Hammerspoon: hs.spoons:list() returns nil {} unless Spoon is loaded first?

[luckman212]

Today I installed some Spoons, and tried to list/enumerate them on the Console using

> hs.inspect(hs.spoons:list())
{}

If I load the spoon manually first...

> hs.loadSpoon("AClock")
2020-05-04 13:41:07: -- Loading Spoon: AClock
table: 0x600000a06940

> hs.inspect(hs.spoons:list())
{ {
    loaded = true,
    name = "AClock",
    version = "1.0"
  } }

I think I remember this used to work—Is this expected?

[luckman212]

Hmm, after a reboot, it's working as expected. 🤔

Guess this is/was a fluke.

[luckman212]

Ok, I updated the title - seems like if ~/.hammerspoon/Spoons is a symlink, then this behavior occurs. Loading spoons manually still works, but enumerating them with hs.inspect(hs.spoons:list()) fails to find anything beneath the symlinked folder.

[asmagill]

I have seen similar behavior with symlinks in other environments...

If you look at /Applications/Hammerspoon.app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/spoons/init.lua and change line 161 from:

~lua
local _, dirobj = fs.dir(configdir .. "/Spoons")
~

to (note the addition of the trailing /):

~lua
local _, dirobj = fs.dir(configdir .. "/Spoons/")
~

and restarting Hammerspoon, does it work properly with symlinks?

Note that by changing the resource files for Hammerspoon, you may be prompted to re-enable Accessibility rights for Hammerspoon the next time the application is completely relaunched (i.e. quit the app completely and then launched again)... under System Preferences/Security & Privacy, you'll see Hammerspoon is still checked -- just uncheck it and recheck and it should clear up, if you see this behavior)

[latenitefilms]

...and if that fails, you could try:

local spoonsPath = fs.pathToAbsolute(configdir .. "/Spoons/")
local _, dirobj = fs.dir(spoonsPath)

[luckman212]

This is getting weirder... Thanks @latenitefilms and @asmagill for trying to help!

I don't know what caused this to breifly start working a few days ago, but it's broken again, even after several reboots. I've tested and ruled out that this is caused by the Spoons dir being a symlink or not. It fails reliably in both cases now.

The problem, at least on my systems (both running 10.15.4 + HS 0.9.78.5164) is that an extra parameter (a table object) being passed into the hs.spoons.list() function. This causes the onlyLoaded bool to _always_ evaluate to true ignoring the actual passed value. I added an print(inspect(onlyLoaded)) to the top of the function like this:

function module.list(onlyLoaded)
   print(inspect(onlyLoaded))       <==

here's sample output from the console, with no spoons loaded:

> hs.inspect(hs.spoons:list())
2020-05-09 13:27:00: {
  _keys = {},
  bindHotkeysToSpec = <function 1>,
  isInstalled = <function 2>,
  isLoaded = <function 3>,
  list = <function 4>,
  newSpoon = <function 5>,
  resourcePath = <function 6>,
  scriptPath = <function 7>,
  use = <function 8>
}
{}

I don't know _where_ this table param is coming from—my Lua skills are weak at best, but hopefully one of you will recognize it.

If I change extensions/spoons/init.lua#L160 and add an extra _ to "eat" the table being passed in, then everything works correctly again:

    function module.list(onlyLoaded)
==> function module.list(_,onlyLoaded)

I'm sure this is an improper fix. I'd like to understand why the function is receiving an extra param and hopefully correct it at the source.

Any ideas?

[latenitefilms]

My guess is you’re using hs.spoons:list() instead of hs.spoons.list()?

[latenitefilms]

It also looks like the documentation is possibly wrong - saying method where it should be a function:

http://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.spoons.html#list

Will have a proper look at the code in the morning unless @cmsj or @asmagill beats me to it.

[luckman212]

Wow @latenitefilms Nice catch! Indeed, I was using : instead of .

What exactly does calling the function in this wayhs.spoons:list() do anyway? Still trying to understand what generated that table...

[latenitefilms]

obj:f() is equivalent to obj.f(obj) and function A:f() is equivalent to function A.f(self). The empty table comes in because your trying to pass in an empty object.

[cmsj]

@latenitefilms is right, all of the functions in hs.spoon are documented as methods, but they are not. Using . instead of : is the right way to go. Good spot!