• DOVE-net / QWKPOLL / Unable to open data connection

    From DustCouncil@21:1/227 to All on Thu Jul 1 15:51:41 2021
    Hi folks. There are a few references online to this issue but I am unable to find a solution.

    A few points:

    * Ubuntu Linux, v1.12 A46

    * FTP is set to passive, as you can see from the log below. I tried Active
    and a bunch of iptables rules to support that, but it was even worse.

    * Occasionally this will work and download the qwk packet, but usually it fails. Sometimes it will tell me "Unable to connect" altogether.

    * Importantly, the command line FTP client in Linux seems to work fine in passive mode. I don't ever have problems connecting, listing directories,
    etc.

    Case #1: Unable to Connect

    Jul 01 15:39:21 Connecting via FTP to dove.synchro.net
    Jul 01 15:39:21 Unable to connect

    These are less worrisome and more transient than the more obnoxious:

    Jul 01 15:39:23 Connecting via FTP to dove.synchro.net
    Jul 01 15:39:23 R:220-Vertrauen (vert.synchro.net)
    Jul 01 15:39:23 Connected
    Jul 01 15:39:23 Local IP is 127.0.1.1
    Jul 01 15:39:23 S:USER SHIB
    Jul 01 15:39:24 R:331 User name okay, need password.
    Jul 01 15:39:24 S:PASS <not shown>
    Jul 01 15:39:24 R:230-Welcome!
    Jul 01 15:39:24 S:TYPE I
    Jul 01 15:39:24 R:200 All files sent in BINARY mode.
    Jul 01 15:39:24 S:MODE S
    Jul 01 15:39:24 R:200 STREAM mode.
    Jul 01 15:39:24 Logged in as SHIB
    Jul 01 15:39:24 Downloading QWK packet
    Jul 01 15:39:24 S:PASV
    Jul 01 15:39:24 R:227 Entering Passive Mode (71,95,196,34,7,218)
    Jul 01 15:39:24 S:RETR VERT.qwk
    Jul 01 15:39:34 Unable to open data connection

    I am eyeballing that "Local IP is 127.0.1.1" - shouldn't it be reporting my Internet address, and, if so, how can I make it do that?

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Shipwrecks & Shibboleths [San Francisco, CA - USA] (21:1/227)
  • From Zip@21:1/202 to DustCouncil on Fri Jul 2 17:42:23 2021
    Hello DustCouncil!

    On 01 Jul 2021, DustCouncil said the following...
    Jul 01 15:39:24 S:RETR VERT.qwk
    Jul 01 15:39:34 Unable to open data connection

    This the "old" 10-second timeout for QWK FTP responses -- it has been fixed by g00r00 in recent A47 prealphas (raised to 30 seconds I believe, in conjunction with rewriting the code that handles the connections).

    The reason this happens at all is that scanning for new messages (preparing your QWK package) sometimes (often) takes longer than 10 seconds.

    Best regards
    Zip

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/06/21 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)
  • From DustCouncil@21:1/227 to Zip on Fri Jul 2 16:30:42 2021
    Jul 01 15:39:34 Unable to open data connection

    This the "old" 10-second timeout for QWK FTP responses -- it has been fixed by g00r00 in recent A47 prealphas (raised to 30 seconds I believe, in conjunction with rewriting the code that handles the connections).

    Thank you so much for your response. It makes sense now. I just wanted to stop racking my brain looking for configuration options on my side to tweak.

    I am a lazy man by nature, but there is something about computer problems
    which makes me a dog with a chew toy. I can't even live with quirks I should be able to live with although in this case, it has stopped me from pulling DOVE-Net entirely. But I'll wait for A47 to become available.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Shipwrecks & Shibboleths [San Francisco, CA - USA] (21:1/227)
  • From Zip@21:1/202 to DustCouncil on Sat Jul 3 00:24:14 2021
    Hello DustCouncil!

    On 02 Jul 2021, DustCouncil said the following...
    Thank you so much for your response. It makes sense now. I just wanted

    You're very welcome!

    should be able to live with although in this case, it has stopped me
    from pulling DOVE-Net entirely. But I'll wait for A47 to become

    Yep, also had those problems fetching DOVE-Net but g00r00 fixed it after some debugging and tests showing that it was after exactly 10 seconds (built-in restrictions in the underlying connection code, which g00r00 had to replace/work around) and that "retrieval" was just a bit slow.

    I believe dove.synchro.net resolves to 2 IPs on different platforms (or something like that). One of the IPs is "faster" than the other one, so might be a workaround until the A47 release.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/06/21 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)