Eventual consistency: `list` sometimes doesn't see apps until after reboot or `outdated` or `info` has been run

[dalisoft]

Your Environment

• mas version: v1.8.6
• macOS version (system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType -detailLevel mini): 11.6.5 (20G527)

mas Install Method

brew install mas (homebrew-core)

Describe the Bug

Apps in App Store are not in sync with mas.

To Reproduce

1. Go to App Store
2. Download any your apps from App Store
3. Run mas list
4. See out of sync of apps

Expected Behavior

App in list of mas list.

Actual Behavior

App is not included in list.

Screenshots, Terminal Output

Additional Context

Requires reboot system to properly returning result.

[cpick]

I ran into this same issue.

I ran mas list and noticed an ID for a manually-installed App was missing (eg: 123456). I then ran mas info 123456 after which it started appearing in subsequent mas list runs (without a reboot).

[StefanLobbenmeier]

Requires reboot system to properly returning result

Could you check next time, if mas outdated fixes it for you instead of reboot?

[dalisoft]

@StefanLobbenmeier Yes, today tested it again, it works, but not properly as excepted. Some apps shows other versions rather than latest App Store

[rgoldberg]

Running mas list right after installing an app from the Mac App Store didn't include the new app in the output.

Waiting a minute, then running mas list again included the newly installed app.

mas obtains the list of installed apps from an Apple data structure that is eventually updated, but not updated right away.

mas 2.0.0+ now obtains installed app info from Spotlight, instead, but Spotlight doesn't include the exact app name, Spotlight probably doesn't update any faster than the data structure that we already use, and why reinvent the wheel to fix something that waiting a minute or running another innocuous command can easily fix?

[StefanLobbenmeier]

That’s good to know. Does mas outdated do anything special that refreshes that file?

[rgoldberg]

@StefanLobbenmeier outdated & list both iterate once through that data structure. They don't interact with it in any other way, nor do they interact with anything else that should influence the data structure.

info doesn't access that data structure, nor does it even access anything from the same framework.

I assume that running anything that touches the data structure is as likely as anything else (except a logout then login, restart, or power cycle) to trigger an eventual refresh, if any such interactions trigger a refresh at all. Maybe there's a refresh command, but I don't know about one.

Either way, I think the current "solutions" of running other mas commands really just allow additional time to elapse, thus allowing an already scheduled / currently running refresh to finish.