An error occurred while looking up the help topic: Client is not running

apcamargo commented 3 weeks ago

Positron and OS details:

Positron Version: 2024.09.0 (Universal) build 77
Code - OSS Version: 1.93.0
Commit: 9b6f7c066546a4c7f104368fc769fb3768b08bfd
Date: 2024-09-23T02:43:50.589Z
Electron: 30.4.0
Chromium: 124.0.6367.243
Node.js: 20.15.1
V8: 12.4.254.20-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 24.0.0

$ cat /etc/os-release

PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 24.04 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="24.04"
VERSION="24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat)"
VERSION_CODENAME=noble
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=noble
LOGO=ubuntu-logo

Interpreter details:

R (4.4.1), installed through rig.

Describe the issue:

In a remote session, I have a file open in an R script and I'm running it in the console by selecting a code block and pressing ctrl + enter. I'm trying to read the documentation for a specific function by placing my text cursor within the function name and pressing F1. However, the help dialog does not open and I receive the following error message:

An error occurred while looking up the help topic: Client is not running

jmcphers commented 3 weeks ago

I could not reproduce this on a similar environment.

Does it happen all the time for you, or did it start happening at some point?
Does restarting R fix it?
Does reloading the window fix it? (use the Developer: Reload Window command)
Could you share a small section of the code that's causing the trouble?

apcamargo commented 3 weeks ago

I don't have that issue after the server was restarted (although I can't isolate the server restart from the Positron window being reloaded).

One detail that I didn't mention is that I was also executing a R Jupyter notebook, opened in a separate tab. Not sure if this is related.

I'll update the issue in case it happens again.

jmcphers commented 3 weeks ago

OK, since we haven't been able to reproduce internally, closing this for now. Let us know if you find a reproducible case!

apcamargo commented 3 weeks ago

After reloading the window the problem was gone, but came back after a while. I haven't figured out how to reproduce it still, but I'll keep the issue updated in case I figure something out.

For now, here's R console's output:

[Positron] SEND comm_msg to Shell: {"buffers":[],"content":{"comm_id":"positron-help-r-5-4afbee76","data":{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"show_help_topic","params":{"topic":"comparative.data"}}},"header":{"msg_id":"6740d260-0e93-4623-9491-274cb482fa9b","msg_type":"comm_msg","version":"5.0","date":"2024-09-28T02:55:41.732Z","session":"1ba5833d605f55eeb88f725bf96afabe","username":"ubuntu"},"metadata":{},"parent_header":{}}
[Positron] SEND comm_msg: OK

apcamargo commented 1 week ago

I keep getting this error. The error usually starts to happen in the middle of a session, as I can usually get the help dialogue when I just connect Positron to the server. I already reinstalled Positron, but it didn't help.

Is there a specific log that I could provide to help tracking down this issue?

juliasilge commented 1 week ago

I'm going to move both of our issues on problems with REH/SSH + R Help to triage, although I note we are not able to reproduce either.

juliasilge commented 1 week ago

Thanks for your update here @apcamargo. Here is info on the logs we expect to be helpful.

First, set your R Kernel log level to something like "info" (in your settings):

Take a look at both the "Console" (or "Notebook") and "Kernel" output channels after the crash. You can drag whole log files into a GitHub issue as an attachment:

Question for you: do you only experience this problem in a notebook?

If you are feeling extra adventurous, bring up the Developer Tools console via the command "Developer: Toggle Developer Tools" and find the line like this one, then see if there are any interesting errors after that:

INFO PositronHelpService language runtime server sent show help event for: http://127.0.0.1:60873/library/stats/html/lm.html

Unfortunately these logs and output channels are quite busy but more info would be helpful, as we cannot reproduce your problem currently.

apcamargo commented 1 week ago

I experience this both in notebooks and when using the text editor+console. Do I need to change another setting to get the log when using the console?

juliasilge commented 1 week ago

No, it's the same log but it will say "R 4.4.0: Notebook" when you run from a notebook and "R 4.4.0: Console" when you run from a console.

posit-dev / positron