Cannot connect to Pocketbook 623, Syncthing working and not working?

[jantin1]

I want to install and activate Syncthing on a Pocketbook 623 (Touch Lux 3). Using the English language Readme I had no success, when I tried to start the app with syncthing.app I only got a prompt "cannot open program".

I have tried the syncthing.app from #6 and I got the correct prompt "Syncthing started (OK) (No)". However, I am not able to reach the device in browser (in the F12 log I see failed net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED)

I have started pbterm to try to debug the issue and when I start syncthing in the terminal I get an error message:

ERR failed to ensure directory exists (error="mkdir /.local: read-only file system" log.pkg=main)

I also don't see the expected open port 8384 when I run netstat on the Pocketbook nor Syncthing when I try top in pbterm. I don't think that my filesystem is read-only, I have added and removed files several times today (in the process of working with Syncthing).

How should I proceed? Or maybe Syncthing didn't actually start?

[mikedigriz]

for new version Syncthing 2.0+ try to use --home= not -home=

[jantin1]

Thank you, this helped open Syncthing (it started, then I saw blank screen. But I could press the home button and Pocketbook returned to main screen and works well, I also see Syncthing in the list of running programs). Possibly it's worth to include this version of syncthing.app for old devices?

But I still can't access port 8384 from browser (I get the same error and I am certain both PC and ereader are on the same network).

[mikedigriz]

Try check config.xml that in use
if you see 127.0.0.1:8384 - you can't connect from browser
use 0.0.0.0:8384

check from reader curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8384 do you see html?

[jantin1]

The config.xml I pasted to the device (nowadays it's already updated by Syncthing and full of variables including device ID):

<configuration version="50">
    <gui enabled="true" tls="false" debugging="false" sendBasicAuthPrompt="false">
        <address>0.0.0.0:8384</address>
    </gui>
    <options>
        <startBrowser>false</startBrowser>
    </options>
</configuration>

curl is not available in pbterm unfortunately, I tried wget http://127.0.0.1:8384 and it timed out. wget http://0.0.0.0:8384 cannot correct (Invalid argument)

[mikedigriz]

show me your syncthing.app

restart device, launch syncthing.app and in pbterm try:
netstat -an | grep 8384

we need to see:
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:8384 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN <<------------------- IMPORTANT STRING
tcp 0 0 192.168.1.102:8384 192.168.1.101:62362 FIN_WAIT2
tcp 0 0 192.168.1.102:8384 192.168.1.101:62533 FIN_WAIT2
tcp 0 0 192.168.1.102:8384 192.168.1.101:55150 FIN_WAIT2
tcp 0 0 192.168.1.102:8384 192.168.1.101:53635 FIN_WAIT2
tcp 0 0 192.168.1.102:8384 192.168.1.101:49621 ESTABLISHED

Also, you can try manual start in pbterm and see logs:

cd /mnt/ext1/applications/syncthing
killall syncthing
./syncthing --home=.

[jantin1]

syncthing.app is the same as in #6 for PB650 (I decided to take a shot if it worked with an old model)

#!/bin/sh
/ebrmain/bin/dialog 1 "" "Syncthing started" "OK"
cd /mnt/ext1/applications/syncthing/
$(./syncthing --home="./" &> /dev/null &)

netstat doesn't have anything in 8384 (I don't have pipe on the keyboard, so I paste whole netstat output)

Now for running syncthing from pbterm with --home=. It's printing like that continuously.

[mikedigriz]

We see 2-errors: kernel and certificate.
Maybe we need old version of syncthing.

Switching to v1.19.2 probably won't fix the certificate error. That problem comes from the device's firmware itself - its bundled root CA store is from ~2010-2012, before Let's Encrypt existed, so it can't verify TLS certificates for relays.syncthing.net or the discovery servers. Any version of Syncthing (1.19.2 or 2.x) relies on the same OS-level cert store, so you'll likely still see x509: certificate signed by unknown authority in the log.

That said, it may not block syncing if both devices are on the same local network - local discovery (UDP broadcast) doesn't need HTTPS, so a direct connection can still work even if the relay/global-discovery calls fail. It would only be a real blocker for syncing over the internet between devices that aren't on the same LAN.

Old syncthing 1.19.2

https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing/releases/download/v1.19.2/syncthing-linux-arm-v1.19.2.tar.gz

Extract the syncthing binary into /mnt/ext1/applications/syncthing/.

syncthing.app:

#!/bin/sh
/ebrmain/bin/dialog 1 "" "Syncthing started" "OK"
cd /mnt/ext1/applications/syncthing/
$(./syncthing -home="./" &> /dev/null &)

Why: your device's kernel is too old to support the accept4 syscall that modern Syncthing builds (v1.20+) rely on to accept incoming connections.
Artifact: syncthing/syncthing#8325
Syncthing v1.19.2 predates this requirement, so it should work on old kernels like yours. Note it also uses the old single-dash -home argument syntax, not --home.

[jantin1]

Apologies for late reply, I only now had time to get back to tinkering with my Pocketbook...

So I did as suggested and picked up the older version of Syncthing. With it I had much more success, the app started and in my PC's browser I could access the Syncthing main screen of Pocketbook. Unfortunately another problem appeared, in that Syncthing seems to not be able to chmod the config.xml file on Pocketbook. So as long as I didn't do anything the Syncthing screen/menu was fine. When I tried to designate one folder for syncing I got this error message and a pop up about inability to connect.

I tracked down the bug to this issue (my error looks the same in pbterm console): syncthing/syncthing#8355 but it appears that the fix is provided in 1.20. Does it mean I'm out of luck?

[mikedigriz]

It's all about the Syncthing version and their bugs

Version 1.19.2 fixes one bug but breaks another one, the program crashes when saving settings. Let's try a different version.

What to do:

1. Download this:
   https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing/releases/download/v1.23.2/syncthing-linux-arm-v1.23.2.tar.gz
2. Unpack it, find the file called syncthing.
3. Replace the old file with it in the /mnt/ext1/applications/syncthing/ folder.
4. In the syncthing.app file, use --home= (two dashes), not -home=.
5. Restart the device and start Syncthing again.

Versions from 1.23.2 to 1.29.0 work fine. Newer ones (1.29.7 and up) break again, don't use those.

One more thing: once you open Syncthing in your browser and set up your books folder, go into its settings (Advanced Settings) and turn on "Ignore Permissions". Without this you'll get errors, because the memory card is formatted as FAT.

Let me know if it works.

[jantin1]

Now it works perfectly. Thank you, from your previous replies I thought that versions newer than 1.20 will not work with my kernel. But apparently it's fine. I could connect PC to pocketbook and send files and they were correctly transferred.

There is also a wrinkle that for the old Syncthing the version of config.xml has to be changed to 36 from the 50 included in the repo (at one point Syncthing complained about it in pbterm)

Thus we have a working solution for Pocketbook 623. Thank you very much for help!