Began with fresh install of recent git clone current to commit
25bba4e9c1a50d8a8b4026f6aa36307aa30c0e33.

Set up with exact same initial configuration information as older
version that is running well, except database instead of tradspool.

Every run of the cron returns this error:

"The connection to the Message Server failed"

.... which appears to come from 'english.lang':

"$text_error["connection_failed"]="The connection to the Message Server
failed";"

After several cron jobs the new install had no articles and no database
data.

Wiped, then switched config to tradspool, ran cron. No sync, no
articles in spool directory, nada. The .dat files get built, but
nothing happens.

Both php newsportal nntp and nntpssl workers are running in all checks.

Tried to sync via clearnet and Tor, fails each way, no successes, not
data copied from remote host to local.

The only errors showing in logs:

$ cat spoolnews.log.1

Oct 09 22:00:10 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 09 22:00:10 spoolnews remote_server: news.novabbs.org
Oct 09 22:00:40 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 09 22:01:11 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 09 22:01:12 rocksolid remote_server: news.novabbs.org
Oct 09 22:01:42 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563

I have no problem connecting to novabbs.org via telnet and s_client,
and with graphical client. They all work via clearnet and Tor.

What else do I need to check?

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

P.S. I wiped out the install and killed the daemons and reinstalled a
few times and kept having the same problem. Then I wiped out the
install and installed older version 0.7.2 with the exact same
configuration for rslight.inc.php and the older version runs fine. I
have no idea what I am missing to get the newer version to talk to the
server.

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

On Mon, 9 Oct 2023 22:48:26 -0500
Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:

> P.S. I wiped out the install and killed the daemons and reinstalled a
> few times and kept having the same problem. Then I wiped out the
> install and installed older version 0.7.2 with the exact same
> configuration for rslight.inc.php and the older version runs fine. I
> have no idea what I am missing to get the newer version to talk to the
> server.

That's no fun at all :(

If you don't mind, can you tell me what os and php (versions) you are running, and
I will install in a VM here?

Obviously I'm running the latest and all is fine here, so let's see what the
difference could be. This is my current php ver:
php -v
PHP 8.2.5 (cli) (built: Apr 27 2023 08:13:47) (NTS)
Zend Engine v4.2.5, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.2.5, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

--
Retro Guy

On Tue, 10 Oct 2023 01:54:04 -0700
Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 9 Oct 2023 22:48:26 -0500
> Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:
>
> > P.S. I wiped out the install and killed the daemons and reinstalled
> > a few times and kept having the same problem. Then I wiped out the
> > install and installed older version 0.7.2 with the exact same
> > configuration for rslight.inc.php and the older version runs fine. I
> > have no idea what I am missing to get the newer version to talk to
> > the server.
>
> That's no fun at all :(

It has me mind boggled. I can't find any errors in any error logs: none
in nginx, none in apache, none in the rslight logs (except connection
failure) and none in php-fpm logs. I ran strace on the cron and that
didn't tell me anything either. I think a low-level trace of the php
socket functions is what I need to do but I have no idea how to begin
that.
> If you don't mind, can you tell me what os and php (versions) you are
> running, and I will install in a VM here?

No problem. Please find the data pasted below. I was thinking, if you
want to open a raw logging socket on a port and log incoming to file, I
can add that as a fake.inc.php pseudo host and hammer the cron a bunch
of times so you can check the incoming data raw. If you want to do that
send me an email. It's easy to do with socat and s_server or even a tor
hidden onion address piped to file or netcat piped to file.

I might not be able to check until tomorrow. No rush.
> Obviously I'm running the latest and all is fine here, so let's see
> what the difference could be. This is my current php ver:
> php -v
> PHP 8.2.5 (cli) (built: Apr 27 2023 08:13:47) (NTS)
> Zend Engine v4.2.5, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
> with Zend OPcache v8.2.5, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
>

---- neofetch data ----

OS: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) x86_64
Kernel: 5.10.0-25-amd64
Shell: bash 5.1.4

Note: I can't update to Bookworm yet. I run several server apps and
a DNS server that might break that I can't risk breakage until I know
for sure the upgrade path will work smooth.

