Can't close channels or reconnect to peers.

[joaojoyce]

I have some channels showing as opened but can't do any payments, can't remove/close the channels and can't reconnect to the peers. Also can't see them in the https://explorer.acinq.co.

listchannels

{
    "channels": [
        {
            "active": false,
            "remote_pubkey": "025eeb02baf7555a3601b9eb894319bb7db594c9be11e5b5c289938274e1752894",
            "channel_point": "2cbfd87437bd7c954e34a96ef8bffb70030b216a6751112c5bbe6a3554f02d78:0",
            "chan_id": "0",
            "capacity": "160000",
            "local_balance": "156380",
            "remote_balance": "0",
            "commit_fee": "3620",
            "commit_weight": "600",
            "fee_per_kw": "5000",
            "unsettled_balance": "0",
            "total_satoshis_sent": "0",
            "total_satoshis_received": "0",
            "num_updates": "0",
            "pending_htlcs": [
            ],
            "csv_delay": 4
        },
        {
            "active": false,
            "remote_pubkey": "03933884aaf1d6b108397e5efe5c86bcf2d8ca8d2f700eda99db9214fc2712b134",
            "channel_point": "70854d189697d5f4c6313da783c2c5d404a48c8900163e366a94d3f1676665a7:0",
            "chan_id": "0",
            "capacity": "16000000",
            "local_balance": "15996380",
            "remote_balance": "0",
            "commit_fee": "3620",
            "commit_weight": "600",
            "fee_per_kw": "5000",
            "unsettled_balance": "0",
            "total_satoshis_sent": "0",
            "total_satoshis_received": "0",
            "num_updates": "0",
            "pending_htlcs": [
            ],
            "csv_delay": 144
        },
        {
            "active": false,
            "remote_pubkey": "03f113414ebdc6c1fb0f33c99cd5a1d09dd79e7fdf2468cf1fe1af6674361695d2",
            "channel_point": "0780274b78fe27e1574701c957469ef2ec21f9a13aab550a6faa706279ee3462:0",
            "chan_id": "0",
            "capacity": "10000",
            "local_balance": "1380",
            "remote_balance": "5000",
            "commit_fee": "3620",
            "commit_weight": "724",
            "fee_per_kw": "5000",
            "unsettled_balance": "0",
            "total_satoshis_sent": "0",
            "total_satoshis_received": "0",
            "num_updates": "0",
            "pending_htlcs": [
            ],
            "csv_delay": 4
        }
    ]
}

Noticed that "active" is false.

listpeers

{
    "peers": [
    ]
}

Closing a channel:

channel with chan_id=782df054356abe5b2c1151676a210b0370fbbff86ea9344e957cbd3774d8bf2c not found

Trying to connect to a peer:

2017-12-15 10:37:37.130 [INF] SRVR: Established connection to: 77.249.29.104:9735
2017-12-15 10:37:37.226 [INF] NTFN: New spend subscription: utxo=2cbfd87437bd7c954e34a96ef8bffb70030b216a6751112c5bbe6a3554f02d78:0
2017-12-15 10:37:37.227 [INF] PEER: peerID(71) loading ChannelPoint(2cbfd87437bd7c954e34a96ef8bffb70030b216a6751112c5bbe6a3554f02d78:0)
2017-12-15 10:37:37.227 [INF] LNWL: Close observer for ChannelPoint(2cbfd87437bd7c954e34a96ef8bffb70030b216a6751112c5bbe6a3554f02d78:0) active
2017-12-15 10:37:37.227 [INF] BRAR: ChannelPoint(2cbfd87437bd7c954e34a96ef8bffb70030b216a6751112c5bbe6a3554f02d78:0) is now live, abandoning state contract for live version
2017-12-15 10:37:37.227 [INF] NTFN: New block epoch subscription
2017-12-15 10:37:37.227 [INF] NTFN: Cancelling spend notification for out_point=2cbfd87437bd7c954e34a96ef8bffb70030b216a6751112c5bbe6a3554f02d78:0, spend_id=131

PS: Is there documentation where I can find some more information (message and error specification) so I can do a better job of diagnosing these myself? Where should I start in order to build knowledge so I can eventually be able to contribute to the project?

[Roasbeef]

Those channels are inactive:

"active": false,

This means the remote peer isn't online. Additionally, those channels haven't finished the final funding state (chan_id: 0), so they're unusable as is. If you want to close them out, you need to force close (--force).

There's a PR that should be merged soon (#432) which will increase the reliability of the final phase of a channel funding flow.

Is there documentation where I can find some more information (message and error specification) so I can do a better job of diagnosing these myself?

There's some documentation on the API calls themselves at http://api.lightning.community/. Portions of the docs are out of date currently, so they could use some updating. We're also lacking a general document on channel lifetime: funding, waiting for confirmation, sending funding locked, announcing the channel, etc. A document going over the channel lifetime would be super helpful, as I've seen it's something that users get confused with (they don't realize the channels need to confirm, etc).

Where should I start in order to build knowledge so I can eventually be able to contribute to the project?

I'd say you can start by reading bits of the code itself, reading our code contribution guidelines, then starting to tackle some of the issues tagged beginner.

[Roasbeef]

The logs on connecting to the peers look fine, does that repeat over and over again? Which commit are you running?

[Roasbeef]

Closing to clear up some clutter in the issues. If you want to discuss this further you can jump on #lnd on freenode, or our developer/test slack.