[GNC] Should the gnc-fq-* helper scripts be invoked as commands, or as an arg to perl?

[Liz Dodd]

On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 00:39:39 -0700
Jim DeLaHunt <list+gnucash at jdlh.com> wrote:

> GnuCash ships with Helper Scripts  which make it easier to work with 
> Finance::Quote. They are: gnc-fq-check, gnc-fq-dump, gnc-fq-helper,
> and gnc-fq-update. Collectively, call them gc-fq-* .
> 
> When running these Helper Scripts from a command prompt on MacOS and 
> Linux, should they invoked as commands:
> 
> % gnc-fq-check
> 
> Or should they be invoked as an argument to a perl command:
> 
> % perl gnc-fq-check
> 
> ?
> 
> The wiki page
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Online_Quotes#Helper_Scripts says,
> pretty clearly, the former:
> 
> "While unixoid operating systems use a shebang (#!) to associate perl 
> scripts with the Perl interpreter, others, e.g. Windows, will fail….
> C:\> gnc-fq-check [fails]…  
> so use the following: … Prefix any gnc-fq-xxx perl script command
> with perl and a space: …
> perl gnc-fq-check …"
> 
> The perl invocation is described as a workaround needed on Windows 
> because the shebang doesn't work. All the other examples show
> invocation as a command, e.g.
> 
> $ gnc-fq-check
> 
> This makes a difference on Unixoid systems when there are multiple
> Perl installations. Presumably command invocation of the helper
> scripts will always obey the shebang and thus always run the same
> Perl installation. But invocation as an argument to "perl" will run
> whichever Perl installation the environment dictates.
> 
> Am I correct in guessing that GnuCash 4.5 internally invokes these 
> scripts (maybe just gnc-fq-helper) as an argument to a perl command?
> 
> If so, should the wiki page
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Online_Quotes use the same invocation?
> 
> Best regards,
>       —Jim DeLaHunt
> 

I don't know the answer, but I think that if you could write it out for
the wiki it would be good long term recording.

Liz