qTox removes from ~/.config/tox/bootstrapNodes.json manually added by user nodes

[greenais]

Contact Details (e.g. Tox ID or email)

tox:A0C42B887F25AD1E8284EFCA74FDDC6803B8889093D0C27C0C87C026236BAB4261DE9585F6FB

qTox Version

v1.18.3

Commit Hash

b7802b4

Toxcore Version

0.2.20

Qt Version

6.8.1

Steps to reproduce

1. Use for a while qTox with default bootstrap nodes built-in
2. Set up you own node on VPS with tox-bootstrapd
3. Rename bootstrapNodes.example.json to bootstrapNodes.json and edit it leaving inside your own node from above and couple of nodes from public list
4. Start qTox and find out that qTox fills you bootstrapNodes.json with downloaded nodes list (which expected) but completely kicking out your own one

Observed Behavior

qTox removes manually added node from ~/.config/tox/bootstrapNodes.json

Expected Behavior

1. qTox keeps nodes in ~/.config/tox/bootstrapNodes.json as rule if any present by user
2. qTox keeps manually added nodes on top of the list starting connection attempts from them and, only if unsuccessful, moves to others in the list

Reproducibility

Always

Operating System

Linux

Operating System version/distro/name/etc.

Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)

Relevant log output

[iphydf]

I've added logging. Is this still happening? If yes, can you check the new logs?

[greenais]

Is it already in the latest 1.18.4 release which I can download to test?

[Green-Sky]

Is it already in the latest 1.18.4 release which I can download to test?

No, but you can try the "nightly" build. https://github.com/TokTok/qTox/releases/tag/nightly

Keep in mind we only added logging, to help you debug this issue. :)

[greenais]

Oh, I see - usual log in ~/.cache/qTox/qtox.log got much bigger size)
There I see related strings:

...
[14:07:06.807 UTC] (tox.core) network.c:1958 : Debug: connecting socket 33 to 172.105.109.31:33445
[14:07:06.807 UTC] (tox.core) network.c:1958 : Debug: connecting socket 35 to 3.0.24.15:33445
[14:07:06.808 UTC] (tox.core) network.c:1958 : Debug: connecting socket 36 to <my_node_IP>:3389
...
[14:07:12.772 UTC] (default) src/core/core.cpp:354 : Debug: Connecting to bootstrap node "<my_node_PBK>"
[14:07:17.037 UTC] (default) src/core/core.cpp:313 : Debug: Connected to the UDP DHT
...
[14:12:54.288 UTC] (default) src/net/bootstrapnodeupdater.cpp:162 : Debug: Loaded 38 bootstrap nodes from ":/conf/nodes.json"
...
[14:13:01.072 UTC] (default) src/net/bootstrapnodeupdater.cpp:162 : Debug: Loaded 1 bootstrap nodes from "~/.config/tox/bootstrapNodes.json"
[14:13:01.072 UTC] (default) src/net/bootstrapnodeupdater.cpp:226 : Debug: User bootstrap nodes file found at "~/.config/tox/bootstrapNodes.json"
[14:13:01.072 UTC] (default) src/net/bootstrapnodeupdater.cpp:162 : Debug: Loaded 1 bootstrap nodes from "~/.config/tox/bootstrapNodes.json"
[14:13:01.072 UTC] (default) src/core/core.cpp:353 : Debug: Connecting to bootstrap node "<my_node_PBK>"
[14:13:04.334 UTC] (default) src/core/core.cpp:312 : Debug: Connected to the UDP DHT

Looks strange to me that qTox first connects to my node (at 14:07:17.037), and only then founds file with it (14:13:01.072) and connects again (14:13:04.334)...
Nevertheless - now my bootstrapNodes.json stays untouched!
With only one (my) node inside and exactly same 413 bytes of size as it was at qTox start. Before it was becoming 14+K after first connection, that's why this issue was created.
The only thing I did was removing write permission from file (now I set it back to have clean test).

I have no idea why it was behaving such a way, seems that now it's gone.

Only question remains - as far as I understand, bootstrapNodes.json should be a kind of storage of actual nodes found on successfull connect, now it's not so - my sole node sits there alone. Is it right?