bootstrapping issues

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peer discovery does not seem to be working correctly. this is probably a=20
configuration error, but finding it with the documentation alone failed
after spending way too long on this, so hopefully someone can help with
this.=20

[follows a dump of all trivial information which could be relevant]

all of the default services are started and none have failed.

version:

$ gnunet-core -v
     gnunet-core v0.26.2

HOSTLIST is running, and is downloading HELLOs from some default server:
$ gnunet-statistics -s hostlist
     hostlist           # bytes downloaded from hostlist servers:          =
 846639
     hostlist    # valid HELLOs downloaded from hostlist servers:          =
   1278
     hostlist                                  bytes in hostlist:          =
   1040
     hostlist                         # advertised hostlist URIs:          =
      0
     hostlist                     # hostlist downloads initiated:          =
      9
     hostlist          # milliseconds between hostlist downloads:          =
 512000
     hostlist                     # hostlist URIs read from file:          =
      0

'bytes in hostlist' does not grow as the other statistics do, so
it seems that all of the deleted HELLOs are being discarded.

the entire configuration file is:
    [path]
    GNUNET_HOME =3D /var/lib/gnunet
    GNUNET_DATA_HOME =3D /var/lib/gnunet/data/
    GNUNET_RUNTIME_DIR =3D /var/run/gnunet/

    [arm]
    START_SYSTEM_SERVICES =3D YES
    START_USER_SERVICES =3D YES
    OPTIONS =3D -l /var/log/gnunet.log

    [hostlist]
    # SERVERS =3D=20
    EXTERNAL_DNS_NAME =3D domain.domain
    BINDTOIPV4 =3D 1.2.3.4
    BINDTOIPV6 =3D 2a03::1234
    HTTPPORT =3D 12981
    OPTIONS =3D -b -e -p -a

    [communicator-tcp]
    BINDTO  =3D 1.2.3.4:2086        # to avoid 50 local addresses in HELLO
    BINDTO6 =3D [2a03::1234]:2086  =20

    [communicator-udp]
    BINDTO  =3D 1.2.3.4:2086        # ditto
    BINDTO6 =3D [20a3::1234]:2086

    [nat]
    BEHIND_NAT       =3D NO
    ALLOW_NAT        =3D NO
    ENABLE_UPNP      =3D NO
    ENABLE_IPSCAN    =3D YES     # HELLO is empty without this
    EXTERNAL_ADDRESS =3D 1.2.3.4 # probably useless

HOSTLIST's server is reachable and produces a hostlist containing only the =
local peer.

none of the HELLOs HOSTLIST discovered result in any peers being known=20
to the rest of the system (as expected from them not being in the hostlist)

$ gnunet-core -s # produces no output


$ gnunet-cadet -P # only the local peer
    N8HP... tunnel: N, paths: 0

$ gnunet-hello -D # only the local peer
    2026-01-20T22:17:06.625275+0100 pils-api-3914317 DEBUG Connection to se=
rvice successful!.
    `N8HP' (expires: Thu Jan 22 22:13:02 2026):
    |- udp://[2a03::1234]:2086
    |- udp://1.2.3.4:2086
    |- tcp://1.3.4.4:2086
(IPv6 TCP being absent is a separate question)

the log does contain this at the very start:
    peerstore-3916477 ERROR Assertion failed at ../src/lib/hello/hello-uri.=
c:422.
    peerstore-3916477 ERROR Unable to parse HELLO message

there is also:
    nse-3916502 ERROR Assertion failed at ../src/service/nse/gnunet-service=
-nse.c:1369. Aborting.
    arm-3916466 WARNING Service `nse' terminated with status signal/6, will=
 restart in 1 ms

NSE does not fail again when restarted, and this seems irrelevant
anyways.

the only other error is this (but this seems to just be abuse of a log leve=
l):
    pils-3916478 ERROR Successfully generated a new peer id EPK3MN - inform=
 clients
    transport-3916488 WARNING Stored our new hello with peerstore

it seems noteworthy that peer EPK3MN does not actually exist anywhere
besides this message.

the only warnings in the log are (unique, exluding other log level abuse):
    core-3913576 WARNING No matching service entry `example' was found in s=
ervices info.

removing configuration which is not strictly necessary has no effect.

purging all of gnunet's data has no effect.

firewall logs do not record any interference.

absolutely everything else seems to be working, but it is not saving the HE=
LLOs.

[end of information dump]

this is too confusing to try to solve alone

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