CKAN GUI not usable on OS X El Capitan

[satoi8080]

In the homebrew cache there are mono-4.2.0.179.el_capitan.bottle.1.tar.gz and can-1.14.3.exe
I started Terminal and ran
ckan gui
The Terminal shows:

exception inside UnhandledException handler: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

[ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'System.Windows.Forms.WindowsFormsSynchronizationContext' threw an exception. ---> System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'System.Windows.Forms.ThemeEngine' threw an exception. ---> System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'System.Windows.Forms.ThemeWin32Classic' threw an exception. ---> System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'System.Drawing.KnownColors' threw an exception. ---> System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'System.Drawing.GDIPlus' threw an exception. ---> System.DllNotFoundException: libgdiplus.dylib
   at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Drawing.GDIPlus:GdiplusStartup (ulong&,System.Drawing.GdiplusStartupInput&,System.Drawing.GdiplusStartupOutput&)
   at System.Drawing.GDIPlus..cctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Drawing.KnownColors..cctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Drawing.Color.get_Black () in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at System.Windows.Forms.ThemeWin32Classic..cctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Windows.Forms.ThemeVisualStyles..ctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at System.Windows.Forms.ThemeEngine..cctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.get_MenuAccessKeysUnderlined () in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control..ctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.Control:.ctor ()
   at System.Windows.Forms.WindowsFormsSynchronizationContext..cctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control..ctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl..ctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl..ctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form..ctor () in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at CKAN.Main..ctor (System.String[] cmdlineArgs, CKAN.GUIUser User, Boolean showConsole) in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) CKAN.Main:.ctor (string[],CKAN.GUIUser,bool)
   at CKAN.GUI.Main_ (System.String[] args, Boolean showConsole) in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at CKAN.CmdLine.MainClass.Gui (CKAN.CmdLine.GuiOptions options, System.String[] args) in <filename unknown>:line 0
   at CKAN.CmdLine.MainClass.Main (System.String[] args) in <filename unknown>:line 0

---

It seems that CKAN gui isn't compatible with Mono4, but Mono3 isn't compatible with OS X El Capitan

[imichaelmoore]

I was able to get the gui working by installing the latest Mono from http://www.mono-project.com/download instead of using Mono from homebrew.

[satoi8080]

@imichaeldotorg Anyway, it works.
I'm going to edit the guide https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/wiki/Installing-CKAN-on-OSX

[Olympic1]

@tetsuchou If it works you can close this.
@imichaeldotorg thx for finding a fix.

[kenjura]

The guide does not appear to have been so amended. Installing via homebrew does not work as of 2016-03-31, but installing mono per @imichaeldotorg's comment does work. I have amended the document.

[mheguy]

@imichaeldotorg added the line "NOTE: On OS X El Capitan you should download and install Mono 4" on line 5 of the wiki article, and it was not reverted. https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/wiki/Home/_history

[satoi8080]

I added that note right after I said "I'm going to edit the guide" in history d0a0746 , and it's still there. So what's wrong? I'm a little confused.

But the problem remains according to @kenjura , but there is already a solution, so I think it not necessary to reopen this issue.In stead, the wiki should be edited.

@kenjura has added another note, but I think it is not eye-catching enough, and the guide is a little messy, so I'm going to do some adjustment.

In brief,

El Capitan + Mon4.2.0 (Homebrew, automatically) + CKAN = NO
El Capitan + Mono4.2.1 (official site, manually) + CKAN = YES
Yosemite + Mono4.2.0 (Homebrew, automatically) +CKAN =YES
Yosemite + Mono4.2.1 (official site, mannually) + CKAN =NOT TESTED (as for me)

If there are mistakes in what I've said above or wrote in wiki, please point out. I'm just a player and not so familiar about homebrew or Mono.

Thank you.

[politas]

If CKAN is working on a Homebrew Mono install on Yosemite, then I would expect Yosemite is actually on Mono 4.CKAN doesn't work on Mono 3.

[Dazpoet]

There used to be a workaround for these kinds of issues which was to install some homebrew package that included libgdiplus.dylib which is, for some reason, lacking in the homebrew installation of certain mono-versions.

[100ideas]

I added some log info to this closed thread: #1844 (comment)

basically it looks like mono on osx is having trouble finding the assembly for UIAutomationWinforms. I've been browsing around on the mono site, repo, mailing lists etc and haven't found much info about it... just some outdated docs from 2011.

$ mono --trace=N:nothing ckan.exe gui -v    
...
[0xa3878000:] EXCEPTION handling: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'UIAutomationWinforms, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=f4ceacb585d99812' or one of its dependencies

[HebaruSan]

Homebrew confirmed as disaster. The wiki currently says not to use it (after one user's remarks suggesting that he was at least able to run ConsoleUI with it).