Seshat DB error disables search on desktop

[HarHarLinks]

Description

Message search
Riot can't securely cache encrypted messages locally while running in a web browser. Use Riot Desktop for encrypted messages to appear in search results.

Message search is disabled although I'm using the riot-desktop app.
This worked when the feature was introduced. I recently enabled labs settings on desktop by adding the respective file %appdata%/Riot/config.json, which is my best guess as to what might have messed things up, although my impression is that it shouldn't have. config.json contents:

{
    "default_server_name": "myserver.url",
    "brand": "some name",
    "features": {
        "feature_font_scaling": "labs",
        "feature_pinning": "labs",
        "feature_custom_status": "labs",
        "feature_custom_tags": "labs",
        "feature_state_counters": "labs",
        "feature_many_integration_managers": "labs",
        "feature_mjolnir": "labs",
        "feature_dm_verification": "labs",
        "feature_bridge_state": "labs",
        "feature_presence_in_room_list": "labs",
        "feature_custom_themes": "labs",
        "feature_new_room_list": "labs",
        "feature_irc_ui": "labs"
    },
    "showLabsSettings": true
}

Steps to reproduce

• install riot desktop
• customize config.json

Logs being sent: yes

Version information

• Platform: desktop

For the desktop app:

• OS: Windows
• Version: 1.6.6

[jryans]

@HarHarLinks If you temporarily move the custom config out of the way to test the default and restart, what behaviour do you see?

[HarHarLinks]

I renamed the file and restarted. It still displays the same message, nor does search seem to work.

[jryans]

The log seems to say:

2020-06-28T10:41:26.443Z I EventIndex: Error initializing the event index {"message":"Error opening the database: IndexError(IOError(IOError { path: None, err: Custom { kind: Other, error: \"Invalid MAC\" } }))"}

@poljar, any suggestions on how best to resolve that?

[poljar]

Deleting the EventStore folder is always an option. I wonder what happened to the index files that the MAC doesn't match anymore.

[HarHarLinks]

I renamed EventStore temporarily to test this and it works, even with the custom config.json. Would deleting EventStore delete anything other than seshat data, or am I save to do that?
Is there any more info I can provide about this issue?

[poljar]

It only contains Seshat data and it will get rebuilt from the data from the server. Nothing valuable is lost.

A indexer file got somehow corrupted could be by a unclean shutdown, not sure. There's not much to investigate here since we don't have specific logs for this as it's deep in the belly of Seshat. We could offer a better UI for when this happens though.

[cassiersg]

I had the same issue today, although my case was a bit different: no custom config, but I upgraded from an (about 8 months) old Riot-desktop install. OS: ubuntu 20.04.

Removing the EventStore solved the issue.

[ScottRochford]

Multiple users in our organisation have had the same problem, including myself. Removing EventStore also fixed it for me.

Currently running Element 1.7.13 with a custom config.json, although I have no idea when the issue appeared.

Another thing I noticed was that before fixing it "Use the Desktop app to search encrypted messages" was displayed under the search field (despite the fact that I'm using the Desktop app), and after applying the workaround that message is gone.

[jryans]

Another thing I noticed was that before fixing it "Use the Desktop app to search encrypted messages" was displayed under the search field (despite the fact that I'm using the Desktop app), and after applying the workaround that message is gone.

Yes, it's quite confusing that indexing errors currently make the desktop app say "use desktop"... 😖 We have #15168 to track this aspect.

[jryans]

@poljar What would be a good way to help people here? Maybe a toast that asks permission to delete and rebuild the index...?

[poljar]

@poljar What would be a good way to help people here? Maybe a toast that asks permission to delete and rebuild the index...?

Yes that does sound sensible.

[yajo]

For whoever comes here, the fix is:

1. Exit Element with Ctrl+Q
2. rm -Rf ~/.config/Element/EventStore
3. Enter Element again.

cc @joao-p-marques

[jryans]

For those affected by this, does it just happen out of nowhere with seemingly no other changes, or did something else change e.g. you logged in again for the first time in a while...?

[yajo]

It was a friend, with Element just installed for the 1st time. He tried both flatpak and .deb versions, and the same happened with both.

[jryans]

Hmm, thanks for the detail. I wonder if there's some race condition in the Seshat init path that is setting things up with e.g. a bad database key or similar...

[MadLittleMods]

Reproduced this installing Element Desktop version 1.7.16 for the first time on macOS 10.15.7. I can also reproduce on Windows 10 (first time install).

Trying to use search -> Use the Desktop app to search encrypted messages

Settings -> Security & Privacy ->Message search

Message search
Element can't securely cache encrypted messages locally while running in a web browser. Use Element Desktop for encrypted messages to appear in search results.

How do I find the logs that show IndexError error mentioned above?

---

It might have been a coincidence but after starting it manually from the package contents binary in the terminal, search started to work. Before that, I did try restarting the app multiple times from the normal spotlight launcher but was broken each time.

$ /Applications/Element.app/Contents/MacOS/Element
/Users/eric/Library/Application Support/Element exists: yes
/Users/eric/Library/Application Support/Riot exists: no
Starting auto update with base URL: https://packages.riot.im/desktop/update/

Given that I did the same on Windows 10 and didn't fix the problem, I am leaning toward coincidence and race condition.

$ "C:\Users\MLM\AppData\Local\element-desktop\app-1.7.16\Element.exe"
Starting auto update with base URL: https://packages.riot.im/desktop/update/
(node:18016) [DEP0005] DeprecationWarning: Buffer() is deprecated due to security and usability issues. Please use the Buffer.alloc(), Buffer.allocUnsafe(), or Buffer.from() methods instead.

[HarHarLinks]

Happened again, Windows 10 20H2, up to date Element Desktop that had been installed for some time. Deleting EventStore helped.

Edit: and again after less than 2 days.
Additional note: this installation actually dates back to the riot.im days. Appdata -> Element and Element (Riot) folders are nearly empty, so deleted the EventStore from the Riot folder. Also no custom config.json on this one.

[lampholder]

I experienced this issue, too. Just 'cause it took me a little while to find it, on Windows 10 the folder I needed to remove was located at C:\Users\lamph\AppData\Roaming\Riot Nightly\Event Store

[jaywink]

Got hit by this too, Element nightly (Ubuntu) 2021012001

Confusingly, ~/.config has two nightly folders:

Element Nightly/
Element-Nightly/

Element-Nightly seemed to be the right one and deleting EventStore under there got rid of the "use desktop" warning.

Have rageshaked before doing that.

[poljar]

Nightly had an issue which corrupted the db, the issue was caught before it went into a release.

[geckolinux]

@poljar I've never run Nightly though, only release versions.

[poljar]

Ah sorry, this was a direct comment for @jaywink. The db can get corrupted for other reasons as well.

[geckolinux]

@poljar Ah ya, gotcha. Well at least for me it still seems to be working fine after I fixed it 4 days ago.

[progserega]

@progserega Did you also check older names for the directories, such as Riot as well?

I try remove all:

 $ rm -Rf ~/.config/Riot/EventStore
 $ rm -Rf ~/.config/Ele/EventStore
Element/        Element (Riot)/ 
 $ rm -Rf ~/.config/Element/EventStore
 $ rm -Rf ~/.config/Element\ \(Riot\)/EventStore

not help :-(

[cryptid11]

removing the folder EventStore:
on linux says request failed: CORS request rejected: https://matrix-client.matrix.org/_matrix/client/r0/search
on windows simply doesnt work