Re: bootstrapping issues

Thank you very much for this detailed problem description.

It looks like the HELLO from the bootstrap peer is broken.

I will spare some time on that problem, which is proving somewhat 
difficult at present due to time constraints.

Please be patient.

Happy Hacking!

t3sserakt

On 1/20/26 22:47, 31a05b9c wrote:
> peer discovery does not seem to be working correctly. this is probably 
> a configuration error, but finding it with the documentation alone failed
> after spending way too long on this, so hopefully someone can help with
> this.
> [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 = /var/lib/gnunet
>    GNUNET_DATA_HOME = /var/lib/gnunet/data/
>    GNUNET_RUNTIME_DIR = /var/run/gnunet/
>
>    [arm]
>    START_SYSTEM_SERVICES = YES
>    START_USER_SERVICES = YES
>    OPTIONS = -l /var/log/gnunet.log
>
>    [hostlist]
>    # SERVERS =    EXTERNAL_DNS_NAME = domain.domain
>    BINDTOIPV4 = 1.2.3.4
>    BINDTOIPV6 = 2a03::1234
>    HTTPPORT = 12981
>    OPTIONS = -b -e -p -a
>
>    [communicator-tcp]
>    BINDTO  = 1.2.3.4:2086        # to avoid 50 local addresses in HELLO
>    BINDTO6 = [2a03::1234]:2086
>    [communicator-udp]
>    BINDTO  = 1.2.3.4:2086        # ditto
>    BINDTO6 = [20a3::1234]:2086
>
>    [nat]
>    BEHIND_NAT       = NO
>    ALLOW_NAT        = NO
>    ENABLE_UPNP      = NO
>    ENABLE_IPSCAN    = YES     # HELLO is empty without this
>    EXTERNAL_ADDRESS = 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 
> 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 service 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 
> level):
>    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 services 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 HELLOs.
>
> [end of information dump]
>
> this is too confusing to try to solve alone