Issues on macOS Catalina

[SonicDude]

Hello!

I've run into some strangeness that I think might be related to changes in macOS Catalina. I've run the client successfully under older versions of macOS, but when I installed FAH on a Mac with the then-current version of Catalina (I can't put the whole macOS version because it looks like a web address, apparently), I found that the normal client address could never connect successfully; it just times out. I was able to use FAHControl and port 7396 to get the client configured, though. FAHViewer sometimes worked, but usually did not.

After updating that same Mac to this week's OS patch, FAHControl and FAHViewer stopped connecting entirely. The console on port 7396 usually connects, but even that sometimes takes a few attempts. This persists through a reinstall of the FAH client.

I've checked firewalls, etc. (which are disabled) and can't seem to figure out what might be blocking this connection to the backend process. Anything else I should check?

Thanks for your help!

[Joe_H]

Not sure what else to check, I will forward a link of this post to a developer who has worked on the OS X/macOS port of the client to see if they have any ideas.

As for the Web Control once it loads the page code from client.foldingathome.org, it connects to the FAHClient process over a local net address 127.0.0.1. I have not yet gone to Catalina, none of my Mac's are compatible, so the workaround I have used on Sierra and High Sierra might not work for you. I just replace the https in the URL with http, and Web Control will connect for me in Safari. Sometimes have to do a refresh or two, but have not had it fault to eventually connect.

[SonicDude]

Thanks — the change to HTTP did get the vanity URL working.

I found that changing the port in FAHControl to 7396 instead of 36330 changes the status to "Updating" instead of "Connecting," but otherwise I can't get that app to do anything anymore.

I can see that FAHClient is listening on 7396, but I don't see anything listening on 36330 at all:

Code: Select all

~ » sudo lsof -i -P | grep -E '(7396|36330)' | grep -i "listen"
FAHClient 42788         nobody    5u  IPv4 0x5d43e0584507db65      0t0  TCP *:7396 (LISTEN)

[jonault]

Did you change the port number on the Connection tab AND on the Remote Access tab? I think those two values need to match. And you'll need to restart the client afterwards.

[SonicDude]

Restarting the client did not help (nor did reinstalling entirely). It was only on the Connection tab; there is no Remote Access tab until after FAHControl connects, which it isn't doing.

[jonault]

I thought my Mac Mini was up to date, but now I see there's a OS update for it. Installing now, we'll see what happens...

[jonault]

OK, the update finally finished installing.

After the update, everything appeared to be working fine using the standard port (36330). Just to see what would happen, I changed the port number to 7396, first on the Remote Access tab & then on the Connection tab, and rebooted. Now I'm seeing the same thing you're seeing - the Client status is stuck at "Updating". Now to figure out how to put it back.

[jonault]

OK, so it looks like the client's port number is stored in /Library/Application Support/FAHClient/config.xml:

<!-- Remote Command Server -->
<command-allow-no-pass v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24'/>
<command-port v='7396'/>
<password v='xxxxxxxxxxxx'/>

If I use an editor to change the port number back to 36330, and change the value on the Connections tab to 36330, and reboot, then when I restart FAHControl the status changes back to Online after a few seconds & everything's working again. I had to change permissions on the config.xml file and on the FAHClient folder to be able to edit the file.

(Note: the Library file in this case is the one at the root of your hard disk, not the one in your user folder)