History visibility = joined fails on kicks

[kegsay]

I've had reports that when the IRC bridge kicks a user and the user subsequently rejoins the room, they have zero history whatsoever. They should have had history up until the point they were kicked. Details in linked issues.

[grahamperrin]

https://matrix.to/#/!tcQYxOpEjoqDUWuieS:matrix.org/$1494076409781795CaVGg:matrix.org (2017-05-06):

Successfully stored password on chat.freenode.net. When you next reconnect to chat.freenode.net, this password will be automatically sent in a PASS command which most IRC networks will use as your NickServ password. This means you will not need to talk to NickServ. This does NOT apply to your currently active connection: you still need to talk to NickServ one last time to authenticate your current connection if you haven't already.

Friday 2018-07-20:

@appservice-irc:matrix.org
01:46
Could not join ##bsd on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
01:50
Could not join #freebsd on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
01:51
Could not join ##mac on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
@appservice-irc:matrix.org
02:24
Could not join #zfs on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
@appservice-irc:matrix.org
02:51
Could not join #firefox on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
@appservice-irc:matrix.org
10:50
Could not join ##mac on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
10:50
Could not join #freebsd on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
10:54
Could not join ##bsd on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
@appservice-irc:matrix.org
11:21
Could not join #zfs on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
@appservice-irc:matrix.org
11:41
Could not join #firefox on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
@appservice-irc:matrix.org
23:05
Could not join ##mac on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
23:06
Could not join #freebsd on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick
23:10
Could not join ##bsd on 'chat.freenode.net': err_needreggednick

https://matrix.to/#/!QtykxKocfZaZOUrTwp:matrix.org/$1534030729558617PYIIK:matrix.org (2018-08-18):

… I'm back in #freenode_#freebsd:matrix.org but there's no history: …

AFAICT, there are two at least three rooms where I can't regain the history:

• #firefox
• #freebsd
• #zfs

[grahamperrin]

I deleted a few of my previous comments.

Apologies for the noise (and the misplaced frustration) … it took me months to realise remember the need for a !storepass command. (I had used the command around two years ago, May 2017.) https://matrix.to/#/!QtykxKocfZaZOUrTwp:matrix.org/$157205677388571IgvGv:matrix.org

[JanZerebecki]

It was confusing for the room to just be gone as if one hadn't ever joined. However after rejoining, first the history is still gone. Then search for something in the room, even if it will give no results. Afterwards the history will be visible.

[grahamperrin]

… Afterwards the history will be visible.

If I recall correctly, this is true only if the room specifically makes history visible to newcomers.

[JanZerebecki]

This was a room from the matrix.org irc bridge with visibility = joined. I can now see the history from when I was in the room, not any from when I wasn't in the room.

[grahamperrin]

Did anything occur in the last 24 hours or so that might explain a kick and yet another loss of all history?

Postscript

(I made the discovery through discussion in Discord. It seems that global notices from IRC are not represented in Element.)

[richvdh]

@grahamperrin I'm afraid I don't understand what those screenshots are meant to show me. Are you saying that the IRC bridge is kicking you from a particular room? That would be a matter for the IRC bridge, not Synapse.

[richvdh]

In terms of whether history is visible after you are kicked from and then rejoin a room - I would expect that to work ok, but it's certainly possible there is a bug there. I can't see it would be specific to IRC-bridged rooms, though.

[JanZerebecki]

@richvdh what more information do you need for this issue?

Yes this is not an issue specific to irc-bridged rooms, I asked in the irc-bridge chat and someone confirmed the same problem in an room unrelated to the bridge.

[grahamperrin]

#2212 (comment)

… what those screenshots are meant to show …

Sorry. In retrospect, I see that there's insufficient detail at the foot of the second shot.

Re: https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-appservice-irc/wiki/End-user-FAQ#i-am-getting-kicked-out-of-a-bridged-room-with-the--err_needreggednick-error I got:

err_needreggednick

– and re: the third shot, I assume that this was a consequence of a server being offline at some point.

Through no fault of mine: all history disappeared, and did not reappear after I reidentified.

[richvdh]

Through no fault of mine: all history disappeared, and did not reappear after I reidentified

to be clear: history visibility in Matrix is unrelated to IRC nick registration (though identifying with the nickserv is necessary to stop you being kicked from IRC channels which require that, of course).

Yes this is not an issue specific to irc-bridged rooms, I asked in the irc-bridge chat and someone confirmed the same problem in an room unrelated to the bridge.

I have been unable to reproduce this in testing. I have tried leaving a room and rejoining, and being kicked from a room and rejoining. In both cases my client was able to retrieve history from the room.

I've gone digging in the matrix.org logs and database to see if I can see what happened to @grahamperrin on 25th April. I see the kicks and rejoins:

      to_timestamp      |              event_id              |           sender           |        state_key         |                                                   content                                                    
------------------------+------------------------------------+----------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2021-04-25 20:58:41+01 | $16193807215874406imsbM:matrix.org | @grahamperrin:matrix.org   | @grahamperrin:matrix.org | {"avatar_url":"mxc://matrix.org/cooObxhGLEeJhcIlyPPaUDiw","displayname":"Graham Perrin","membership":"join"}
 2021-04-25 20:46:25+01 | $16193799851356577HdifR:matrix.org | @appservice-irc:matrix.org | @grahamperrin:matrix.org | {"membership":"leave","reason":"IRC error on #freebsd: err_needreggednick"}
 2021-04-25 20:46:24+01 | $16193799845863170Waxlt:matrix.org | @grahamperrin:matrix.org   | @grahamperrin:matrix.org | {"avatar_url":"mxc://matrix.org/cooObxhGLEeJhcIlyPPaUDiw","displayname":"Graham Perrin","membership":"join"}
 2021-04-24 23:01:35+01 | $16193016951076927xLyxk:matrix.org | @appservice-irc:matrix.org | @grahamperrin:matrix.org | {"membership":"leave","reason":"IRC error on #freebsd: err_needreggednick"}

... but I don't see any attempt by a client to retrieve history for that room around that time.

This leads me to suspect a client-side bug.