Re: Got "fact submission failed: first byte timeout", but still report got posted; why?

[email protected] (Doug Bell) Fri, 3 Jul 2026 11:03:10 -0500
Newsgroups perl.cpan.testers.discuss
Message-ID <[email protected]>
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> On Jun 30, 2026, at 6:53=E2=80=AFAM, James E Keenan =
<[email protected]> wrote:
>=20
> On 6/28/26 01:50, Slaven Rezic wrote:
>> 25. 06. 2026. u 04:01, James Keenan pi=C5=A1e:
>>> As stated above, I have always assumed that if I get error output =
beginning with "fact submission failed: first byte timeout", the report =
for that particular distro did not get transmitted and is utterly lost.  =
Has the behavior of the metabase changed?  Or was my assumption wrong =
from the start?
>> Hi James,
>> yes, I observed this problem, and Andreas also told me about it. What =
probably goes wrong: the reverse proxy in front of the system (still =
fastly?) has a lower timeout than the processing backends. So while the =
backend are still happily trying to write the report to the database =
(and eventually might be successful, or not) the reverse proxy gives up =
and send the "first byte timeout" response.
>> Regards,
>>     Slaven
>=20
> Problem persists today.  If you go to =
http://fast2-matrix.cpantesters.org/?dist=3DAlgorithm-Heapify-XS;perl=3D5.=
44.0;reports=3D1, you see 2 reports I submitted dated 2026-06-30 11:40, =
one from FreeBSD, one from Linux.  In my terminal both runs appeared to =
fail with "fact submission failed" error messages.
>=20
> This is likely to be very confusing to people who only submit =
CPANtesters reports infrequently.  Is it being tracked in a bug ticket? =
If so, where?

We are still using Fastly, yes. I've updated the first byte timeout for =
the metabase.cpantesters.org <http://metabase.cpantesters.org/> (which =
is where all fact submissions currently go) from 15s (the default) to =
60s, which Fastly says is the maximum without doing some additional =
configuration that affects cachability (though this is a POST request, =
so that's probably not relevant really).

The better long-term solution is likely going to be making reporters =
submit directly to the collector, which does less and so is faster, but =
that's gonna take some effort.



Doug Bell
[email protected]

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<html aria-label=3D"message body"><head><meta http-equiv=3D"content-type" =
content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dutf-8"></head><body =
style=3D"overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; =
line-break: after-white-space;"><div><blockquote type=3D"cite"><div>On =
Jun 30, 2026, at 6:53=E2=80=AFAM, James E Keenan =
&lt;[email protected]&gt; wrote:</div><br =
class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><div><div>On 6/28/26 01:50, Slaven =
Rezic wrote:<br><blockquote type=3D"cite">25. 06. 2026. u 04:01, James =
Keenan pi=C5=A1e:<br><blockquote type=3D"cite">As stated above, I have =
always assumed that if I get error output beginning with "fact =
submission failed: first byte timeout", the report for that particular =
distro did not get transmitted and is utterly lost. &nbsp;Has the =
behavior of the metabase changed? &nbsp;Or was my assumption wrong from =
the start?<br></blockquote>Hi James,<br>yes, I observed this problem, =
and Andreas also told me about it. What probably goes wrong: the reverse =
proxy in front of the system (still fastly?) has a lower timeout than =
the processing backends. So while the backend are still happily trying =
to write the report to the database (and eventually might be successful, =
or not) the reverse proxy gives up and send the "first byte timeout" =
response.<br>Regards,<br> &nbsp; &nbsp; =
Slaven<br></blockquote><br>Problem persists today. &nbsp;If you go to =
http://fast2-matrix.cpantesters.org/?dist=3DAlgorithm-Heapify-XS;perl=3D5.=
44.0;reports=3D1, you see 2 reports I submitted dated 2026-06-30 11:40, =
one from FreeBSD, one from Linux. &nbsp;In my terminal both runs =
appeared to fail with "fact submission failed" error =
messages.<br><br>This is likely to be very confusing to people who only =
submit CPANtesters reports infrequently. &nbsp;Is it being tracked in a =
bug ticket? If so, where?</div></div></blockquote><br></div><div>We are =
still using Fastly, yes. I've updated the first byte timeout for the <a =
href=3D"http://metabase.cpantesters.org">metabase.cpantesters.org</a>&nbsp=
;(which is where all fact submissions currently go) from 15s (the =
default) to 60s, which Fastly says is the maximum without doing some =
additional configuration that affects cachability (though this is a POST =
request, so that's probably not relevant =
really).</div><div><br></div><div>The better long-term solution is =
likely going to be making reporters submit directly to the collector, =
which does less and so is faster, but that's gonna take some =
effort.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div><div>D=
oug Bell<br>[email protected]<br></div></div><div><blockquote =
type=3D"cite"></blockquote></div></div></body></html>=

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