Bug: no_workspace error on first-launch with FireFox

[Hexdump74]

Summary:
After fresh new installation on ubuntu 18.04, the first page give me an error : /error?id=no_workspace
The logs contain an API ERROR 401, err: no session token.

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. install as described in https://www.focalboard.com/download/personal-edition/ubuntu/ but WITHOUT TLS
2. connect to server using ip adress

Expected behavior:
A login screen to create the first user

Screenshots:
An empty grey screen only showing a rectangle where is written "Error". No more text or description.
The adress bar links to /error?id=no_workspace

Platform:

• Browser and version: Firefox 87
• Client OS : ArchLinux
• Server : Ubuntu 18.04
• Version : focalboard 0.6.1 and focalboard 0.6.5-rc1

Additional context:
The databases (i tried with both pgsql and sqlite) contain a table workspace :

sqlite> select * from workspaces;
id|signup_token|settings|modified_by|update_at
0|fc8ebca6-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-98e29cca1177|||1618434798

Logs extract :

Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj systemd[1]: Started Focalboard server.
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 Focalboard Server
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 Version: 0.6.5
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 Edition: linux
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 Build Number: 745710722
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 Build Date: Tue Apr 13 18:22:19 UTC 2021
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 Build Hash: 13e08840b6870a0491fa1f69191b6c11e80c4aef
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 readConfigFile
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 {ServerRoot:http://localhost:8000 Port:8000 DBType:sqlite3 DBConfigString:./focalboard.db UseSSL:false SecureC
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 connectDatabase
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 importInitialTemplates
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 Inserting 36 blocks
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 initialized workspace
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: {"level":"info","ts":1618434798.929716,"caller":"server/server.go:174","msg":"Server.Start"}
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 http server started on :8000
Apr 14 21:13:18 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:18 Starting unix socket server
Apr 14 21:13:25 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:25 Single User: false
Apr 14 21:13:25 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:25 API ERROR 401, err: no session token
Apr 14 21:13:25 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:25 Single User: false
Apr 14 21:13:25 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:25 API ERROR 401, err: no session token
Apr 14 21:13:25 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:25 Single User: false
Apr 14 21:13:25 collab-proj focalboard-server[13203]: 2021/04/14 21:13:25 API ERROR 401, err: no session token

[Hexdump74]

Sorry, it was an artifact of my browser. I missed a step during installation, got this error, corrected the installation, but the error stayed in my cache.
Opening a new private window bring me to the expected login page.

[Hexdump74]

Finally, no, the error is still showing. It is pretty random, I'm still searching for the reasons.

Looks like the login screen loads without problems on Chromium, but sometimes fails on Firefox.

[chenilim]

Thanks for the report @Hexdump74!

This error shows up when the getWorkspace call in Boardpage.tsx fails.

• Based on the session error, my guess is the browser had an old sessionId in localStorage, so the request fails auth
• Workaround is to delete the sessionId from localStorage, or log-out and re-login

We can keep this issue open for now. Longer term we need to handle invalid sessions better, e.g. log-out and re-login.

• This might mean the getWorkspace client API should distinguish auth failure from invalid workspace.

[chenilim]

Testing more, I noticed that behavior on FireFox is different than Chrome:

• On FireFox, if there is no sessionID (i.e. new installation), it always redirects to the error page
• On Chrome, if there is no sessionID, it redirects (correctly) to the login page

Might be something off with the timing on FireFox. As a short-term fix, I filed #274 to add a re-login button to the error page, and should have a fix for that in shortly.

[Hexdump74]

Thanks. So finally it was indeed related to my browser's cache.
So I keep the issue open as a reminder ?

[chenilim]

Thanks @Hexdump74. On my machine (macOS 10.15.7), I see an issue with FireFox:

• On first launch with FireFox 87.0 (or with a private browser window), it redirects to the error page (instead of login
• With Chrome and Safari, new sessions (or private windows) correctly redirects to the login page

I believe this is a timing issue with FireFox, and updated the title to reflect it. More context:

• I see an NS_BINDING_ABORTED error in the FireFox network console when redirecting to /login
• My guess is the /error redirect pre-empts the /login redirect on FireFox

If you (or anyone else) can help verify this behavior on Linux and other platforms, that would be super helpful!

[Hexdump74]

I'm totally unable to reproduce the bug now...
I reinstalled the server (because I deleted the VM used for the first test), and now I am always correctly redirected to the login page.
If you have a server with which you reproduce the problem and it is accessible from Internet, I could connect on it with my Linux.

[Zev-se]

I got this when I upgraded from one version to another. Stopping the server, moving focalboard.db out of the folder and then restarting solved the problem. Not sure why.

[brimwats1]

this happens on the most recent update on a completely clean and updated chrome for me as @ericgaspar mentioned above.

[chenilim]

Thanks @brimwats! To confirm: Does clicking on the "Log in again" button on the error page work around the issue?

[brimwats1]

no. there are gifs at the end of focalboard_ynh/issues/1

[brimwats1]

YunoHost-Apps/focalboard_ynh#1 (comment)

YunoHost-Apps/focalboard_ynh#1 (comment)