---- php version ----

$ php --version
PHP 8.2.11 (cli) (built: Oct 6 2023 10:11:52) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.2.11, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.2.11, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

---- server setup ----

Apache2 server with nginx as proxy and php8.2-fpm backend for the
latest git master branch of Rocksolid Light.

Apache2 server with nginx as proxy and php7.4-fpm backend for the 0.7.2
zip blob version of Rocksolid Light.

The old 0.7.2 version is working just fine.

---- ideas not yet investigated ----

1. ssl time offset causing remote to reject connection?
2. php script or newsportal sending null variables instead of data?
3. gremlins mad about me eating all the laser chicken?

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

On Mon, 9 Oct 2023 18:20:17 -0500
Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:

> Began with fresh install of recent git clone current to commit
> 25bba4e9c1a50d8a8b4026f6aa36307aa30c0e33.
>
> Set up with exact same initial configuration information as older
> version that is running well, except database instead of tradspool.
>
> Every run of the cron returns this error:
>
> "The connection to the Message Server failed"
>
> ... which appears to come from 'english.lang':
>
> "$text_error["connection_failed"]="The connection to the Message Server
> failed";"

The server this is referencing is the one that should be running on your
machine. You might check in rslight.inc.php:
'local_server' => '127.0.0.1',
'local_port' => '1119',
'local_ssl_port' => '',
'enable_all_networks' => '1',
'server_auth_user' => 'localuser',
'server_auth_pass' => 'some_password',

> After several cron jobs the new install had no articles and no database
> data.
>
> Wiped, then switched config to tradspool, ran cron. No sync, no
> articles in spool directory, nada. The .dat files get built, but
> nothing happens.
>
> Both php newsportal nntp and nntpssl workers are running in all checks.
>
> Tried to sync via clearnet and Tor, fails each way, no successes, not
> data copied from remote host to local.
>
> The only errors showing in logs:
>
> $ cat spoolnews.log.1
>
> Oct 09 22:00:10 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
> Oct 09 22:00:10 spoolnews remote_server: news.novabbs.org
> Oct 09 22:00:40 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
> Oct 09 22:01:11 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
> Oct 09 22:01:12 rocksolid remote_server: news.novabbs.org
> Oct 09 22:01:42 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
>
> I have no problem connecting to novabbs.org via telnet and s_client,
> and with graphical client. They all work via clearnet and Tor.
>
> What else do I need to check?

I find it strange that it can't connect to it's local server OR remote
server. Something is obviously wrong here. BTW, when it says above that
it 'Failed to connect', that could also mean 'failed to authenticate'.

Also, have you compared your old version of rslight.inc.php to the
version in git? Just to see if something important has changed.

--
Retro Guy

On Tue, 10 Oct 2023 02:38:44 -0700
Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 9 Oct 2023 18:20:17 -0500
> Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:
>
> > Began with fresh install of recent git clone current to commit
> > 25bba4e9c1a50d8a8b4026f6aa36307aa30c0e33.
> >
> > Set up with exact same initial configuration information as older
> > version that is running well, except database instead of tradspool.
> >
> > Every run of the cron returns this error:
> >
> > "The connection to the Message Server failed"
> >
> > ... which appears to come from 'english.lang':
> >
> > "$text_error["connection_failed"]="The connection to the Message
> > Server failed";"
>
> The server this is referencing is the one that should be running on
> your machine. You might check in rslight.inc.php:
> 'local_server' => '127.0.0.1',
> 'local_port' => '1119',
> 'local_ssl_port' => '',
> 'enable_all_networks' => '1',
> 'server_auth_user' => 'localuser',
> 'server_auth_pass' => 'some_password',

Quintuple checked. Everything checked out. Ran diff several times and
inspected with nothing out of order.

