[v25.x] Revert "lib: throw from localStorage getter on missing storage path"

[aduh95]

This reverts commit 4fbb1ab.

[github-actions]

Fast-track has been requested by @aduh95. Please 👍 to approve.

[nodejs-github-bot]

CI: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/70207/

[targos]

Why not on main? If we want to change the implementation it will have to happen there as well

[aduh95]

Why not on main? If we want to change the implementation it will have to happen there as well

I'm not sure we want, I think we established the current behavior is spec compliant, the issue is that it's too breaking for a semver-minor update

[nodejs-github-bot]

CI: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/70208/

[aduh95]

Landed in a4dee61

[slorber]

I'm not sure we want, I think we established the current behavior is spec compliant, the issue is that it's too breaking for a semver-minor update

For v25.x, that's a good move to revert 👍

However, it remains important, even for the upcoming LTS, to roll out this change properly to the Node ecosystem. My intuition is that rolling this change as-is in Node 26 is likely to trigger the same kind of pushback as we have today, on a larger scale.

It would be helpful to gather all the community-reported breakages and to provide a clear migration path for all the identified packages and patterns.

I haven't studied the problem in depth, but I'm still unsure how to migrate this pattern, for example: vm.createContext({...global}), to get the same outcome with code that should IMHO remain relatively simple (or someone would create a clone-global-safe npm package maybe 😅 )

Since this is going to break in the next v26, it looks like a good time to help the community upgrade to the upcoming behavior ahead of time. This might also help design codemods.