[GNC] GnuCash 5.5 (macOS) can't get quotes, because it doesn't see JSON::Parse

[John Ralls]

> On Dec 23, 2023, at 12:29 PM, Jim DeLaHunt <list+gnucash at jdlh.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi, folks:
> 
> I recently upgraded to GnuCash 5.5-1 on macOS, from 4.14 and a long succession of GnuCashes before that. I have been successfully retrieving quotes via AlphaVantage for a long time. With the upgrade to GnuCash 5.5, that stopped working.
> 
> When I run the GnuCash 5.5 application, and open the Price Database window, the "Get Quotes" button is disabled.
> 
> When I ask gnucash-cli for quotes info, it says JSON::Parse is not installed:
> 
> % PATH='/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin' /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/gnucash-cli --quotes info
> Application Path /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/gnucash-cli
> Failed to initialize Finance::Quote: missing_modules JSON::Parse
> 
> Similarly, when I run the GnuCash 5.5 application in --debug mode, and look at the log file, there is a message that JSON::Parse is missing:
> 
> /...[59 lines elided]...
> /* 11:45:37  INFO <gnc.gui> [scm_run_gnucash] Attempt to load Finance::Quote returned this error message:
> * 11:45:37  INFO <gnc.gui> [scm_run_gnucash] Failed to initialize Finance::Quote: missing_modules JSON::Parse
> /...[134,149 lines elided]...
> /
> 
> But the gnucash-fq-update utility thinks everything is fine:
> 
> % PATH='/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin' sudo /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/Resources/bin/gnc-fq-update
> Password:
> 
> Starting with /...[elided].../ this dialog will disappear.
> Reading '/Users/jdlh/.cpan/Metadata'
>   Database was generated on Fri, 22 Dec 2023 23:54:07 GMT
> Test2 is up to date (1.302198).
> Finance::Quote is up to date (1.58).
> JSON::Parse is up to date (0.62).
> 
> And CPAN seems to think that JSON::Parse is present:
> 
> % PATH='/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin' sudo cpan
> Password:
> Loading internal logger. Log::Log4perl recommended for better logging
> 
> Starting with /...[elided].../ this dialog will disappear.
> Terminal does not support /...[elided]...
> /cpan shell -- CPAN exploration and modules installation (v2.36)
> Enter 'h' for help.
> 
> cpan[1]> m JSON::Parse
> Reading '/Users/jdlh/.cpan/Metadata'
>   Database was generated on Fri, 22 Dec 2023 23:54:07 GMT
> Module id = JSON::Parse
>     CPAN_USERID  BKB (Ben Bullock <bkb at cpan.org>)
>     CPAN_VERSION 0.62
>     CPAN_FILE    B/BK/BKB/JSON-Parse-0.62.tar.gz
>     UPLOAD_DATE  2022-07-15
>     MANPAGE      JSON::Parse - Parse JSON
>     INST_FILE /Library/Perl/5.30/darwin-thread-multi-2level/JSON/Parse.pm
>     INST_VERSION 0.62
> 
> 
> cpan[2]> install JSON::Parse
> JSON::Parse is up to date (0.62).
> 
> Note that I am using MacPorts on this system. That sometimes leads to confusion, as described in <https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Online_Quotes#Multiple_Perl_installations_on_macOS>. Thus I prefix commands with a PATH that excludes MacPorts, in the hopes that I will be checking only the system Perl locations which the GnuCash app consults.
> 
> For what it's worth, MacPorts has perl 5.34.3 installed, and the perl 5.34 edition of JSON::Parse as well. The system has perl 5.30.3 installed. I do not know if this difference is significant.
> 
> I have read through the wiki page Online Quotes. I think I have done what that page suggests. (Also, that page has now become a bit of a mess, because it mixes together instructions for several different online quotes tools from versions 5, 4, and pre-4 of GnuCash.)
> 
> Interestingly, when I run gnucash-cli from the GnuCash-provided application and a path that includes MacPorts, it seems happy with the Finance::Quote installation from MacPorts:
> 
>  % /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/gnucash-cli --quotes info
> Application Path /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/gnucash-cli
> Found Finance::Quote version 1.58.
> Finance::Quote sources:
> aex          alphavantage              amfiindia    asegr asx
> /...[elided].../
> xetra        yahoo_json   yahooweb     za
> 
> Thus I have a workaround: get quotes via gnucash-cli, which perhaps relies on the MacPorts installation of Finance::Quote rather than the built-in installation.
> 
> % /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/gnucash-cli --quotes get /...[elided].../ledger.gnucash
> Application Path /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/gnucash-cli
> Found Finance::Quote version 1.58.
> %
> 
> Any suggestions for how to diagnose and fix the Get Quotes functionality within the GnuCash application?
> 
> Thank you in advance for your help. And many thanks to the GnuCash developers for all the improvements in the 5.x versions!

Jim,

It matters which perl is invoked, because each "minor" perl version (minor in quotes because just like GnuCash before we truncated the version to two digits, perl's "major" version has been fixed since the turn of the century) gets it's own versioned directories of modules.

It might also matter that one of the Perls is MacPorts because MacPorts might install its perl modules in the MacPorts installation tree.

You can use 
  perl -e 'print join("\n", @INC), "\n"`
(include the quotes) in each environment to see where that perl is looking for modules.

The value of $PATH is different when running from the command line in Terminal and when launching an app with LaunchServices, either by using the `open` command from a command line prompt or double-clicking the app's icon in Finder. Your terminal command line's PATH can be changed by your shell's startup files (e.g. ~/.bashrc and ~/.bash_profile) but LaunchServices uses only the system's default path, so the perl GnuCash.app sees is /usr/bin/perl and @INC will include only the  perl directories in /Library, /Network/Library, and /System/Library. cpan, when run with sudo (and it won't work otherwise without telling it to use a user space directory) installs to /Library/Perl/<Perl Version>/darwin-thread-multi-level, in your case /Library/Perl/5.30/darwin-thread-multi-level. 

You can force using that system perl on the command line by using the path instead of just `perl`, e.g.
  sudo /usr/bin/perl /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/Resources/bin/gnc-fq-update

will force using the system perl and its builtin @INC as long as $PERL5LIB isn't set in the environment. 

Note that if your mac is an Apple Silicon one that you need to specify arch x86_64, as in 
  sudo arch -arch x86_64 /usr/bin/perl /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/Resources/bin/gnc-fq-update

(all on one line) because otherwise perl will build and install F::Q and friends for Apple Silicon. GnuCash is built for Intel only because WebKitGtk doesn't work when built for Apple Silicon and GnuCash will run an x86_64 perl under Rosetta2; if a needed module isn't available for Intel then F::Q will fail.

Regards,
John Ralls