Just did another wipe and re-install. First run of cron:

Updated user count
Sending articles
<p><font color="red">Error:</font></p><p>The connection to the Message
Server failed</p>Refreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
Sending articles
<p><font color="red">Error:</font></p><p>The connection to the Message
Server failed</p>Refreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
RSS Feeds updated
Rotated: /etc/rslight/spool//log/access.log
Rotated: /etc/rslight/spool//log/cron.log
Rotated: /etc/rslight/spool//log/expire.log
Rotated: /etc/rslight/spool//log/nntp.log
Rotated: /etc/rslight/spool//log/spoolnews.log
Log files rotated
Keys rotated

Notice the double-slashes in paths. I think that has nothing to do with
the connection problem but I noticed it anyway. I did not add trailing
slashes during install wizard.

Second run of cron:

Updated user count
Sending articles
<p><font color="red">Error:</font></p><p>The connection to the Message
Server failed</p>Refreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
Sending articles
<p><font color="red">Error:</font></p><p>The connection to the Message
Server failed</p>Refreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
RSS Feeds updated
Log files rotated
Keys rotated

Spool log:

log# cat spoolnews.log

Oct 10 21:41:58 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 10 21:41:58 spoolnews remote_server: news.novabbs.org
Oct 10 21:42:28 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 10 21:42:58 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 10 21:42:59 rocksolid remote_server: news.novabbs.org
Oct 10 21:43:29 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 10 21:45:00 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 10 21:45:00 spoolnews remote_server: news.novabbs.org
Oct 10 21:45:30 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 10 21:46:01 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
Oct 10 21:46:02 rocksolid remote_server: news.novabbs.org
Oct 10 21:46:32 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563

Listing of spool directory:

spool# ls | grep ""
articles-overview.db3
keys.dat
lock
log
rocksolid
rocksolid-groups.dat
rocksolid.nodes.announce-data.db3
rocksolid.nodes-data.db3
rocksolid.nodes.help-data.db3
rocksolid.programming-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.encryption-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.entertainment-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.freenet-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.general-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.hacking-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.helpdesk-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.i2p-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.linux-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.news-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.offtopic-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.rocksolid-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.security-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.test-data.db3
rocksolid.shared.tor-data.db3
rocksolid.social-data.db3
rocksolid.spam-data.db3
rocksolid-thread-timer
sessions.dat
spoolnews
spoolnews-thread-timer
ssl
upload

I am able to manually connect to the newsportal nntp and nntps on the
localhost after running the cron.

I triple checked user/pass for novabbs.org. I cut and pasted from
password manager. I then visually inspected the user/pass. The same
user/pass works in my news clients. I suspect the cron script is never
able to connect to the remote server.

Pasta from rslight.inc.php with the senstives removed:

'remote_server' => 'news.novabbs.org',
'remote_port' => '563',
'remote_ssl' => '1',

'enable_nntp' => '1',
'local_server' => '127.0.0.1',
'local_port' => '119',
'local_ssl_port' => '563',
'enable_all_networks' => '1',

> > After several cron jobs the new install had no articles and no
> > database data.
> >
> > Wiped, then switched config to tradspool, ran cron. No sync, no
> > articles in spool directory, nada. The .dat files get built, but
> > nothing happens.
> >
> > Both php newsportal nntp and nntpssl workers are running in all
> > checks.
> >
> > Tried to sync via clearnet and Tor, fails each way, no successes,
> > not data copied from remote host to local.
> >
> > The only errors showing in logs:
> >
> > $ cat spoolnews.log.1
> >
> > Oct 09 22:00:10 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
> > Oct 09 22:00:10 spoolnews remote_server: news.novabbs.org
> > Oct 09 22:00:40 spoolnews Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
> > Oct 09 22:01:11 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
> > Oct 09 22:01:12 rocksolid remote_server: news.novabbs.org
> > Oct 09 22:01:42 rocksolid Failed to connect to news.novabbs.org:563
> >
> > I have no problem connecting to novabbs.org via telnet and s_client,
> > and with graphical client. They all work via clearnet and Tor.
> >
> > What else do I need to check?
>
> I find it strange that it can't connect to it's local server OR remote
> server. Something is obviously wrong here. BTW, when it says above
> that it 'Failed to connect', that could also mean 'failed to
> authenticate'.
>
> Also, have you compared your old version of rslight.inc.php to the
> version in git? Just to see if something important has changed.

