Novice Hub Admin issues

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 17:34:42 +0100

adminsforum@hubzilla.org

Crow wrote the following post Sat, 26 Nov 2022 17:34:42 +0100

Novice Hub Admin issues

I've just spun up #^Common Worlds and I don't know if I have issues, or it just takes a while for federation to kick in.

But let's start with: my directory server URL has only two options, and no way to change it to anything else because it's a dropdown menu with no text entry. Both of these directory servers are in a country far away. Why are only these two options available and how might I change it, if that's even a good idea? My understanding of federation suggests that there should be hundreds of directory servers. Right? And searching the web for any info about directory servers came up with nothing, so IF I CAN change it, what would be better?

Secondly, I'm 100% certain I installed the ActivityPub app, but I can't seem to connect to my own Mastodon account or really, anything else using target@server.etc. Though part of that "anything else" may be related to being unable to find good channels in the fediverse, which is what brought me to the question about the directory servers in the first place. When I go to commonworlds/apps, the ActivityPub app does not show up. How can I make the ActivityPub app reappear in the apps section so I can make sure it's turned on?

And finally, does federation take a while to finish? The site has been fully functional now for 50+ hours and attempts to connect with anything that's not in the directory all fail to find anything.

Many thanks in advance.

show all 28 comments

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 18:04:11 +0100 last edited: Sat, 26 Nov 2022 18:04:45 +0100

Tanja

tanja@hz.lazyteddy.eu

Can't help with everything you ask, but as for the AP app, on your channel, you need to go to
/apps/available to install any new apps.
/apps alone will list only installed apps.

It doesn't seem to be installed systemwide, though; #^https://commonworlds.org/siteinfo.json doesn't show any enabled plugins. You need to install it first as admin from /admin/addons/ .

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 18:08:51 +0100

Tanja

tanja@hz.lazyteddy.eu

Also, forgot to mention, the ActivityPub addon is called "PubCrawl" in the admin settings, and "ActivityPub" under the channel apps.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 18:34:25 +0100

Grouchy

grouchy@hub.grouchysysadmin.com

Hello,

But let's start with: my directory server URL has only two options, and no way to change it to anything else because it's a dropdown menu with no text entry.

Directory servers are Hubzilla instances that have the directory mode parameter set to secondary. Those systems mirror the main directory server and are available for querying by clients. Here are the ones I know about.

#^https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu
#^https://hub.libranet.de
#^https://zapalot.in-eu.net
#^https://zotsite.net
#^https://hub.knthost.com

You can set a specific directory server at the command line using the ./util/config system directory_server command.

EX: ./util/config system directory_server #^https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Secondly, I'm 100% certain I installed the ActivityPub app

Did you enable the Pubcrawl addon under /admin/addons/
Did you enable the 'Activitypub Protocol' under /apps/available in your user account?

And finally, does federation take a while to finish?

It can take a while to fully sync up, but you should be able to connect right away.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 19:53:03 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Tanja

https://commonworlds.org/admin/addons/

When I go to #^https://commonworlds.org/apps/available I do not see pubcrawl. But I'm pretty sure I did see it when I first set the hub up.

Thank you!

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 19:54:16 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

Oh and I made sure I'm looking at App Categories "everything".

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 19:56:23 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Grouchy Thanks for the explanations.

When I go in as admin to /admin/addons nothing is listed. just the header.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 19:57:50 +0100

Tanja

tanja@hz.lazyteddy.eu

@Crow No, it's called "pubcrawl" under /admin/addons .

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 19:58:30 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Grouchy Also ActivityPub not show under my user account. It's just not there.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:00:43 +0100

Tanja

tanja@hz.lazyteddy.eu

@Crow

When I go in as admin to /admin/addons nothing is listed. just the header.

Did you follow the part about adding the addon repo in the instructions?

