Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

[Steven Sam]

I'm now getting this error when I run any viewHelp command in M2: "Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console"

I'm using v1.16 in Ubuntu 18.04.4. This seems to be a new problem in recent days so it was working before. Any ideas how to fix it?

[Doug Torrance]

I'm having the same issue.  The error message appears to be coming from using "open" instead of "xdg-open" to open the URL.  A very hacky fix is to edit /usr/share/Macaulay2/Core.m2 as root to remove that call.  Here's a patch:

--- /home/profzoom/src/macaulay2/M2/M2/Macaulay2/m2/html.m2	2020-07-14 14:55:45.648272054 -0400
+++ /usr/share/Macaulay2/Core/html.m2	2020-07-14 14:54:44.349507879 -0400
@@ -43,8 +43,7 @@ runnable := fn -> (
 -- preferred web browser
 -- TODO: cache this value
 browser := () -> (
-    if runnable "open" then "open" -- Apple varieties
-    else if runnable "xdg-open" then "xdg-open" -- most Linux distributions
+    if runnable "xdg-open" then "xdg-open" -- most Linux distributions
     else if runnable getenv "WWWBROWSER" then getenv "WWWBROWSER" -- compatibility
     else if runnable "firefox" then "firefox" -- backup
     else error "neither open nor xdg-open is found and WWWBROWSER is not set")

On 7/14/20 2:42 PM, Steven Sam wrote:

I'm now getting this error when I run any viewHelp command in M2: "Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console"

I'm using v1.16 in Ubuntu 18.04.4. This seems to be a new problem in recent days so it was working before. Any ideas how to fix it?

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[Steven Sam]

Great, that solved the problem. One difference is I don't have /usr/share/Macaulay2/Core.m2 but I found what you described in usr/share/Macaulay2/Core/html.m2

Also, in case this is relevant for anyone else: for some reason making your change caused viewHelp to open the html help files in a text editor rather than in firefox (running xdg-open on an html file directly opens in firefox) so I just commented that part out and only left the line about firefox.

On Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 12:00:46 PM UTC-7, Doug Torrance wrote:

I'm having the same issue.  The error message appears to be coming from using "open" instead of "xdg-open" to open the URL.  A very hacky fix is to edit /usr/share/Macaulay2/Core.m2 as root to remove that call.  Here's a patch:

--- /home/profzoom/src/macaulay2/M2/M2/Macaulay2/m2/html.m2	2020-07-14 14:55:45.648272054 -0400
+++ /usr/share/Macaulay2/Core/html.m2	2020-07-14 14:54:44.349507879 -0400
@@ -43,8 +43,7 @@ runnable := fn -> (
 -- preferred web browser
 -- TODO: cache this value
 browser := () -> (
-    if runnable "open" then "open" -- Apple varieties
-    else if runnable "xdg-open" then "xdg-open" -- most Linux distributions
+    if runnable "xdg-open" then "xdg-open" -- most Linux distributions
     else if runnable getenv "WWWBROWSER" then getenv "WWWBROWSER" -- compatibility
     else if runnable "firefox" then "firefox" -- backup
     else error "neither open nor xdg-open is found and WWWBROWSER is not set")

On 7/14/20 2:42 PM, Steven Sam wrote:

I'm now getting this error when I run any viewHelp command in M2: "Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console"

I'm using v1.16 in Ubuntu 18.04.4. This seems to be a new problem in recent days so it was working before. Any ideas how to fix it?

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