Yes, it all checks out.

I suspected a possible permissions issue. So I ran another fresh
install with debian-install.sh and I put all the paths up in the web
root. The result is still the same as above. I can find nothing in the
logs telling me why it can't connect to the remote host. I don't think
I can troubleshoot this without full tracing of the php functions that
are negotiating the nntp connections. And I have zero idea how to do
that.

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

Maybe something is preventing php fsockopen from assigning a
socket. That might explain no error output to be found.

I installed on a separate physical machine running php8.1 and apache
without nginx and fpm and still and got the same results. no
discernible errors I can trace, just connection failure.

Is there a way to get verbose output from fsockopen? Is there something
that must be set in php.ini for fsockopen to operate?

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

One more thing might be worth checking.

One remote server would not connect via SSL with the rslight 0.7.2
version. I tested about a dozen cron hammers. It returned the same
error as the newer rslight version with nothing in log files to
indicate the exact cause of the connection failure.

Then I disabled SSL and rlight cron connected to the same host via port
119 and downloaded messages to local.

The same hack did not work for the more recent rslight version.

Maybe fsockopen wants a prefix of 'ssl://' or some equivalent? IDK.

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

Syber Shock wrote:

> On Tue, 10 Oct 2023 01:54:04 -0700
> Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.com> wrote:

>> On Mon, 9 Oct 2023 22:48:26 -0500
>> Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:
>>
>> snip

> I might not be able to check until tomorrow. No rush.

>> Obviously I'm running the latest and all is fine here, so let's see
>> what the difference could be. This is my current php ver:
>> php -v
>> PHP 8.2.5 (cli) (built: Apr 27 2023 08:13:47) (NTS)
>> Zend Engine v4.2.5, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
>> with Zend OPcache v8.2.5, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
>>

> ---- php version ----

> $ php --version
> PHP 8.2.11 (cli) (built: Oct 6 2023 10:11:52) (NTS)
> Copyright (c) The PHP Group
> Zend Engine v4.2.11, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
> with Zend OPcache v8.2.11, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

I'm only seeing php 7.4.33 on bullseye. Are you installing from backports,
or another method to get 8.2.11?

I have bullseye set up now, I'll try to install rslight later today (this is
one of my slow weeks (medical stuff).

--
Retro Guy

On Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:00:01 +0000
retro.guy@rocksolidbbs.com (Retro Guy) wrote:

> I'm only seeing php 7.4.33 on bullseye. Are you installing from
> backports, or another method to get 8.2.11?

My server pulls the packages from https://sury.org/. This is the
official site of the Debian developer who maintains apache and php
packages. I also pull nginx packages from nginx.org official.

https://packages.sury.org/apache2 bullseye InRelease
https://packages.sury.org/php bullseye InRelease
https://nginx.org/packages/mainline/debian bullseye InRelease

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

On Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:00:01 +0000
retro.guy@rocksolidbbs.com (Retro Guy) wrote:

> Syber Shock wrote:
>
> > On Tue, 10 Oct 2023 01:54:04 -0700
> > Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.com> wrote:
>
> >> On Mon, 9 Oct 2023 22:48:26 -0500
> >> Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> snip
>
> > I might not be able to check until tomorrow. No rush.
>
> >> Obviously I'm running the latest and all is fine here, so let's see
> >> what the difference could be. This is my current php ver:
> >> php -v
> >> PHP 8.2.5 (cli) (built: Apr 27 2023 08:13:47) (NTS)
> >> Zend Engine v4.2.5, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
> >> with Zend OPcache v8.2.5, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
> >>
>
> > ---- php version ----
>
> > $ php --version
> > PHP 8.2.11 (cli) (built: Oct 6 2023 10:11:52) (NTS)
> > Copyright (c) The PHP Group
> > Zend Engine v4.2.11, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
> > with Zend OPcache v8.2.11, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
>
> I'm only seeing php 7.4.33 on bullseye. Are you installing from
> backports, or another method to get 8.2.11?
>
> I have bullseye set up now, I'll try to install rslight later today
> (this is one of my slow weeks (medical stuff).

