Psych::SyntaxError while parsing JSON using rails 3.0.2/ruby 1.9.2p180

[jnunemaker]

Psych::SyntaxError while parsing JSON using rails 3.0.2/ruby 1.9.2p180

[phoet]

i can confirm this issue.

here is a snippet how to reproduce it:

Loading development environment (Rails 3.0.7)
ruby-1.9.2-p180 :004 > require 'crack'
ruby-1.9.2-p180 :002 > url = 'http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/phoet6/?alt=json'
ruby-1.9.2-p180 :001 > HTTPClient.get(url).content
ruby-1.9.2-p180 :003 > resp = HTTPClient.get(url).content
ruby-1.9.2-p180 :005 > resp = Crack::JSON.parse(resp)
Psych::SyntaxError: couldn't parse YAML at line 1 column 395
    from /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/lib/ruby/1.9.1/psych.rb:148:in `parse'
    from /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/lib/ruby/1.9.1/psych.rb:148:in `parse_stream'
    from /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/lib/ruby/1.9.1/psych.rb:119:in `parse'
    from /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/lib/ruby/1.9.1/psych.rb:106:in `load'
    from /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement/gems/crack-0.1.8/lib/crack/json.rb:12:in `parse'
    from (irb):5
    from /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:44:in `start'
    from /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:8:in `start'
    from /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/commands.rb:23:in `<top (required)>'
    from script/rails:10:in `require'
    from script/rails:10:in `<main>'

[phoet]

it took me some time to reproduce the issue on a second machine. at first i thought it might be a problem with the latest iMac, but i can reproduce it on my macbook too.

here is what i did:

$ rvm get head
$ rvm install 1.9.2
ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement:

  system:
    uname:       "Darwin ernst.local 10.7.1 Darwin Kernel Version 10.7.1: Thu Jan 27 18:47:00 PST 2011; root:xnu-1504.10.48~2/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64"
    bash:        "/bin/bash => GNU bash, version 3.2.48(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin10.0)"
    zsh:         "/bin/zsh => zsh 4.3.9 (i386-apple-darwin10.0)"

  rvm:
    version:      "rvm 1.6.18 by Wayne E. Seguin ([email protected]) [https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/]"

  ruby:
    interpreter:  "ruby"
    version:      "1.9.2p180"
    date:         "2011-02-18"
    platform:     "x86_64-darwin10.7.1"
    patchlevel:   "2011-02-18 revision 30909"
    full_version: "ruby 1.9.2p180 (2011-02-18 revision 30909) [x86_64-darwin10.7.1]"

  homes:
    gem:          "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement"
    ruby:         "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180"

  binaries:
    ruby:         "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/bin/ruby"
    irb:          "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/bin/irb"
    gem:          "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/bin/gem"
    rake:         "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@global/bin/rake"

  environment:
    PATH:         "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement/bin:/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@global/bin:/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/bin:/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/bin:/Users/peterschroder/Library/android:/Users/peterschroder/.script:/Users/peterschroder/Library/grails/bin:/Users/peterschroder/Library/groovy/bin:/Users/peterschroder/.gem/ruby/1.8/bin:/Users/peterschroder/Library/maven/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/X11/bin:/opt/nginx/sbin"
    GEM_HOME:     "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement"
    GEM_PATH:     "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@basement:/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@global"
    MY_RUBY_HOME: "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180"
    IRBRC:        "/Users/peterschroder/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/.irbrc"
    RUBYOPT:      "rubygems"
    gemset:       "basement"

$ bundle --version
Bundler version 1.0.14

$ rails -v
Rails 3.0.7

Since RVM is using some YAML library during installation of 1.9.2 it might be related to that:

--no-same-owner
Configuring yaml in /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/src/yaml-0.1.3.
Compiling yaml in /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/src/yaml-0.1.3.
Installing yaml to /Users/peterschroder/.rvm/usr

[phoet]

i tried a rather radical approach and removed my rvm installation and replacing it with an old/random version, but it worked out:

paule@phoet:~○$ rm -rf .rvm
paule@phoet:~○$ curl -s https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/install/rvm -o rvm-installer ; chmod +x rvm-installer ; ./rvm-installer --version 1.6.2

[zmoazeni]

I don't know the fix for rvm or crack, but this worked for me:

require 'httparty'
requre 'json'
response = HTTParty.get("http://someurl.com", :format => :plain)
JSON.parse(response.body)

It effectively ignores Crack's implementation. Not ideal, but good 'nuff for my use case.

[denkristoffer]

Adding

YAML::ENGINE.yamler = "syck"

to the top of my file fixed this for me.

[matt-glover]

It is effectively tied to the syck versus psych issue. They don't have identical JSON parsing behavior and do not throw exactly the same errors up the stack. If, for example, you pass in HTML and ask it to parse it as if it were JSON Crack via syck will catch the error from syck and wrap it in a Crack::ParseError whereas Crack via psych will let the Psych::SyntaxError pass through.

The Psych::Syntax error type inherits from SyntaxError instead of StandardError so something like a vanilla rescue statement wouldn't catch the PsychError while it may catch a similar error condition from syck simply because it is wrapped differently.

For more information on the PsychError see the following issue: ruby/psych#23

[m3talsmith]

+1 to @sachse. I dropped that in config/initializers/httparty.rb and I'm good.

[thbar]

@sachse thank you! You're making my day.

[jnunemaker]

Closing since someone suggested solution.