Publishing alias requires it both be taken and not, becoming impossible

[BurnyBoi]

Steps to reproduce

1. attempt to publish an alternate room alias

Outcome

What did you expect?

Alternate alias should submit as-entered

What happened instead?

According to the synapse logs, Element is attempting to query for the alias with an extra "#" on the front, causing an error that leaves it unable to publish the alias.

Synapse (1.50.2) log:

Feb 01 06:11:56 synapse[184312]: 2022-02-01 06:11:56,220 - root - 262 - WARNING - GET-236997 - Error retrieving alias
Feb 01 06:11:56 synapse[184312]: 2022-02-01 06:11:56,220 - synapse.http.server - 95 - INFO - GET-236997 - <XForwardedForRequest at 0x7fdb20704400 method='GET' uri='/_matrix/client/r0/directory/room/%23%23testingalias456%3Amatrix.org' clientproto='HTTP/1.0' site='8008'> SynapseError: 404 - Room alias ##testingalias456:matrix.org not found
Feb 01 06:11:56 synapse[184312]: 2022-02-01 06:11:56,224 - synapse.http.matrixfederationclient - 607 - INFO - GET-236998 - {GET-O-256879} [matrix.org] Got response headers: 404 Not Found

Attempting to exclude the "#" at the front doesn't work:

Operating system

Arch Linux

Browser information

Firefox 96

URL for webapp

develop.element.io

Application version

Element version: d731a25-react-afe6021c9a06-js-51f3fac87be4 Olm version: 3.2.8

Homeserver

private instance, but was able to replicate client-side error with matrix.org

Will you send logs?

No

[t3chguy]

The field has a # prefix on it - the # should not be entered

The red border you show in your issue when removing that is likely because that address doesn't yet point at your room, which is managed in the Local Addresses section below. You can only publish an address which already exists.

I think this issue is fundamentally #13077

[BurnyBoi]

The red border you show in your issue when removing that is likely because that address doesn't yet point at your room,

That's not correct @t3chguy. The alias 100% was pointing to the room, which is why the field becomes highlighted green in the first screenshot. The Add button doesn't work when the # is excluded and the field is red. This is preventing me from adding the alias entirely. This is a regression in Element. I know this was working correctly before.

[t3chguy]

Yup, can reproduce, this field is checking the alias is unused which is backwards to what the field needs

[BurnyBoi]

@t3chguy I just tested this on 1.10.1 and the same behavior is still happening. excluding the "#" shows as red and clicking Add does nothing, and including the "#" produces the same error with the extra "#" at the front in the logs.

Element version: 1.10.1-9-g0041ad723-dirty
Olm version: 3.2.8