Remain online if app sleeps so MUCs remain active

[ossguy]

It appears that ChatSecure consistency logs out of the user's XMPP server a couple minutes after the last activity, showing the user as offline, even when mod_smacks is enabled on the user's (Prosody) server. While this is not terrible for private messages (contacts can send the user an offline message and the user will receive a push notification and ChatSecure will then login), it is quite bad for group chats, since there is no way for a member of a group chat to contact another "member" of the group chat who is offline (since then they aren't in the chat anymore) unless they happen to know the member's JID (not normally the case).

If there is some special configuration I need to do for mod_smacks to make ChatSecure work the way I expect, please let me know. I'm happy to test particular settings, or other known-working public servers (maybe some servers from https://jmp.chat/suggested_servers.html have been tested to do the right thing with ChatSecure?).

Similar issues have been reported in the past (see #770 and #591) but it's unclear if those cover precisely this case or not so I'm including them mainly for reference. Also, I previously reported an issue with push (see #773) that is somewhat related, as I was using presence in a MUC to determine whether a user was available by push. But it seems that push probably works, while the main issue is the lack of being able to stay online, so we may be able to close #773 as a result.

[chrisballinger]

We will be re-visiting group chat UX soon, so thank you for the report on this scenario. There is no way around the socket timeout on iOS, but you should be able to adjust this behavior on the server somewhat.

Try setting your mod_smacks timeout smacks_hibernation_time to something very high. Right now it defaults to 5 minutes I think.

[ossguy]

My server currently does use the default. However, ChatSecure usually only stays online for about 2 minutes after the last activity (which often means just over 2 minutes total). This suggests to me that ChatSecure is disconnecting prematurely, though it's possible I'm misinterpreting the expected behavior.

Do you know of any servers that are known to be definitely properly configured for use with ChatSecure? For example, are any of the servers on https://jmp.chat/suggested_servers.html known to work well?

[chrisballinger]

Unfortunately iOS sockets cannot remain connected in the background longer than 2 minutes. We cannot do anything about that part.

You must enable mod_cloud_notify if you want push notifications, but I don't know if it will fully resolve this issue because it seems like a MUC/smacks/availability problem.

[ossguy]

I do have mod_cloud_notify on the server, and ChatSecure shows a green check next to the XEP-0357 support. That's why I'm a bit confused why it isn't working better for me.

As mentioned, push does seem to do something - namely, if someone messages me while ChatSecure is offline, then ChatSecure will "wake up" and receive the message (suggesting push works). But it just won't stay online for some reason.

[chrisballinger]

Yes in that case you'll need to extend the mod_smacks timeout server side, because the client is disconnected but you need to pretend that it's not. If that doesn't work, then there must be an issue with smacks, but to my knowledge the main client issues with smacks have been resolved.

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On Tue, May 30, 2017 at 7:11 PM, Denver Gingerich ***@***.***> wrote: I do have mod_cloud_notify on the server, and ChatSecure shows a green check next to the XEP-0357 support. That's why I'm a bit confused why it isn't working better for me. As mentioned, push does seem to do something - namely, if someone messages me while ChatSecure is offline, then ChatSecure will "wake up" and receive the message (suggesting push works). But it just won't stay online for some reason. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#780 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAfqH9Ecrfq1Es6Rd9aZrxZ9Lm2Kb71Rks5r_MxUgaJpZM4Nq9ds> .

[ossguy]

Hmmm, that doesn't really make sense to me. When you say that "the client is disconnected but you need to pretend that it's not", shouldn't mod_smacks be pretending that it's not disconnected for at least 5 minutes, and only disconnect it after 5 minutes have passed? (This is given that my smacks_hibernation_time is set to 5 minutes, which it is on my server.)

The problem here is that the ChatSecure user disconnects much sooner than 5 minutes. Reviewing its connection history just now (by reviewing how often it's been in a MUC), it seems that it remains online for 20-30 seconds at a time, which is definitely less than 5 minutes. Do you know why that might be happening?

[chrisballinger]

Are you using the latest version 4.0.9? There was a bug in an older version (forget which) that prevented xep-0198 from working properly.

[ossguy]

I had been using 4.0.8 prior to your comment, but I upgraded to 4.0.9 immediately after I saw it, and I've been seeing exactly the same behavior as before over the past couple days.

[tmolitor-stud-tu]

Well, does iOS just close the socket after a few minutes without sending out anything further or does chatsecure send out a closing </stream>?

A closing stream is a clean shutdown and smacks is disabled server-side on clean shutdowns!

[chrisballinger]

It does not send a closing stream. It used to in very old versions, but that was fixed. The only way to completely close the stream is to manually log out from the account screen. It will close the socket a few seconds before it's suspended by the OS because otherwise the server seems to have trouble transitioning to "hibernating".

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On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 9:12 AM, tmolitor-stud-tu ***@***.***> wrote: Well, does iOS just close the socket after a few minutes without sending out anything further or does chatsecure send out a closing </stream>? A closing stream is a clean shutdown and smacks is disabled server-side on clean shutdowns! — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#780 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAfqH-_TQryET2rfEjXcZ3QMjVPIQew9ks5sDBHugaJpZM4Nq9ds> .

[tmolitor-stud-tu]

Well, then @ossguy should extend the smacks timeout to 900 seconds or more and provide a debug log of his prosody server.

I'm currently maintaining prosody's smacks module and I'll have a look at the log to see what's happening :)

[tmolitor-stud-tu]

@chrisballinger feel free to CC me for all reports related to smacks and/or push notifications when prosody is involved :)

[ossguy]

@tmolitor-stud-tu I set the smacks timeout to 1200 seconds, which still did not resolve the issue. Here is the Prosody log you asked for: https://ossguy.com/20170613-chatsecure_smacks_prosody/cs_smacks-prosody.log.txt (JIDs have been edited for privacy).

The behavior in the logs contradicts what was said in #780 (comment) - it definitely seems ChatSecure is sending a </stream:stream> here. I'm not sure why.

[chrisballinger]

@ossguy Here's the code in question:

• https://github.com/ChatSecure/ChatSecure-iOS/blob/master/ChatSecure/Classes/Controllers/XMPP/OTRXMPPManager.m#L454
• https://github.com/ChatSecure/ChatSecure-iOS/blob/master/ChatSecure/Classes/OTRAppDelegate.m#L314
• https://github.com/ChatSecure/ChatSecure-iOS/blob/master/ChatSecure/Classes/OTRAppDelegate.m#L394

If socketOnly is true, it won't send the end stream element, and simply disconnect the socket. The only thing I can think is that the applicationWillTerminate is being called due to memory pressure or a force-quit. Do you notice the app needing to relaunch (seeing an empty table view on launch)?