Activity tab shows changes of persons who didn't do them

[k00ni]

Problem: Activity tab shows changes of persons who didn't do them. I spoke with involved people and we could verify, that they didn't do particular changes (e.g. they weren't even at a Computer when changes were made).

Activity App version: 2.15.0

Steps to reproduce

I don't know how to reproduce this phenomenon.

Expected behaviour

Activities should have the correct owner.

Actual behaviour

Sometimes activity tab shows changes from people, who didn't do them.

Server configuration

Operating system: Ubuntu

Web server: nginx

Database: MariaDb

PHP version: 7.4.30

Nextcloud version: 23.0.9

Where did you install Nextcloud from: Payed hosting by pixelx.de

Signing status: (I dont know what you need to know here)

Result of https://..../index.php/settings/integrity/failed

No errors have been found.

List of activated apps:
Calendar 3.5.0
Contacts 4.2.1
Tasks 0.14.4
Accessibility 1.9.0
Activity 2.15.0
Circles 23.1.2
Deck 1.6.3
Deleted files 1.13.0
Federation 1.13.0
File sharing 1.15.0
First run wizard 2.12.0
Log Reader 2.8.0
Monitoring 1.13.0
Notes 4.5.1
Notifications 2.11.2
Password policy 1.13.0
PDF viewer 2.4.0
Privacy 1.7.0
Right click 1.2.0
Talk 13.0.9
Temporary files lock 20.1.0
Text 3.4.1
Theming 1.14.0
Update notification 1.13.0
Versions 1.16.0

Nextcloud configuration:

I dont have access to Nextcloud config file due to payed hosting.

Are you using an external user-backend, if yes which one: No.

Client configuration

Browser: Chromium

Operating system: Ubuntu

Logs

Nextcloud log (data/nextcloud.log)

I dont have access to the log file.

Browser log

Browser log is full of deprecation notices, but no errors. I can paste it, if required.

[nickvergessen]

What kind of files are we talking about?

There is/was an issue for a long time that e.g. when using the rich documents/Nextcloud office app the first person opening the editor will be the actor for all upcoming changes until the document was closed by everyone.

[k00ni]

I assume you mean #40?

The staff works with rich documents (odt, docx...) all the time, but only offline via MS Office, never via OnlyOffice or something like that. As far as I know there is no limitation to a certain file type, it includes at least images and rich documents.

EDIT: I want to add that I have this issue over a year now, but it becomes more and more confusing and people get into conflicts about file changes they didnt do.

[nickvergessen]

I assume you mean #40?

yes.

Unluckily with the current information we are unable to reproduce a related issue. I even fail to see a way how this could happen apart from your session handler randomly mixing up sessions and therefore mapping users to another account or something (very very unlikely)

[k00ni]

Some people think that NC assumes the file owner is always the one who makes changes. So instead of using the actual user reference it defaults to the file owner?

Another thought: maybe its related to users in a certain group?

Or its not a problem in the backend, but the activity frontend is not using correct data? Could it confuse user references?

[nickvergessen]

Some people think that NC assumes the file owner is always the one who makes changes. So instead of using the actual user reference it defaults to the file owner?

🙄 If that would be the case we would have a lot of more complaints about this, including from our company instance.

You can follow the code from here for the textual way (subject parameter column in the database):

• activity/lib/FilesHooks.php

  Line 259 in 2d8e410

  $userParams = [[$fileId => $path], $this->currentUser->getUserIdentifier()];

  • Seeing it being read from the session in

    activity/lib/CurrentUser.php

    Line 91 in 2d8e410

    $user = $this->userSession->getUser();

Or from here for the "actor" column called "user" in the database:

• activity/lib/FilesHooks.php

  Line 1191 in 2d8e410

  $event->setAuthor($this->currentUser->getUID());

  • Also read from the session in

    activity/lib/CurrentUser.php

    Line 91 in 2d8e410

    $user = $this->userSession->getUser();

So if you end up with wrong users there the sessions have to be flacky.

Or its not a problem in the backend, but the activity frontend is not using correct data? Could it confuse user references?

Not really possible, but you can check the API request for ocs/v2.php/apps/activity/api/v2/activity/all to confirm the actor of the actions being the correct user.

[codiflow]

I just want to jump in here. I also have this issue on two completely independent Nextcloud installations I maintain.

It started with Nextcloud 22/23 I think but as the whole thing is about the activity app I think the issue has more to do with an update of this app than with any nextcloud version.

I can say that the issue is causing more and more confusion and should be fixed asap. If I can help somehow please let me know.

I also found some other activity app issues which could be related to it:
#654
#531

And also one issue on the official server repository:
nextcloud/server#31861

[k00ni]

@codiflow thank you for confirming it independently.

[...] but as the whole thing is about the activity app [...]

A small notice: As far as I know it is not clear which is the root of the problem: NC server instance or activity module. It appears in the Activity app, but might be caused by something else.

[k00ni]

This issue is persisting. Latest tests were with v25.0.5.1

[AlexSelect]

I confirm this issue. I have it with an installation done through cPanel and Softaculous Nextcloud Hub 4 (26.0.2).

[k00ni]

@AlexSelect thank you for confirming. It might be helpful if you could add further information about your setup(s), in case they differ from mine as described above.

[AlexSelect]

@AlexSelect thank you for confirming. It might be helpful if you could add further information about your setup(s), in case they differ from mine as described above.

Sure )
Type: mysql
Version: 10.6.15
Operating System: Linux 4.19-ovh-xxxx-std-ipv6-64 x86_64

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