Alt WebUI not working

[WolfganP]

qBittorrent version and Operating System

Latest nox build from master (qBittorrent v4.1.0alpha)
Linux DietPi 4.9.62-v7+ #2 SMP Fri Nov 17 23:52:26 GMT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux

If on linux, libtorrent and Qt version

Latest build from libtorrent RC_1_1

What is the problem

While trying to start modifying the WebUI to be more mobile friendly as per #9143 , I noticed the Alt WebUI (#7610) not being used, but core WebUI instead

What is the expected behavior

Alt WebUI files to be pulled at startup, according to config as per https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/wiki/Alternate-WebUI-usage for instructions

.conf

WebUI\AlternativeUIEnabled=true
WebUI\RootFolder=/mnt/usb_12/wTools/qBittorrent/_altWebUI/

private/about.html text modified to notice the alt set of files being used

Steps to reproduce

Launch qBt as a service, monitor file usage via
$ sudo fnotifystat -vnT | grep torrent

I expected the modified about.html to reflect the text changes for the test, also expected to see my alt WebUI folder files being read at program launch

Log file doesn't reflect anything on alt WebUI either:

(N) 2018-10-17T12:12:06 - Web UI: Now listening on IP: *, port: 8099
(I) 2018-10-17T12:12:06 - qBittorrent is successfully listening on interface 0.0.0.0 port: TCP/1715

Probably some specific msg should be logged at

qBittorrent/src/webui/webapplication.cpp

Line 413 in 1c3112e

void WebApplication::configure()

[Piccirello]

Was this working for you previously but then stopped after updating qBittorrent?

[WolfganP]

@Piccirello I tested when it was initially merged and I think it worked OK, couldn't do much due to lack of time.
But when I tried to retest today and start working on it (as per #9143) I found out that Alt WebUI isn't working as expected, no indications the files are being used by qb-nox and no indication of errors/misconfig in the log.

[Piccirello]

I'll see if I can reproduce this tonight. Ping me in a couple days if I haven't updated this.

[WolfganP]

@Piccirello maybe the easiest initial path to troubleshoot will be to add logging features to ensure the Alt WebUI is being used as per configuration, as my analysis was indirect as documented above.

[Piccirello]

Just tested and this feature appears to work for me. Can you post the output of ls -al /mnt/usb_12/wTools/qBittorrent/_altWebUI/ and ensure that the user running qBittorrent has access to this directory?

[WolfganP]

Thx @Piccirello for the help. qB has effective access to those folders and files:

pi@DietPi:~$ ps axwo pid,euser,egroup,euid,egid,args | grep torr
  742 pi       users     1111   100 /usr/bin/qbittorrent-nox -d --webui-port=8099

pi@DietPi:~$ ls -al /mnt/usb_12/wTools/qBittorrent/_altWebUI/
total 32
drwxrwxr-x  5 pi users 4096 Oct 17 11:32 .
drwxr-xr-x 13 pi users 4096 Oct 18 12:28 ..
drwxr-xr-x  4 pi users 4096 Oct 17 11:30 private
drwxr-xr-x  4 pi users 4096 Sep 23 17:15 public
drwxr-xr-x  2 pi users 4096 Oct 17 11:32 translations
-rwxr-xr-x  1 pi users 6905 Oct 17 11:32 tstool.py
-rw-r--r--  1 pi users 2253 Oct 17 11:32 webui.qrc

Do you agree that it may be beneficial to add some entries to the log on altWebUI execution?
Thx again.

[glassez]

@WolfganP, Alt Web UI is accessible in current master but there are some issues with image substitutions (it still sends images from buil-in one). Should be fixed in #9777. Some logging is also added.

[WolfganP]

@glassez excellent, I'll test again once #9777 is merged.

[Piccirello]

Are you able to test prior to merging? It would help confirm if the PR actually fixes your issue.

[bonny1992]

Ehi, @WolfganP, do you have any update on this?
I'm hugely interested in having a more mobile friendly UI for qBittorrent, and I'm afraid I'm not skilled enough to do it by myself!

[WolfganP]

@bonny1992 I had no time to develop a full mobile alt webUI, but I saw some expansions to the webUI being implemented already (ie RSS #453)
I also played with the CSS files to get a webUI (kind of) dark mode, but not near ready at all.