Zotero loop-syncs 2000 items

fmuro
edited June 7, 2020
My Zotero is syncing in a loop about 2000 items out of my 4000+ collection. It takes ages to end and then it starts over non-stop. I barely add an item a day, I don't know what's triggering this behavior.
  • dstillman
    edited June 7, 2020
    Can you provide a Debug ID for a complete cycle of this?
  • dstillman
    edited June 7, 2020
    I'm not actually seeing any indication of this for your current account in the server logs. Are you actually talking about Zotero syncing? How are you determining that it's doing this?
  • fmuro
    Sure, I'll leave it overnight (it may take that long). A couple of days ago it ended up with an error and an automatic report was sent, but I didn't keep the number.

    Yes, I'm talking about syncing. I can see the progress in the upper right corner, when hovering. It goes down to 0 and then starts over with the same ~2000 left.
  • dstillman
    What exactly does it say? Again, if you're talking about this account, there's no recent server activity from you that's anything like this.

    If it's happening right now, can you provide a Debug ID for a few minutes of it?
  • fmuro
    I just restarted in debugging mode. It's syncing since its started. It's going faster than usual (this is maybe because of my erratic connection). It's already done half of it. I'll wait a little bit to see if it ends and then starts over. If you get that part of the log you'll maybe see what happens.
  • fmuro
    D2138563947 just after it ended and started over. Thanks a lot in advance!
  • dstillman
    1) There's a huge amount of output in there from Better BibTeX. That could definitely be slowing things down.
    Last synced mod time for item 1/25MMGAFI doesn't match time on storage server but hash does -- ignoring
    2) Have you used a third-party Zotero client (e.g., on Android) to sync files to WebDAV? You have ~2000 files in a state that should almost never happen.

    I think we can handle this state better, but in the meantime you can see what happens if you use Reset File Sync History (and nothing else) from the Sync → Reset pane of the preferences. That may not fix it, but there's no harm in trying.
  • fmuro
    2) Yes, Zoo for Zotero. Just to download a couple of files from my webdav server, not full sync. Could that have caused this failure?

    I've removed Zoo (so as not to accidentally open it while debugging), disabled BBT, and restarted in debug mode. Let's see what happens. Now it's syncing over 2500 items.
  • fmuro
    D331335080 this time it ended up and stopped, but I accidentally pushed the sync button, sorry. I sent the report right afterwards. I'll restart and see what happens.
  • fmuro
    Oh, shit, it did it again, starting over after syncing those ~2000 files. I'll reset again the file sync history and be careful not to push the button myself.
  • fmuro
    There was an error message with report ID: 1799260320
  • fmuro
    I also submit the debug log, with ID: D1926311141
  • fmuro
    Again, it finished with an error message: 1170040764
  • fmuro
    I'm going to stop syncing for the moment. Please, tell me if I can do anything else to help with this. Thx!
  • dstillman
    It looks like resetting file sync history may have fixed the original issue. You're no longer receiving the messages you were receiving before.
    Your WebDAV server returned an HTTP 0 error for a GET request.

    If you receive this message repeatedly, check your WebDAV server settings or contact your WebDAV server administrator.
    The error you're getting now is just a failed connection with the server. There's a good chance it's temporary.
  • fmuro
    edited June 8, 2020
    Sorry to come back, but it's restarted the loop once again, with no error message this time. Just in case, I started the debugger when there were ~100 left to sync, and sent you the output after it restarted: D121376927. Let's hope you can see what's causing this loop. This leaves Zotero kind of nonfunctional to me, since continuous syncing drains my battery, so I have to stop it.

  • dstillman
    Have you used Zoo since your earlier sync?
  • dstillman
    Or have you synced Zotero on any other devices?
  • fmuro
    No, just here. I even deleted Zoo when you told me it could be the cause. BBT is still disabled too.
  • dstillman
    OK, I put in what's hopefully a fix for this in the Zotero beta. If you sync with that once, it should correct the entries on the WebDAV server.
  • fmuro
    Fixed!!! Thanks a lot! I'll re-enable BBT and see what happens since, as per your comments, the most likely cause wasn't this extension but Zoo. I won't reinstall Zoo. It's a pity because I find it very, very useful. I know there's an iOS app coming. Will it be ported to Android? Otherwise, I'd like to help improve Zoo so that it becomes usable. Is there any useful information I should share with them in a bug report in order to avoid this kind of database corruption?
  • dstillman
    edited June 9, 2020
    I don't at all know that Zoo caused this. It's just not something we've seen anyone report before, and it seems to have happened for all of your files. This is the relevant explanation in Zotero:

    https://github.com/zotero/zotero/blob/bccf5ff0b2ed5f3afde168c807abf7da9d84be0c/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/storage/webdav.js#L456-L470

    In addition to the possibilities there, it could happen if a Zotero client uploaded an incorrect timestamp to WebDAV (e.g., based on seconds instead of milliseconds).

    (After this fix, it will be harder to know that it's happening, though there'd still be some extra sync activity.)
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