slow start-up of carta4 beta (2.5 minutes) when no "telemetryUuid" in .carta-beta/config/preferences.json

[fstalm]

Describe the bug
When no "telemetryUuid" is in .carta-beta/config/preferences.json then the stand-alone electron version we use takes 2.5 minutes to start up. That seems to also have been the case with a remote usage without the electron app. It also happens when there is no telemetry switched on "telemetryMode": "none". Once a telemetryUuid is set, any ID, e.g.
"telemetryUuid": "1",
the start-up time drops to about 5 seconds.

The process hangs on the frontend after 'compute modules loaded'.

This may be only an issue with our set-up as reported per mail before.

To Reproduce
Set .carta-beta/config/preferences.json to
{
"$schema": "https://cartavis.github.io/schemas/preferences_schema_2.json",
"lastUsedFolder": "",
"telemetryConsentShown": true,
"telemetryMode": "none",
"version": 2
}
start CARTA beta4 backend and frontend.

Expected behavior
Startup within 5-10 seconds

Platform info (please complete the following information):

• OS RHEL8
• electron app, but also Firefox
• Version 4.0.0-beta.1

[kswang1029]

Was the issue spotted on the alma science archive or in other circumstances? Did you use the same electron app executable for multiple users? I wonder if this is something to do with free port hunting? After 2.5mins, did the application start successfully?

[fstalm]

Was the issue spotted on the alma science archive or in other circumstances?
This was spotted using a local CARTA locally on a cluster.

Did you use the same electron app executable for multiple users?
Yes

I wonder if this is something to do with free port hunting?
The backend comes up very quickly indicating the port, the hanging happens on the frontend much later in the process.

After 2.5mins, did the application start successfully?
Yes. If the telemetryUuid is set to any value, then consistently the startup takes less than 10 seconds. If that telemetryUuid is empty or does not exist, the startup of the frontend is 2.5min. And each restart the takes again 2.5 minutes consistently.

[kswang1029]

Ok after some internal discussions, the issue is likely due to 1) interrupted telemetry server and 2) a too long timeout. We are addressing the issues.

[fstalm]

Suggestions: contacting the telemetry server could be spawned off asynchronously in a separate thread for a better user-experience. If the user has opted out of telemetry, the telemetry server must not be contacted in the first place.

[crocka]

Hi @fstalm, I am not able to reproduce the error. In addition to trying the procedure you provided above, I tried to change the uuid request url to an invalid one and tried to set an invalid uuid. Both cases resulted in error output in the browser console, but did not obstruct the app from starting. Could you please share with me the error output from the brower console? If you are using the electron version, you can access the console by clicking the "CARTA" button beside the Apple logo at the top left corner of the screen, and then go to "Toggle Developer Tools". At the top of the developer tools, you can choose "console" to show the output log. Also, could you tell me if new token will be generated and saved in preferences.json after waiting for 2.5 min?

[fstalm]

As discussed. Thanks @crocka for the fix.