can not run functions.config() locally after updating to the latest firebase tools 3.17.3 / 5.8.1 - node.js

Question

I have very simple "Node.js functions.config()" code that reads simple property value.
const smtpEmail = functions.config().smtp.email;
The code was functioning with earlier Firebase versions, however after updating to the latest firebase tools v"3.17.3" and firebase-admin "5.8.1", firebase-functions "0.8.1", I got a weird stubborn parse error with functions.config()
I ran firebase functions:config:get > .runtimeconfig.json multiple times inside the functions directory, but I still got Firebase complaining with the following error message when I try to run the functions locally.
! functions: Failed to load functions source code. Ensure that you have the latest SDK by running npm i --save firebase-functions inside the functions directory.
! functions: Error from emulator. FirebaseError: Error occurred while parsing your function triggers.
TypeError: Cannot read property 'email' of undefined
at Object.<anonymous> (D:\android-projects\firebase\functions\index.js:85:42)
at Module._compile (module.js:570:32)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:579:10)
at Module.load (module.js:487:32)
at tryModuleLoad (module.js:446:12)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:438:3)
at Module.require (module.js:497:17)
at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
at C:\Users\GIGABYTE\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase-tools\lib\triggerParser.js:18:11
at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\GIGABYTE\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase-tools\lib\triggerParser.js:38:3)
This is the format of the generated ".runtimeconfig.json" file.
{
"smtp": {
"email": "myemail#domain.com",
"password": "password"
}
}

Answer 1

This problem should be resolved with CLI version 3.17.4.