No WebDAV syncing after upgrading to 2.1.3 - Error Report ID 464196145

bothide

After upgrading my to 2.1.3 (xubutu 10.4, Firefox 4.0), the syncing to our WebDAV server running apache 2.2.17 stopped working. After clicking the "reset" button and then the button "Replace Server Data" in the popup menu that appears, nothing happens.

dstillman

You'll have to be more specific as to what "stopped working" means, but, as the pane says, the reset options are not meant for troubleshooting. They also have nothing to do with file syncing.

dstillman

And no Zotero errors are logged in that error report. Restart Firefox, reproduce the problem immediately, and provide another Report ID.

bothide

I must have rebooted ten times and restarted Firefox twenty times but to no avail. Syncing against WebDAV just does not work in 2.1.3. The Zotero manual says that you shall click "Reset" to reset/acitvate a change of the syncing method. So I did that as I have done in the past to make sure I sync in the "correct direction". Not for a moment did I think that it was for "troubleshooting". As has been reported by numerous other users in the meantime, zotero 2.1.3 (and 2.1.4 for that matter) is not capable of syncing against a
WebDAV archive. This functionality of Zotero is now gone. This is regardless of what the error message says or does not say.

dstillman

The Zotero manual says that you shall click "Reset" to reset/acitvate a change of the syncing method.

What Zotero manual? The Files Not Syncing page mentions Reset File Sync History for a particular file sync problem, but, again, Restore to Zotero Server (if that's what you mean by "Replace Server Data") has nothing to do with file syncing—that pertains solely to metadata syncing (and is also for only a few specific situations).

We're looking into an intermittent 403 error that a number of users are seeing, but we have no way of knowing if that's the issue you're seeing unless you follow my instructions and provide another Report ID. I didn't ask you to restart to fix anything.

bothide

I am referring to the "Zotero preferences" pane that pops up when you click "Preferences..." in the menu that pops up when you click on the "cogwheel" icon (no. 3 from the left) at the top of the Zotero pane. The "Zotero preferences" has eight buttons at the top. Clicking on the icon called "Sync" you get to the sync "Settings" pane. There you can change from "Sync attachment files in My Library using Zotero" to "WebDAV" by clicking on the button "Zotero". Clicking on the "Reset" button in the upper left-hand corner you get to the sync "Reset" pane where "Restore from Zotero Server" is activated by default. I do not want that behaviour since that would overwrite my local database with the one on the WebDAV server which is still empty. This would make me lose all my data and that would be a total disaster. Hence, I click on the "Restore to Zotero Server" radio button and then the "Reset" button below it. As a result, I get a popup menu saying:

"All data belonging to user 'bothide' on the Zotero server will be erased and replaced with data from this copy of Zotero.

Depending on the size of your library, there may be a delay before your data is available on the server"

and gives me the choice to click either the button "Cancel" or the button "Replace Server Data". Choosing the latter one in 2.1.3, nothing happens. Nothing at all. This is different from earlier versions of Zotero where this click would have initiated the process which, after a click or two would start the process of transferring the data from the local machine to the WebDAV server (and finish it in an hour or so). But, as I said, in 2.1.3 (and 2.1.4) nothing happens (at least not yet, after more than nine hours...).

If I understand the Zotero Manual instructions correctly, this is the way to do it or has it changed in 2.1.3? By the way, here is a verbatim copy of the pertinent passage in the Zotero Manual:

"Start on the computer containing the Zotero data you want to keep, and make sure Firefox is closed (or auto-sync is disabled) on the other computers.

If you have auto-sync enabled, open the Zotero preferences without opening the Zotero pane. Go to Firefox's Tools menu, select Add-ons, and select the Extensions tab. Select Zotero in the list that appears and click the Preferences button.

Once in the Zotero preferences, click the Sync pane and the Reset tab within that. Select “Restore to Zotero Server”, and then click the Reset button."

Are we talking about the same Zotero Manual?

dstillman

If I understand the Zotero Manual instructions correctly, this is the way to do it or has it changed in 2.1.3

Do what? You don't need to use the Reset options. Ignore them. They're not for use in normal usage of Zotero. And, once again, they have nothing to do with file syncing.

I can't help you further until you provide another Report ID that contains an error for whatever it is you're reporting. At this point, I still don't know what that is.

bothide

I use the "Reset" option only to make absolutely sure that the syncing goes in the required direction. Namely that the data that I have gathered on the local machine gets kept there and copied to the so far empty archive on the remote WebDAV. Obviously, I do not want to run the risk of initiating a copy in the other direction, from the remote WebDAV archive (which is empty) onto my local machine and thereby lose all my local data, i.e. the only data I have until I have managed to sync it onto the remote WebDAV server! Standard procedure when you sync two information systems of any kind for the first time. But all this is totally irrelevant for the situation at hand and has nothing to do at all with the current Zotero syncing problem so let's forget about it.

The problem is that syncing in 2.1.3 against a WebDAV archive does not work (whereas it worked in earlier versions of Zotero). Attempts to try to sync in this way in 2.1.3 cause the sync process to hang forever so that the syncing never takes place! This is what I am reporting, now for the third or fourth time. Nothing more, nothing less.

Incidentally, reports that WebDAV syncing in Zotero 2.1.3 is severely broken have come from many other users too. See e.g. the reports about this in the current "Syncing" forum (http://forums.zotero.org/13/). If Zotero 2.1.3 fails to record this bug and therefore cannot produce a suitable Zotero Error Report then the bug is even more serious than expected. The more reason to take it seriously and not to ignore it.

I take time to report this serious flaw in Zotero 2.1.3, regardless of whether it produces a "correct" error report or not, in an attempt to be helpful - not to be obnoxious.

ajlyon

Dan is referring to a very concrete error reporting tool built in to Zotero, described at point 2 of this page: http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs

It is very important that you submit such an error report and post the Report ID here, because the report contains the details of the error. It is not necessary to take any other troubleshooting steps before sending this report. Just trigger the error and select "Report errors..." from the gear menu and post the ID here.

dstillman

Standard procedure when you sync two information systems of any kind for the first time

Well, not Zotero. Zotero deletes data only when you explicitly delete it. Don't use those options. All you've been doing is causing extra load on the Zotero server by uploading your entire library every time you sync.

Incidentally, reports that WebDAV syncing in Zotero 2.1.3 is severely broken have come from many other users too.

Actually, no other users have reported WebDAV syncing problems in 2.1.3. There was an intermittent error with Zotero File Storage that we've now fixed, but that didn't apply to WebDAV (though if you're syncing group libraries, which use Zotero File Storage, it could still apply to you).

bothide

If I store my data on my own WebDAV server across the room, how can that affect the central Zotero server in any significant way? One of the reasons for using our own WebDAV server rather than the central Zotero server, was to minimise the load on the central Zotero server... Besides, I have not managed to upload even once since the upload hung indefinitely.

ajlyon

WebDAV is used for attached documents only. Sync state and all metadata and notes are maintained using the Zotero sync server. If you're getting a sync error, we need an error report as described in my previous post. If there's not an error occuring during the sync attempt, what _is_ happening?

And really, don't use the reset options. They're there for specific data restoration situations and not for general troubleshooting, since they usually make the sync larger and simply unwieldy, and cannot solve most problems.