Take it yeezy. This can wait. I'll just keep posting in this thread
until I or anyone figures out what is broken.

I think I almost found the borkage problem. It has something to do with
SSL.

The latest version will not connect to any host over SSL.

I got it to connect and sync to two remote hosts over port 119 without
SSL. It worked without a hitch when I set the remote server like this:

'remote_server' => 'news.i2pn2.org',
'remote_port' => '119',
'remote_ssl' => '',

Something is causing SSL connections to hang up and time out, thus
there are no php or server errors being logged. It is returning a
unexplained connection failure.

So I think the main thing needing troubleshot is the SSL. I still can't
tell if it is on my end. I do know that some NNTP hosts have SSL
configurations that are outdated and break all the time. Some have
outdated certificates. I don't know what the SSL library in PHP does
over these connections.

There was another error with fputs which I will post in a separate
message.

I will follow up if I figure anything out.

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

Same setup and specs as first reported error in this thread:

OS: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) x86_64

# php -v
PHP 8.2.11 (cli) (built: Oct 6 2023 10:11:52) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.2.11, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.2.11, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

apt sources:

https://packages.sury.org/apache2 bullseye InRelease
https://packages.sury.org/php bullseye InRelease
https://nginx.org/packages/mainline/debian bullseye InRelease

First two cron runs completed without errors.

### Third run ERROR:

Updated user count
Sending articles
Send DoneRefreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
Sending articles
Send DonePHP Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: fputs(): supplied
resource is not a valid stream resource in
/var/www/html/rslight-temporary_testing_7/rocksolid/lib/thread.inc.php:237
Stack trace: #0
/var/www/html/rslight-temporary_testing_7/rocksolid/lib/thread.inc.php(237):
fputs() #1
/var/www/html/rslight-temporary_testing_7/rocksolid/lib/thread.inc.php(304):
thread_overview_read() #2
/etc/rslight-temporary_testing_7/config/scripts/spoolnews.php(133):
thread_load_newsserver() #3 {main} thrown in
/var/www/html/rslight-temporary_testing_7/rocksolid/lib/thread.inc.php
on line 237 Refreshed spoolnews Expired articles RSS Feeds updated Log
files rotated Keys rotated

### Fourth run no errors:

Updated user count
Sending articles
Send DoneRefreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
Sending articles
Send DoneRefreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
RSS Feeds updated
Log files rotated
Keys rotated

### Fifth run ERROR:

Updated user count
Sending articles
Send DoneRefreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
Sending articles
Send DonePHP Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: fputs(): supplied
resource is not a valid stream resource in
/var/www/html/rslight-temporary_testing_7/rocksolid/lib/thread.inc.php:237
Stack trace: #0
/var/www/html/rslight-temporary_testing_7/rocksolid/lib/thread.inc.php(237):
fputs() #1
/var/www/html/rslight-temporary_testing_7/rocksolid/lib/thread.inc.php(304):
thread_overview_read() #2
/etc/rslight-temporary_testing_7/config/scripts/spoolnews.php(133):
thread_load_newsserver() #3 {main} thrown in
/var/www/html/rslight-temporary_testing_7/rocksolid/lib/thread.inc.php
on line 237 Refreshed spoolnews Expired articles RSS Feeds updated Log
files rotated Keys rotated

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

On Wed, 11 Oct 2023 03:33:50 -0500
Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:

> One more thing might be worth checking.
>
> One remote server would not connect via SSL with the rslight 0.7.2
> version. I tested about a dozen cron hammers. It returned the same
> error as the newer rslight version with nothing in log files to
> indicate the exact cause of the connection failure.
>
> Then I disabled SSL and rlight cron connected to the same host via port
> 119 and downloaded messages to local.
>
> The same hack did not work for the more recent rslight version.
>
> Maybe fsockopen wants a prefix of 'ssl://' or some equivalent? IDK.

