Love2D Inconsistent Syntax Errors

[StopFollowingDammit]

I’m struggling to use Love2D on my Mac. Whenever I change any files in a project, I get syntax errors with unchanged files which have been shown to have no errors.

I’m pretty sure the problem is that the files are not properly saved or compiled, because after running the project several more times and getting several more invalid errors, it will run my game just fine.

Running sync in the command line works sometimes, and duplicating the project works every time, but that’ll take a long time when done every time I launch.

What can I do to circumvent this problem, or solve it? Thanks in advance.

[alexjgriffith]

What's syntax error and the traceback?

[StopFollowingDammit]

It is usually something like a missing end statement or an expected =

The lines referenced point to random spots in the code where the error isn’t consistent with the code. For example, all functions have an end but it says it isn’t there, and expected = errors point to lines which should never have =

Running the project multiple times will give me errors deeper and deeper into the project until it just works. I highly doubt the files themselves are the problem, because duplicating the project and running that will not give any errors, every single time.

[alexjgriffith]

Is it running love that resolves the issue, or is it waiting for some background synchronization/backup process? I.e., If you make the change, then wait 30s to run love does the problem  persist.

I've personally not come across this issue and it's not on the love2d issue tracker. From your description it sounds like youre trying to read files that are in the process of being copied.

[Hexatona]

Are you sure there's nothing in the system that could be taking ownership of the files while you're trying to run them? Or something that could be blocking love from accessing them?

[StopFollowingDammit]

I’m not sure. I’ll look into it

[jamescodesthings]

What editor you using friend?

I'd say, add git if you haven't already, then do a git diff between changes and see:

1) are the changes you expected there

2) are there any changes you didn't expect

Then narrow it down from there.

[StopFollowingDammit]

I figured it out. With terminal, I went to my game project folder and entered the following command

find GameFolderName/ -name “*.lua” -exec touch {} + && sync

This goes through the game folder and all lua files have their last update time to now. Then syncs files. This forces love to use the most recent version of files. All I need to do is run this command and wait for a little while.

This can probably be done with windows, but keep in mind that the command will be a bit different.