in my node or grunt.

node v5.3.0
grunt v0.4.5
grunt-cli v1.2.0

Here is the grunt command for dev:

grunt.registerTask('dev', ['ngconstant:dev', 'dom_munger:read', 'jshint', 'ngtemplates', 'less', 'connect', 'watch']);

and packages.json:

{
  "name": "myapp.maso.app",
  "version": "1.0.0-beta.172",
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": ""
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "chai": "^3.5.0",
    "chromedriver": "~2.21.2",
    "grunt": "~0.4.5",
    "grunt-angular-templates": "~1.0.3",
    "grunt-browser-output": "1.0.3",
    "grunt-connect-proxy": "^0.2.0",
    "grunt-contrib-clean": "~1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-concat": "~1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-connect": "~1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-copy": "~1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-cssmin": "~1.0.1",
    "grunt-contrib-htmlmin": "~1.1.0",
    "grunt-contrib-imagemin": "~1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-jshint": "~1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-less": "^1.2.0",
    "grunt-contrib-uglify": "~1.0.1",
    "grunt-contrib-watch": "~1.0.0",
    "grunt-dom-munger": "~3.4",
    "grunt-karma": "~0.12.2",
    "grunt-manifest": "^0.4.4",
    "grunt-ng-annotate": "^2.0.1",
    "grunt-ng-constant": "^2.0.1",
    "grunt-npm-install": "^0.3.1",
    "grunt-protractor-runner": "~3.0.0",
    "grunt-serve": "^0.1.6",
    "grunt-version": "^1.0.0",
    "jshint-stylish": "^2.1.0",
    "karma": "^0.13.22",
    "karma-chai": "^0.1.0",
    "karma-chrome-launcher": "~0.2.2",
    "karma-firefox-launcher": "~0.1.7",
    "karma-jasmine": "~0.3.8",
    "karma-mocha": "^0.2.2",
    "karma-mocha-reporter": "~2.0.0",
    "karma-ng-html2js-preprocessor": "^0.2.1",
    "karma-ng-json2js-preprocessor": "^1.1.2",
    "karma-phantomjs-launcher": "^1.0.0",
    "less": "^2.6.1",
    "load-grunt-tasks": "~3.4.1",
    "mocha": "^2.4.5",
    "protractor": "~3.2.1",
    "webdriver-manager": "~8.0.0"
  }
}

If anyone can help my debug this, I have tries many other questions and GitHub issues and still I can't solve this.

If there is more information needed please comment below.

EDIT - all my grunt tasks:

grunt.registerTask('dev', ['ngconstant:dev', 'dom_munger:read', 'jshint', 'ngtemplates', 'less', 'connect', 'watch']);
grunt.registerTask('live', ['ngconstant:live', 'dom_munger:read', 'jshint', 'ngtemplates', 'less', 'connect', 'watch']);

// isracard development environment
grunt.registerTask('devi', ['ngconstant:devi', 'dom_munger:read', 'jshint', 'less', 'connect', 'watch']);
grunt.registerTask('livei', ['ngconstant:livei', 'dom_munger:read', 'jshint', 'less', 'connect', 'watch']);
grunt.registerTask('forms', ['ngconstant:forms', 'dom_munger:read', 'jshint', 'less', 'connect', 'watch']);

// build
grunt.registerTask('build', ['ngconstant:live', 'version:project:prerelease', 'jshint', 'clean:before', 'less', 'dom_munger', 'ngtemplates', 'cssmin', 'concat', 'ngAnnotate', 'copy', 'htmlmin', 'manifest', 'clean:after']);

grunt.registerTask('test', ['ngconstant:mock', 'dom_munger:read', 'karma:all_tests']);
grunt.registerTask('e2e', ['dom_munger:read', 'protractor']);

Many thanks.

Answer 1

Well, the GruntJS FAQ says that,

You probably created an alias task with the same name as one of your regular tasks

Example: grunt.registerTask('uglify', ['uglify:my_target']); should be grunt.registerTask('myUglify', ['uglify:my_target']);.

Please check if you have made any mistakes as such.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

So this means you have exceeded the maximum number of calls allowed by the JS engine. This could mean one of two things:

1. You have some infinite recursive loop somewhere-- a function that keeps calling itself without ever breaking/exiting, or even a group of functions calling each other in a circle in a similar manner. At a certain point the engine says enough is enough, and exits.
2. Alternately, if you are using some sort of task that is splitting up files (think templates or JSON) by line into strings and concatenating them together in Javascript, it is possible you have a file that is so many lines long that the sheer number of + operators used causes the stack size to overflow. I have run into this myself a few times myself when attempting to inject mock data into Karma tests-- apparently 11,000 lines is too many to add together.

Unfortunately, there is not a great way to test this other than attempting to isolate your code bit by bit and see if you can track down the issue. One thing that could help is using the node-inspector tool and setting it to break before throwing an error like you would in Chrome-- then you can investigate the call stack and see if you can learn anything by tracing it back. Good luck!

(Please note, this is not an exclusive list-- there could be other causes-- these are just the two I have encountered most frequently).