🐛 API error when saving entry

[bradystroud]

cc: @JackDevAU @pierssinclairssw

Hi,

Describe the bug
Some of our users are getting an error when they try to save an entry.

Failed to persist entry: API_ERROR: Not Found

Figure: Error when saving

After some investigation, it looks like the error occurs when Netlify CMS tries to compare the cms changes branch on the users fork with the main branch on the base repository.
e.g. https://api.github.com/repos/SSWConsulting/SSW.Rules.Content/compare/main...JackDevAU:cms/JackDevAU/SSW.Rules.Content/rule/appointments-do-you-show-all-the-necessary-information-in-the-subject/rule

the JackDevAU:cms/JackDevAU/SSW.Rules.Content/rule/appointments-do-you-show-all-the-necessary-information-in-the-subject/rule branch was not created. It is not clear why (see video).
The results are the same when using an incoginto window in a different browser.

The problem is resolved after updating the users fork. To try reproduce the problem, we reverted a fork to an old commit, then made a change, but the entry still saved.

To Reproduce
We cannot consistently reproduce this error as it is only happening to some of our users. See our video attached below demoing the problem.

Expected behavior
The entry should save without error.

Applicable Versions:

• Netlify CMS core version: 2.54.0
• Netlify CMS app version: 2.15.59
• Git provider: GitHub

CMS configuration
https://github.com/SSWConsulting/SSW.Rules/blob/main/src/cms/config.js

Additional context
SSWConsulting/SSW.Rules#801

netlify-api-error-video-final.mp4

Figure: Demo of the error

[drwharris]

This is a becoming a major issue and makes it almost pointless using Netlify CMS.

[adamcogan]

This was so painful. Please fix the problem.... or improve that error message please 😢

• That video explains the problem well.

• The solution for me was:
  Github.com | My Profile | Your repositories | Select the forked repo eg. SSW.Rules.Content
  Click Fetch upstream
  Click Fetch and merge

   Note: This updates my fork to be usable. When I went back to my edit, I refresh and lost my changes. So I re-did 
  

-a
www.adamcogan.com

[erezrokah]

Hi all and thank you for reporting the issue.

It seems there's a new API to sync forks, see https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/branches#sync-a-fork-branch-with-the-upstream-repository

As I'm understanding the issue correctly, we should call that API before saving entries to resolve the issue?
If so, would anyone be open to contribute this fix?

[bradystroud]

cc: @JackDevAU
Thanks @erezrokah 🙂, as we aren't familiar with the codebase, could you provide some insight on where this change will need to be added?

[erezrokah]

Sure @bradystroud, the relevant code is here:
https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms/blob/7bd80b29a43943e5e01a0d7c75573ce02c97f9a3/packages/netlify-cms-backend-github/src/implementation.tsx#L286

We can use the forkExists check and sync the repo if the condition is true.
We can probably optimize that code to not call the forks API too

[asheerrizvi]

@erezrokah are you looking for something like this?

async authenticateWithFork({
    userData,
    getPermissionToFork,
}: {
    userData: User;
    getPermissionToFork: () => Promise<boolean> | boolean;
}) {
    // ...rest of the code for authenticateWithFork

    if (await this.forkExists({ token })) {
      return fetch(`${this.apiRoot}/repos/${userData.login}/${this.originRepo}/merge-upstream`, {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: {
          Authorization: `token ${token}`,
        },
        body: JSON.stringify({
          branch: this.branch,
        }),
      });
    } else {
      await getPermissionToFork();

      const fork = await fetch(`${this.apiRoot}/repos/${this.originRepo}/forks`, {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: {
          Authorization: `token ${token}`,
        },
      }).then(res => res.json());
      this.useOpenAuthoring = true;
      this.repo = fork.full_name;
      return this.pollUntilForkExists({ repo: fork.full_name, token });
    }
}

I am also seeing this typescript error down the file, not sure what to make of it:

[bradystroud]

Hey @asheerrizvi
Looks good - Go ahead and create a PR 🙂

[asheerrizvi]

Here's the PR, let me know if you guys need any changes: #6504

@erezrokah @bradystroud

😄

[airtonix]

ping: needs to be resolved.

[piers-sinclair]

This is a huge cause of pain for us, @martinjagodic could you please review and action the PR from @asheerrizvi

[martinjagodic]

We are aware of this problem, we will take a look at the PR soon after we establish the first Decap release. Thanks for your patience 🙏

[adamcogan]

Ping... what is the status of this one?
-a
www.adamcogan.com

[JeanThirion]

Definitely not fixed - had the same issue a few times recently :(

[sethdaily]

Have seen this issue come up many times recently. Would love to have this resolved!

[martinjagodic]

This issue is in our attention. We are waiting for the PR owner to solve merge conflicts. If he doesn't respond we will do that on a new PR.

[RMunschie92]

ping: any updates on this?

[martinjagodic]

The PR is in progress, more details are there. In essence, builds are failing and I was struggling to create a good repoduction. I hope to find some time soon to continue with this.

Any help with the PR would speed things up.

[martinjagodic]

This is now released in 3.1.0-beta.1. Can anyone test and confirm that this is solved?

@RMunschie92 @sethdailyssw @JeanThirion @adamcogan @pierssinclairssw @airtonix

[bradystroud]

Can't tell if its fixed because there is a new bug
#6924

[sethdaily]

I still get the error when clicking 'save' after I've made a change, see screenshot:

Figure: Same error

[AntPolkanov]

I am still having the same issue on save.
It has been 2 years... It's so painful... 😭

[martinjagodic]

@bradystroud I see that many of you are from SSW. Could you find some time together to contribute?

[bastien-germain]

Up, is there any update on this issue ?

[demshy]

not really I'm afraid

I'm willing to put some effort into this if we find a hero who would describe a very specific scenario on how to (somewhat consistently) reproduce this issue (maybe with a public repo?)

[mohab-sameh]

@demshy Commenting as I had several people I know report the same thing. Somehow it got resolved by deleting and re-inviting the user in Netlify identity. Willing to help with testing but can't consistently reproduce it. However, it's a major blocker when it happens..