Just for logging purposes, I modified newsportal.php to show me what port
it was trying to use, and if it successfully opened a stream. You can try
adding the 'echo' line in 'nntp2_open' function in newsportal.php here:
} else {
if (isset($CONFIG['socks_host']) && $CONFIG['socks_host'] !== '') {
$ns = fsocks4asockopen($CONFIG['socks_host'], $CONFIG['socks_port'], $nserver, $nport);
} else {
$ns = @fsockopen('tcp://' . $nserver . ":" . $nport);
}
}
// $ns=@fsockopen($nserver,$nport);
echo "PORT: ".$nport." ns: ".$ns; // <- ADD THIS
$weg = line_read($ns); // kill the first line
if (substr($weg, 0, 2) != "20") {

What I get when I run this (run it manually as www user from $webdir/spoolnews dir:

Starting Spoolnews...
resource(28) of type (stream)
string(0) ""
int(0)
PORT: 563 ns: Resource id #28 <- HERE
Retrieving articles for: i2pn.spam...
Spoolnews Done

This shows it's using port 563, and that it has successfully opened a stream. This might
give us maybe a little more info if you wish to try it.

--
Retro Guy

Syber Shock wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:00:01 +0000
> retro.guy@rocksolidbbs.com (Retro Guy) wrote:

>> Syber Shock wrote:
>>
>> > On Tue, 10 Oct 2023 01:54:04 -0700
>> > Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.com> wrote:
>>
>> >> On Mon, 9 Oct 2023 22:48:26 -0500
>> >> Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> snip
>>
> I think I almost found the borkage problem. It has something to do with
> SSL.

> The latest version will not connect to any host over SSL.

> I got it to connect and sync to two remote hosts over port 119 without
> SSL. It worked without a hitch when I set the remote server like this:

> 'remote_server' => 'news.i2pn2.org',
> 'remote_port' => '119',
> 'remote_ssl' => '',

> Something is causing SSL connections to hang up and time out, thus
> there are no php or server errors being logged. It is returning a
> unexplained connection failure.

> So I think the main thing needing troubleshot is the SSL. I still can't
> tell if it is on my end. I do know that some NNTP hosts have SSL
> configurations that are outdated and break all the time. Some have
> outdated certificates. I don't know what the SSL library in PHP does
> over these connections.

On my servers I use letsencrypt. Here is inn on news.novabbs.org:563
0 s:CN = www.novabbs.org
i:C = US, O = Let's Encrypt, CN = R3
a:PKEY: rsaEncryption, 2048 (bit); sigalg: RSA-SHA256
v:NotBefore: Aug 17 02:55:14 2023 GMT; NotAfter: Nov 15 02:55:13 2023 GMT

news.i2pn2.org:563
0 s:CN = i2pn2.org
i:C = US, O = Let's Encrypt, CN = R3
a:PKEY: rsaEncryption, 2048 (bit); sigalg: RSA-SHA256
v:NotBefore: Aug 16 22:42:53 2023 GMT; NotAfter: Nov 14 22:42:52 2023 GMT

openssl s_client seems to work ok on these.

--
Retro Guy

On Thu, 12 Oct 2023 08:57:13 -0700
Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Oct 2023 03:33:50 -0500
> Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:
>
> > One more thing might be worth checking.
> >
> > One remote server would not connect via SSL with the rslight 0.7.2
> > version. I tested about a dozen cron hammers. It returned the same
> > error as the newer rslight version with nothing in log files to
> > indicate the exact cause of the connection failure.
> >
> > Then I disabled SSL and rlight cron connected to the same host via
> > port 119 and downloaded messages to local.
> >
> > The same hack did not work for the more recent rslight version.
> >
> > Maybe fsockopen wants a prefix of 'ssl://' or some equivalent? IDK.
> >
>
> Just for logging purposes, I modified newsportal.php to show me what
> port it was trying to use, and if it successfully opened a stream.
> You can try adding the 'echo' line in 'nntp2_open' function in
> newsportal.php here: } else {
> if (isset($CONFIG['socks_host']) && $CONFIG['socks_host'] !==
> '') { $ns = fsocks4asockopen($CONFIG['socks_host'],
> $CONFIG['socks_port'], $nserver, $nport); } else {
> $ns = @fsockopen('tcp://' . $nserver . ":" . $nport);
> }
> }
> // $ns=@fsockopen($nserver,$nport);
> echo "PORT: ".$nport." ns: ".$ns; // <- ADD THIS
> $weg = line_read($ns); // kill the first line
> if (substr($weg, 0, 2) != "20") {
>
> What I get when I run this (run it manually as www user from
> $webdir/spoolnews dir:
>
> Starting Spoolnews...
> resource(28) of type (stream)
> string(0) ""
> int(0)
> PORT: 563 ns: Resource id #28 <- HERE
> Retrieving articles for: i2pn.spam...
> Spoolnews Done
>
> This shows it's using port 563, and that it has successfully opened a
> stream. This might give us maybe a little more info if you wish to
> try it.

