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

[John Ralls]

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/51677/how-to-set-path-for-finder-launched-applications has some details about using launchctl. It seems to be a bit fiddly and with setenv you have to run the command *once* after every reboot, meaning that after you boot you login, open a Terminal session, run `launchctl setenv...`, and kill the Dock. After that you can run GnuCash from Finder and it will use the changed path, though the SO indicates that it works only on 10.7.

On newer versions of macOS there's `config` command that you run just once then reboot, but it's not clear from the SO nor from launchctl(1) with what version that was introduced; 10.12 is the earliest mentioned in the SO. Since it's persistent make sure that you know how to undo it if you don't like the results... if you screw it up badly enough that might mean booting to single user. Definitely for experts only.

Regards,
John Ralls


> On Jun 13, 2021, at 2:01 AM, Peter West <pbw at pbw.id.au> wrote:
> 
> I think it is still true for Big Sur that the launchctl environment for Mac can be set with launchctl commands.
> 
> To set the same env var in  the launchctl environment as in your .profile environment, you can include in your .profile a function like this:
> 
> set_env_var () {
>    eval export $1=\""$2"\"
>    eval launchctl setenv "$1" \""$2"\"
> }
> 
> Instead of
> export PATH=blah
> use
> set_env_var PATH “blah”
> 
> I not sure about the timing of environment settings; that is, whether you can start up a shell and then immediately invoke, say, GnuCash, or whether you must log out and in to have the env vars in effect.
> 
> 
> —
> Peter West
> pbw at ehealth.id.au
> “…whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”
> 
> 
> 
>> On 13 Jun 2021, at 6:23 pm, Liz Dodd <edodd at billiau.net> wrote:
>> 
>> On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 00:39:39 -0700
>> Jim DeLaHunt <list+gnucash at jdlh.com <mailto: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
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