jdk-install might be failing to make available a JDK on Apple Silicon Macs

[villares]

I have a number of students with M1, M2 & M3 Macs telling me they had to manually install JDK-17 from download.oracle.com/java/17/archive/jdk-17.0.10_macos-aarch64_bin.dmg and then added the correct path to Thonny's environment variables options panel...

This has been a source of pain, I'd like to reproduce and fix this issue but I have no access to Apple Silicon CPU Macs...

cc @ericof

[hx2A]

Does the maintainer of install-jdk know about this issue? I recall he seemed pretty diligent about investigating problems.

[villares]

Does the maintainer of install-jdk know about this issue? I recall he seemed pretty diligent about investigating problems.

I saw a related issue at their repo, closed, not too long ago. The problem is I'm unable/unwilling to open a new issue there without being able to reproduce, or at least describe precisely, the problem :(

[hx2A]

The problem is I'm unable/unwilling to open a new issue there without being able to reproduce, or at least describe precisely, the problem

That is the right thing to do.

[hx2A]

This doesn't happen on all M1,M2, and M3 machines, right? Just some of the time?

[villares]

This doesn't happen on all M1,M2, and M3 machines, right? Just some of the time?

I really don't know :( The only Macs I have access to are Intel.

[hx2A]

I think @tabreturn has one? He had one when he opened this issue.

[villares]

Please @tabreturn and @ericof and anyone with Apple Silicon, can we please check this? I'm trying to reach a student with a M1 today, let's see how it goes...

[villares]

Hi @ericof and @tabreturn, it would be great if we could check this JDK install thing and coordinate a fix or a warning in a new thonny-py5mode release soon.

The numpy 2.0 update, and the ability to avoid it by using the newest py5 version, makes a new release kind of a pressing issue.

[ericof]

@villares, @tabreturn, I tried to install everything from scratch on my M1 computer, but it did not have a positive outcome.

The error message is the following:

py5 is unable to start a Java 17 Virtual Machine.
This library requires Java 17 to be installed and a properly set JAVA_HOME environment variable.
Here is some debug info about your installation that might help you identify the source of this problem.
{'JAVA_HOME environment variable': '/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17', 'jvm version': (0, 0, 0), 'default jvm path': '/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17/Contents/Home/lib/libjli.dylib'}
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/plugins/lib/python/site-packages/py5_tools/tools/run_sketch.py", line 52, in <module>
    main()
  File "/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/plugins/lib/python/site-packages/py5_tools/tools/run_sketch.py", line 44, in main
    imported.run_code(
  File "/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/plugins/lib/python/site-packages/py5_tools/imported.py", line 135, in run_code
    _run_code(
  File "/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/plugins/lib/python/site-packages/py5_tools/imported.py", line 259, in _run_code
    _run_sketch(sketch_path, classpath, exit_if_error)
  File "/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/plugins/lib/python/site-packages/py5_tools/imported.py", line 196, in _run_sketch
    import py5
  File "/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/plugins/lib/python/site-packages/py5/__init__.py", line 72, in <module>
    raise RuntimeError("py5 is unable to start Java 17 Virtual Machine")
RuntimeError: py5 is unable to start Java 17 Virtual Machine

Also, running the following code on the Thonny shell:

>>> import jpype
>>> jpype.startJVM()

The following error was raised:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/plugins/lib/python/site-packages/jpype/_core.py", line 224, in startJVM
    _jpype.startup(jvmpath, tuple(args),
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] JVM DLL not found: /Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17/Contents/Home/lib/libjli.dylib

Important points:

• /Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17 does exist
• /Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17/Contents/Home/lib/libjli.dylib does exist
• Outside Thonny I have the following setting: JAVA_HOME=/opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk@17/libexec/openjdk.jdk/Contents/Home that is used by my other py5 installation, and it works like charm

[hx2A]

Hi @ericof !

If you set JAVA_HOME to point to the same JDK that Thonny is attempting to use, does it work? Is jdk-install somehow installing a JDK that does not work on Apple Silicon machines?

It happens I now have a M1 Mac and I will have some time next week to investigate this.

[ericof]

@hx2A I just tested it, and it will not work either.
One important point, Thonny sets:

JAVA_HOME=/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17/

My working installation points to

JAVA_HOME=/opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk@17/libexec/openjdk.jdk/Contents/Home

Attention to the /Contents/Home
(I also tried to set JAVA_HOME pointing to /Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17/Contents/Home, but it did not work as well)

[ericof]

Additional information: if I set, on Thonny, JAVA_HOME to the other installation, it works

[hx2A]

@hx2A I just tested it, and it will not work either. One important point, Thonny sets:

JAVA_HOME=/Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17/

My working installation points to

JAVA_HOME=/opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk@17/libexec/openjdk.jdk/Contents/Home

Attention to the /Contents/Home (I also tried to set JAVA_HOME pointing to /Users/ericof/Library/Thonny/jdk-17/Contents/Home, but it did not work as well)

Interesting. Is @vsquared's post here helpful to you?

py5coding/py5generator#464 (comment)

Recently I purchased a Apple Silicon M1 laptop. I installed Thonny and this plugin using the install steps. I didn't previously install Java or py5 anywhere else on the machine. Thonny was able to run py5 without any problems. The install steps worked perfectly. Which is unfortunate, because I was hoping to reproduce a M1 related problem.

As I learn more about this machine and setup, I hope to experience some MacOS problems so I can find solutions to them.

[villares]

@hx2A and @ericof , can you both please clarify which version of the installing instructions you used?

• py5coding,org ... install ... has some install variations, like, with pip or with conda, but also mentions the Thonny plug-in
• I've been pointing students to a page I made, based on @tabreturn instructions, that now has EN, PT and ES versions...
  • It now (for the last several months I guess) recommends installing py5 via Thonny before the plug-in
  • Then you install the thonny-py5modeplug-in
  • Then at "first run" the plug-in will install the JDK and set Thonny's env vars with a JAVA_HOME

If you haven't yet, could you please test these later versions? Or in case you did that, could you try not installing py5 beforehand to see what happens?

[hx2A]

@hx2A and @ericof , can you both please clarify which version of the installing instructions you used?

I followed the instructions on the plugin github page:

https://github.com/tabreturn/thonny-py5mode

I did not install java or py5 before I installed the plugin. The plugin setup process did both of those for me.

[villares]

@hx2A, if you have the time, please check what happens if you install py5 (from the Thonny manage packages dialog) before the plug-in. Beware Thonny might be leaving behind a "sites-packages" somewhere in your user folder.

[hx2A]

@hx2A, if you have the time, please check what happens if you install py5 (from the Thonny manage packages dialog) before the plug-in. Beware Thonny might be leaving behind a "sites-packages" somewhere in your user folder.

Sure, I can do that. How do I get to a clean slate? Should I uninstall Thonny first? Is there another folder I must get rid of?

[villares]

Good question... There is no central "uninstall" on MacOS, I think, and on Windows I know it leaves behind things at <username>\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python310\site-packages... so maybe you could try searching, I'm not sure 😕

[ericof]

I will remove Thonny (I have this old app called TrashMe that claims to scrub any installation) and try to install it again following the documentation.
Of course, I will keep my other working Java environment (as it is used by some Brazilian Government apps that I need to use on a regular basis)

[villares]

How are we going with this issue?

I want to close this related discussion at the py5generator repo, so I'll mention it here ant close it there: py5coding/py5generator#464