Hack added. First run result give port 1. Is it pulling the remote_ssl
var instead of the port var?

Updated user count
Sending articles
PORT: 1 ns: <p><font color="red">Error:</font></p><p>The connection to
the Message Server failed</p>Refreshed spoolnews Expired articles
Sending articles
PORT: 1 ns: <p><font color="red">Error:</font></p><p>The connection to
the Message Server failed</p>Refreshed spoolnews Expired articles
RSS Feeds updated
Log files rotated
Keys rotated

Second run I changed the remote_ssl var from 1 to 666:

'remote_server' => 'news.novabbs.org',
'remote_port' => '563',
'remote_ssl' => '666', // eebil nummer

Result is that cronjob is trying to connect to the wrong port:

Updated user count
Sending articles
PORT: 666 ns: <p><font color="red">Error:</font></p><p>The connection
to the Message Server failed</p>Refreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
Sending articles
PORT: 666 ns: <p><font color="red">Error:</font></p><p>The connection
to the Message Server failed</p>Refreshed spoolnews
Expired articles
RSS Feeds updated
Log files rotated
Keys rotated

So the cronjob is pulling the port value in the array from remote_ssl
instead of remote_port.

'remote_ssl' => '563',

With this change the cronjob connected to remote over ssl and pulled
messages. So with this change the connection succeeded. Having the
boolean of 1 there was causing the cronjob to connect to port 1 on
remote.

I also noticed that whatever values I place in overrides.inc.php.dist
have no effect on the number of messages pulled during cronjob.

// expire.php
'max_articles_per_group' => 10,

// spoolnews.php
'maxarticles_per_run' => 1,
'maxfirstrequest' => 1,

With this setting the job still pulls almost 2000 messages on first go.

--
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

On Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:07:21 -0500
Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 12 Oct 2023 08:57:13 -0700
> Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.com> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 11 Oct 2023 03:33:50 -0500
> > Syber Shock <admin@sybershock.com> wrote:
> >
snip...

> So the cronjob is pulling the port value in the array from remote_ssl
> instead of remote_port.
>
> 'remote_ssl' => '563',
>
> With this change the cronjob connected to remote over ssl and pulled
> messages. So with this change the connection succeeded. Having the
> boolean of 1 there was causing the cronjob to connect to port 1 on
> remote.

Yes, 'remote_ssl' should be the port number. I'll need to make that more
clear in setup or the config file.

> I also noticed that whatever values I place in overrides.inc.php.dist
> have no effect on the number of messages pulled during cronjob.
>
> // expire.php
> 'max_articles_per_group' => 10,
>
> // spoolnews.php
> 'maxarticles_per_run' => 1,
> 'maxfirstrequest' => 1,
>
> With this setting the job still pulls almost 2000 messages on first go.

Strange. Always a new issue a :(

Should be in: config.inc.php (section web dir)
$OVERRIDES = include ($config_dir . '/overrides.inc.php');

Spoolnews should contain:
// Overrides
if ($OVERRIDES['maxarticles_per_run'] > 0) {
$maxarticles_per_run = $OVERRIDES['maxarticles_per_run'];
} if ($OVERRIDES['maxfirstrequest'] > 0) {
$maxfirstrequest = $OVERRIDES['maxfirstrequest'];
}

--
Retro Guy