Deserialization error: Expected valid node terminator.

[peterjc]

2. Issues with the Zellij UI / behavior / crash

Issue description

Cannot start zellij on macOS Sonoma 14.6.1 with an M4 CPU, tried within zsh and within bash. Tried within the Prompt3 terminal, and the default Apple Terminal. Get a cryptic one line message:

Deserialization error: Expected valid node terminator.

Minimal reproduction

❯ conda install zellij                    
Channels:
 - conda-forge
 - bioconda
Platform: osx-arm64
Collecting package metadata (repodata.json): done
Solving environment: done

## Package Plan ##

  environment location: /Users/peterjc/miniforge3/envs/pyani-plus_py312

  added / updated specs:
    - zellij


The following packages will be downloaded:

    package                    |            build
    ---------------------------|-----------------
    zellij-0.41.2              |       h8dba533_1         7.9 MB  conda-forge
    ------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Total:         7.9 MB

The following NEW packages will be INSTALLED:

  zellij             conda-forge/osx-arm64::zellij-0.41.2-h8dba533_1 


Proceed ([y]/n)? y


Downloading and Extracting Packages:
                                                                                                                  
Preparing transaction: done
Verifying transaction: done
Executing transaction: done
❯ zellij -h
...
❯ zellij -V                   
zellij 0.41.2
❯ zellij
Deserialization error: Expected valid node terminator.

Other relevant information

This was my first time trying zellij. I recognise this could be a problem with the conda-forge packaging for macos-arm64.

[peterjc]

Trying on a 64-bit Linux machine, again installed via conda - similar but different:

$ zellij
outdump-pluginsgenerateAn unspecified error occurred.

That appears to be "outdump-plugins generate An unspecified error occurred." with some missing spaces.

Update: Using https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases/download/v0.41.2/zellij-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz seems to work, suggesting this is a conda-forge packaging issue. Perhaps a missing dependency?

[peterjc]

Update: Installing from https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases/download/v0.41.2/zellij-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz seems to work on the Apple ARM machine.

This strongly suggests something amiss with the conda-package, although the error messages are different on x86 Linux and ARM macOS.

I'm happy to follow up on https://github.com/conda-forge/zellij-feedstock/issues/ if you have any clues as to what might be wrong?

[imsnif]

I guess this is: conda-forge/zellij-feedstock#4

[peterjc]

The symptoms are different, but it could be from the same cause. I don't mind closing this issue on that assumption.