saveGif() crashes when duration <= 0 (empty frame list path)

[avinxshKD]

Most appropriate sub-area of p5.js?

• Accessibility
• Color
• Core/Environment/Rendering
• Data
• DOM
• Events
• Image
• IO
• Math
• Typography
• Utilities
• p5.strands
• WebGL
• DevOps, Build process, Unit testing
• Internationalization (i18n)
• Friendly Errors
• Other (specify if possible)

p5.js version

main

Web browser and version

Chrome (latest stable)

Operating system

Windows 11 (should be OS-independent)

Steps to reproduce this

Steps:

• Create any sketch.
• Call saveGif('test', 0) (or negative duration) in setup() or from a key handler.
• Check console.

snippet:

function setup() {
  createCanvas(100, 100);
  background(220);
  circle(50, 50, 30);

  // Repro: zero duration
  saveGif('test', 0);
  // also repros with negatives, e.g. saveGif('test', -1);
}

Console error:

TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'length')

Expected behavior
saveGif() should reject invalid duration early (e.g. duration must be > 0)
or gracefully handle zero captured frames without crashing.

Actual behavior
duration <= 0 leads to zero captured frames, then palette generation path assumes frames[0] exists and crashes.

[avinxshKD]

@davepagurek @ksen0 what do you think of this? Can i work on this if this makes sense

[avinxshKD]

Hey @Trnk7 I raised this issue and already working on this and going to raise a Pr after the heads up. Thanks
Pls take a look @davepagurek.

[Trnk7]

Hey @avinxshKD , thanks for raising this! I’ve already opened a PR that fixes the issue (linked above). Feel free to review or suggest any improvements 🙂

[avinxshKD]

@Trnk7 As I stated earlier, I had already worked on this right after raising the issue and was waiting for mentors confirmation as per the contribution guidelines.
I’d prefer to continue working on this once I get a heads up from the mentors. Thanks

@davepagurek could you please take a look when you have a moment?

[Trnk7]

@avinxshKD Got it, thanks for the clarification! I’ve already opened a PR with a fix for this issue. Happy to close it if you’d prefer to continue, or we can let the maintainers decide what works best

[avinxshKD]

@Trnk7 I would really like to continue thanks.

[Trnk7]

@avinxshKD Thanks for the clarification! I’ve closed my PR. Looking forward to your implementation — feel free to reach out if you’d like to collaborate.