Bun runtime compatibility issue with whois npm library causing infinite execution

[Zack_45Gaming]

I’m having trouble with a whois lookup library when running it on Bun. I created a basic script called domain-lookup.js that works perfectly fine with Node.js but gets stuck in an endless loop when executed with Bun.

const whoisLookup = require('whois-json');

async function checkDomain() {
  try {
    const domainInfo = await whoisLookup('example.com');
    console.log('Domain details:', domainInfo);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Lookup failed:', error);
  }
}

checkDomain();

When I run this with node domain-lookup.js, it completes successfully and shows the domain information. However, when I execute it with bun run domain-lookup.js, the process never finishes and I have to manually terminate it. Has anyone encountered similar compatibility problems with whois libraries in Bun? Any suggestions for workarounds would be appreciated.

[Grace_31Dance]

Yeah, this is a common Bun issue. The whois-json library doesn’t play nice with Bun’s TCP connections and event loop - it’s different enough from Node’s that you get these infinite loops. I usually add setTimeout(() => process.exit(1), 10000) before the whois call to see if it’s actually stuck or just really slow. Better yet, skip the socket connections entirely and use a fetch-based API like whoisjson.com. HTTP works way better with Bun right now.

[sophiac]

Had this exact problem a few months ago when moving domain validation scripts to Bun. It’s how Bun handles Node.js APIs that whois libraries need - DNS resolution and socket stuff mainly. The whois-json package just doesn’t play nice with Bun’s networking. I switched to ‘node-whois’ instead, which works way better with Bun. You could also try wrapping your whois call with Promise.race() for a manual timeout as a quick fix. Bun’s networking stack isn’t quite there yet compared to Node.js, and whois lookups are one of those things that still act weird.

[CreativeArtist88]

yeah, bun’s still buggy with some npm packages. try bun --bun when running your script - it forces bun’s runtime instead of node compatibility mode. if that doesn’t work, spawn a child process with node just for the whois part and keep everything else in bun. it’s hacky but works until they fix these networking issues.