Fails silently if SSID is unusual.

[cire831]

running version 1.2.5

The RPi comes up fine, comitup is active and announcing hotspot comitup-7340. I connect to it and manually launch a browser to 10.42.0.1

I am presented with one selection for "Familytimevacationrentals.com\x20". Yes, I know someone configured a space on the end of the SSID name for the access point. I'll get them to fix this soon as I get the password to the AP.

I select that network and enter the password for the above network. Nothing happens. The RPi running comitup is still in HOTSOT mode, announcing comitup-7340.

I have a console on the RPi, so I then used comitup-cli to connect manually

dvt3 (5): comitup-cli

State: HOTSPOT
Connection: comitup-7340
Points:
    1: Familytimevacationrentals.com\x20
    2: TP-LINK_9827_almond
Available commands:
    (i)nfo
    (r)eload
    (q)uit
    connect to <n>
    (m)anual connection
command?: 1
password: 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/comitup-cli", line 11, in <module>
    load_entry_point('comitup==1.2.5', 'console_scripts', 'comitup-cli')()
  File "/usr/share/comitup/cli/comitupcli.py", line 112, in interpreter
    do_connect(ciu_client, points[index-1]['ssid'], password)
  File "/usr/share/comitup/cli/comitupcli.py", line 37, in do_connect
    ciu_client.ciu_connect(ssid, password)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 145, in __call__
    **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 651, in call_blocking
    message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.Connection.InvalidProperty: 802-11-wireless.ssid: SSID length is out of range <1-32> bytes
dvt3 (6):

[davesteele]

I haven't replicated your specific failure, but I see the problem. The code conflates the ap_name and the mdns domain to be exported on connection. Normally that is not a problem, but your example fails that for a couple reasons.

[davesteele]

Your error message shows that the "\x20" is being taken literally. If that is really a space, that's an additional spin on the problem.

Are you sure it's a space? They are normally supported.

[cire831]

On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 9:43 AM David Steele @.***> wrote:

Your error message shows that the "\x20" is being taken literally. If that is really a space, that's an additional spin on the problem.

Are you sure it's a space? They are normally supported.

in the ssid name itself it is indeed a space, but when the web interface presents it and uses it the representation "\x20" is interpreted literally making the length of the string > 32 bytes.

If I entered the ssid manually as "Familytimevacationrentals.com ", comitup connects to the wireless net correctly.

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[davesteele]

In debugging, I found that a NetworkManager connection that should create a hotspot with a trailing space actually creates one with a bizarre escape sequence. That's a wontfix.

The escape you are seeing is from the "iw" command, which I use to get the AP list. I fixed this, but, well, it leads to the creation of a NetworkManager connection, which changes it back to the escape sequence in connection name and AP name, which will always fail.

This is a NetworkManager bug. wontfix.

[cire831]

no problem.

i'm a long term developer as well. I wrote a ton of the early cisco code.

so i get it. I also understand, that the SSID was misconfigured, seems most nodes ignore the extra space or work around it in some fashion.

The question is is it worth doing a work around in the code for something that is a configuration error to begin with?

Probably not.

But fixing it would make the code more robust. But it's a weird corner case, I'm good either way.

On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 12:50 PM David Steele @.***> wrote:

In debugging, I found that a NetworkManager connection that should create a hotspot with a trailing space actually creates one with a bizarre escape sequence. That's a wontfix https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7570350-the-patient-says-doctor-it-hurts-when-i-do-this .

The escape you are seeing is from the "iw" command, which I use to get the AP list. I fixed this, but, well, it leads to the creation of a NetworkManager connection, which changes it back to the escape sequence in connection name and AP name, which will always fail.

This is a NetworkManager bug. wontfix.

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[cire831]

Your error message shows that the "\x20" is being taken literally. If that is really a space, that's an additional spin on the problem.

Are you sure it's a space? They are normally supported.

the problem is somewhere along the line, the space got translated into an escape sequence which is then literally used.

It isn't translated back into a space. Which then makes the SSID identifier > 32 bytes.

Do you know where the 32 byte limit came from? Is it from the Wifi spec? Probably. I don't care enough to go look it up.

[davesteele]

Yes, SSIDs are limited to 32 chars by spec.