For installing addons

        - First you should be **on** your website folder

            cd mywebsite

    - Then you should clone the addon repository (separately). We'll give this repository

         a nickname of 'hzaddons'. You can pull in other hubzilla addon repositories by

         giving them different nicknames.

            util/add_addon_repo #^https://framagit.org/hubzilla/addons.git hzaddons

    - For keeping the addon tree updated, you should be on your top level website

        directory and issue an update command for that repository.

            cd mywebsite

            util/update_addon_repo hzaddons

#^https://framagit.org/hubzilla/core/blob/master/install/INSTALL.txt

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:02:18 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Tanja

https://commonworlds.org/admin/addons

There's literally NOTHING on that page except the header and the sidebars. :(

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:04:03 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Crow my install was mostly done by my web host. I'll give these instructions a try.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:04:52 +0100

Tanja

tanja@hz.lazyteddy.eu

@Crow That's why I'm asking if you followed the instructions I quoted.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:09:03 +0100

Tanja

tanja@hz.lazyteddy.eu

@Crow

my install was mostly done by my web host. I'll give these instructions a try.

This is the recommended way. If you're trying to run on shared hosting, you need PHP command line access, as well.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:09:07 +0100 last edited: Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:10:27 +0100

Grouchy

grouchy@hub.grouchysysadmin.com

@Crow I'm pretty sure @Tanja has the right solution. It appears the addons are simply not installed.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:12:10 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Crow That got it! thanks.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:15:18 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Tanja for something beyond the util command I just ran? PubCrawl is now installed. Thanks!

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:21:36 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

My mastodon account now sees crow@commonworlds.org, so that's encouraging!

My Hubzilla does not see my mastodon account though.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 22:03:20 +0100 last edited: Sat, 26 Nov 2022 22:03:44 +0100

Admin

admin@libera.site

@Crow Same here. 2 days after installation. But if you go to Connections and click on Add, then it works immediately. But it's not feasible for future.

Still looking for solution...

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 22:22:15 +0100

Alex Deko [Hz]

alex@hub.deko.cloud

@Admin

if you go to Connections and click on Add, then it works immediately. But it's not feasible for future.

What do you mean by that?
If you can add an AP account (e.g. Mastodon) and then can see their new posts and communicate with them then everything should work as intended.

However you won't see posts from accounts your server has no knowledge of yet.

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 22:54:44 +0100

Admin

admin@libera.site

@Alex Deko [Hz] App Search using for searching accounts. From description I understood it could search also on federated servers.

...remote content depending on the search string prefix...

Nope?
Anyway, there is huge amount of work on H yet with docs|desc...

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 11:58:20 +0100 last edited: Sun, 27 Nov 2022 12:00:38 +0100

Alex Deko [Hz]

alex@hub.deko.cloud

@Admin

From description I understood it could search also on federated servers.

I am pretty sure it means that you can paste links to posts on remote servers and your Hubzilla will fetch them so you can interact on them even if you don't have them on your server yet (because no one on your server follows that person).

E.g links like:
#^https://lor.sh/@dump_stack/109404399851470397
#^https://friends.deko.cloud/display/d0446be5-1863-11c3-0613-a42577894956

After pasting link like this(i.e. link to the post on the remote instance) your server fetches the post and after that it is available for you to search, interact, repost, etc.

But you can't search for content your server doesn't have in the database yet. Of course if your server is big and/or well-connected so there are lots of follows between users/bots/whatever then substantial amount of remote posts gets into your database anyway.

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 14:41:51 +0100

Admin

admin@libera.site

@Alex Deko [Hz] Interesting. Thanx. Didn't know that. And docs is not talking about it, or show this way.

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:08:42 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Admin going to connections and clicking add didn't work for me to get my Mastodon in Hubzilla.

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:09:38 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

And now it does!

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:12:10 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Admin going to connections and clicking add didn't work for me to get my Mastodon in Hubzilla.

But wait--I just tried it again and it works! But only from the "Add" button as you say. Still can't find stuff with search.

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 18:11:16 +0100

Witcraft (Hubzilla)

witcraft@hubzilla.fediversum.de

Mario said that there is a regression so you have to add Mastodon (probably AP) contacts twice. He fixed it in dev, so it should be fixed in the next Hubzilla update.

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 18:27:34 +0100

Mario Vavti

mario@hub.somaton.com

@Witcraft rss feed contacts only were affected by this bug.

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 21:02:11 +0100

Witcraft (Hubzilla)

witcraft@hubzilla.fediversum.de

Oh, sorry - I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Thanks for clarifying.