Upgrading to 4.7.2 breaks invoke livereload

[dflock]

• I have read the Filing Issues and subsequent “How to Get Help” sections of the documentation.
• I have searched the issues (including closed ones) and believe that this is not a duplicate.

• OS version and name: Ubuntu Linux 20.04.4 LTS x86_64
• Python version: Python 3.8.10
• Pelican version: 4.7.1
• Link to theme: https://github.com/dflock/blueprint
• Links to plugins: https://github.com/dflock/duncanlock.net/blob/master/pelicanconf.py
• Link to your site: https://duncanlock.net
• Link to your source: https://github.com/dflock/duncanlock.net/
• Link to a Gist with the contents of your settings file: https://github.com/dflock/duncanlock.net/blob/master/pelicanconf.py

Issue

Currently using 4.7.1, everything works fine. Running invoke livereload works.
If I upgrade to Pelican 4.7.2, then invoke livereload breaks:

$ invoke livereload

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pelican/__init__.py", line 275, in __call__
    overrides[k] = json.loads(v)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/json/__init__.py", line 357, in loads
    return _default_decoder.decode(s)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/json/decoder.py", line 337, in decode
    obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/json/decoder.py", line 355, in raw_decode
    raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/bin/invoke", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(program.run())
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/invoke/program.py", line 384, in run
    self.execute()
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/invoke/program.py", line 566, in execute
    executor.execute(*self.tasks)
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/invoke/executor.py", line 129, in execute
    result = call.task(*args, **call.kwargs)
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/invoke/tasks.py", line 127, in __call__
    result = self.body(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/duncan/Projects/duncanlock.net/tasks.py", line 95, in livereload
    cached_build()
  File "/home/duncan/Projects/duncanlock.net/tasks.py", line 93, in cached_build
    pelican_run(cmd.format(**CONFIG))
  File "/home/duncan/Projects/duncanlock.net/tasks.py", line 138, in pelican_run
    pelican_main(shlex.split(cmd))
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pelican/__init__.py", line 526, in main
    args = parse_arguments(argv)
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pelican/__init__.py", line 391, in parse_arguments
    args = parser.parse_args(argv)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/argparse.py", line 1780, in parse_args
    args, argv = self.parse_known_args(args, namespace)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/argparse.py", line 1812, in parse_known_args
    namespace, args = self._parse_known_args(args, namespace)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/argparse.py", line 2018, in _parse_known_args
    start_index = consume_optional(start_index)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/argparse.py", line 1958, in consume_optional
    take_action(action, args, option_string)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/argparse.py", line 1886, in take_action
    action(self, namespace, argument_values, option_string)
  File "/home/duncan/venv/duncanlock.net-venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pelican/__init__.py", line 277, in __call__
    raise ValueError(
ValueError: Invalid JSON value: True. Values specified via -e / --extra-settings flags must be in JSON notation. Use -e KEY='"string"' to specify a string value; -e KEY=null to specify None; -e KEY=false (or true) to specify False (or True).

My tasks.py file can be see here, but it's pretty much just the default one - I haven't changed any of the global stuff at the top. My pelicanconf.py is here, and hasn't changed in a while - and works fine with 4.7.1

This looks very much like it's caused by this: #2938 - although I'm not using --extra-settings anywhere.

[justinmayer]

I just ran into this same error yesterday, so thanks for beating me to filing an issue for it @r4victor: Any chance you could take a look at this?

[dflock]

I haven't dug into the code, but it looks like it's trying to treat the imported pelicanconf.py as JSON?

[avaris]

Issue is here. Trues here should be changed to JSON-like counterparts (true).

[justinmayer]

@avaris: Many thanks for fixing this!

[dflock]

I've tested this by updating my local tasks.py file, and it works, I can now upgrade to 4.7.2, thanks!

I think that anyone else who's using a version of the default task.py file, will probably also have to edit their local version of the file, in order to fix this when they upgrade?

[avaris]

Yes, unfortunately people need to manually edit their existing tasks.py files.