Linux Client 4.6.8 suddenly removing / adding all my files to database (though they have not changed) - slow startup - scanning 10 min+

[Peter-Ries]

Hi everbody,

Facts:

• I'm using the latest Linux client 4.6.8-2 on EndeavourOS with Kernel 5.15.72-1-lts on KDE 5.99 and Plasma 5.25.
• I have set up 8 syncs of which some contain quite a lot of files (photos and music, 120 GB with 30k of files)
• I have 2 laptops (Thinkpad T14, 32GB RAM, SSD, Ryzen 4750 - pretty fast and an older one) that are running an identical setup and share the same set of files
• around Oct 10th the weird behaviour started, no MEGA client update, but KDE 5.98 to 5.99 and a minor Kernel update
• MEGA client crashed two or three times on one machine
• after that time I observe the 10min+ folder scan after a reboot or logout/login
• Exit the client and starting it during the session is fast as it was before
• logging out and in again or rebooting causes the slow complete folder scan

Observations in log

• I do not have the isCrashed flag as described here (MEGAsync is performing full scan at every startup ('Scanning' takes more than 10 minutes) #734)
• I have tons of "Removing node from database"
• I then have lots of "Adding node to databse"
• After this all of my files are detected as new files... "Scanning: filename" and "New file" or "New localnode"

I'm pretty sure that 99,9% o the files are NOT new or have been changed.

On one laptop I already removed all syncs, logged out, removed .local/share/data/MEGA Sync directory, rebooted and set up all syncs again. Same behaviour.

My workaround currently is not to sync Photos and Music as threre are no changes at the moment.

Anybody else out there having this issue? Or does MEGA team have an idea what to do?

Thanks, regards
Peter

[rl-mega]

Hello @Peter-Ries, thanks for the report.

The behavior you describe is consistent with the isCrashed flag being set (note that version 4.6.8 does not log its status, so you wouldn't know it is set by looking for isCrashed in the logs. However, a strong clue that it is set is the presence of a line with DBG Cachedscsn is UNDEF at each start of the app).
This behavior should be fixed in v4.7.1, which at this time as not been officially released for Linux (but will be very soon).
Note that logging out, deleting ".local/share/data/MEGA Sync" should get you out of the loop... but adding exclusions or forcing a full scan will get you back in again.
Actual crashes will also get you in the loop, and you mention in your message that you experienced some when updating your system. Do you know if Qt was also updated around the same time? Do your two devices run the same software (distro, Qt, KDE...)?
I believe that your issue warrant more investigation. Would you mind uploading your logs (and any crashdump you might have) to a MEGA folder and sending the link to support@mega.nz ? In the email, please also copy/paste the above message. In the subject, please mention "Github issue #742".

Thanks again and best regards,
Raphaël

[Peter-Ries]

Hi Raphael, thanks for the quick response. I guess my distro will update the client as soon as it has been released.

The behaviour obiously has st. to do with the is "crashed" as MEGASync one machine really crashed 3 times after each start. Then the strange behaviour occurred (also on the second machine without a crash - weird)

I'll wait for the new client and delete / reconfigure the client when needed and come back here.

I'll provide the logs as required.

Thanks & Regards
Peter

[rl-mega]

Hi Peter, thanks for providing the logs.
It seems that the full reload you experience is linked with the isCrashed issue (most probably) because of this line:
[...] DBG Cachedscsn is UNDEF so we will not load the account database (and we are truncating it, for clean operation) [megaclient.cpp:12412]
This should be solved in the next update.
I don't see anything related to actual crashes, so I suggest that if it happens again after you update to v4.7.1 we have a closer look.

Thanks again and regards,
Raphaël

[Peter-Ries]

Thanks for investigation and update, Raphael.

I hope the 4.7.1+ Linux Client will get released soon. It's somewhat behind WIN/OSX for weeks now...

[Peter-Ries]

First reboot after installing 4.7.1 now only takes 2 seconds to scan/sync (30.000+ files 120GB).

:)

[rl-mega]

Glad to read that!