Weekly GitHub Report for Mastodon - 2024-11-25 12:00:13
Weekly GitHub Report for Mastodon
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Table of Contents
I. News
1.1 Recent Version Releases:
The current version of this repository is v4.3.1
1.2 Other Noteworthy Updates:
II. Issues
2.1 Top 5 Active Issues:
We consider active issues to be issues that that have been commented on most frequently within the last week.
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Implement hushtags: This issue proposes the implementation of "hushtags" as a complement to hashtags, designed to suppress the visibility of posts to accounts that have not opted into seeing specific topics, using a syntax where the octothorpe is placed at the end of the word. The motivation behind this feature is to provide a courtesy function that allows content creators to manage the visibility of their posts more effectively, reducing the burden on users to filter out unwanted content, especially in cases like regional politics or NSFW topics.
- The comments discuss the feasibility and potential alternatives to hushtags, such as groups or streams, which could achieve similar functionality by allowing users to follow specific content subsets. Some commenters express concerns about the technical challenges of implementing hushtags, particularly in a federated environment where not all platforms may adopt the feature. Others argue that hushtags could be simpler for users to understand compared to groups or streams, as they build on the familiar concept of hashtags. There is also a discussion about the importance of user input in feature development and the potential for hushtags to function as an extension of hashtags, with suggestions for how they might be implemented technically within the Mastodon framework.
- Number of comments this week: None
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Starter kits: A way to simplify the entry into the fediverse/social web.: This issue proposes the creation of "starter kits" for the Fediverse, similar to Bluesky's starter packs, allowing users to choose and follow multiple accounts across different instances, thereby simplifying the onboarding process for new users and aiding smaller instances in federating. The idea is to make the entry into platforms like Mastodon easier by providing a decentralized way to follow curated accounts from various services.
- The comments discuss the potential development of this feature, with one user mentioning that it is being worked on and another asking for a way to track its progress. There is a debate about whether this issue is a duplicate of another, with clarification that the related issue focuses more on sharing lists rather than following multiple accounts. The conversation also highlights differences between Mastodon's list functionality and Bluesky's starter packs.
- Number of comments this week: None
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"We're sorry, but something went wrong on our end." when signing in to web: This issue involves a user experiencing an error message when attempting to sign in to their personal Mastodon instance on a new device or incognito tab, despite being able to authenticate with third-party apps and access their account on older tabs or browsers. The problem seems to be related to an error in the logs indicating a decryption issue with ActiveRecord, possibly due to changes in encryption keys after an upgrade.
- The comments reveal that the issue was likely caused by changes to encryption keys, specifically
ACTIVE_RECORD_ENCRYPTION_KEY_DERIVATION_SALTorACTIVE_RECORD_ENCRYPTION_PRIMARY_KEY, after an upgrade. The user acknowledged changing these keys and not having a backup of the old ones. They were directed to a related GitHub issue for a potential solution and expressed gratitude after resolving the problem with the help provided. - Number of comments this week: None
- The comments reveal that the issue was likely caused by changes to encryption keys, specifically
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Allow reserved / blocked usernames to be editable in the Mastodon UI: This issue is about enabling the editing of reserved or blocked usernames directly through the Mastodon user interface, rather than requiring server access, which would be more convenient for maintainers, especially those using hosting providers without server-level access. The motivation behind this is to allow instances to manage disallowed usernames more effectively, preventing confusion or misuse by reserving names that could be misleading or inappropriate, such as "government" accounts or variations of the instance's domain name.
- The comments discuss technical approaches for implementing this feature, such as using a site setting or a dedicated table for storing usernames. Participants consider the potential for regex matching and the need for a system to handle reserved names, including the possibility of community-shared lists. There is a debate on whether the feature should be speculative or based on real server needs, with examples provided of instances facing issues with impersonation and inappropriate account creation. Suggestions include options for human review queues, static and regex-based name blocking, and the ability to import/export lists. The discussion also touches on handling homoglyphs and the implications for existing accounts.
- Number of comments this week: None
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[**ActionView::Template::Error: undefined method
score' for nil**](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/33027): This issue involves a problem encountered after upgrading to version 4.3.1, where emails are not being sent due to errors in the Mailers queue, specifically an "undefined methodscore' for nil" error in the AdminMailer#new_trends job and an "OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError" in the NotificationMailer#mention job. The user suspects these issues may be related to the recent upgrade, as the mail functionality was working in version 4.2.12, and seeks advice on potential causes.
- The comments discuss potential causes for the errors, with suggestions that the first error might be related to a data issue or bug, while the second could be an OpenSSL or system-related issue. The user confirms that the mail was last working in version 4.2.12 and that no operating system changes occurred during the upgrade process, which took a couple of days. There is a consideration that the data issue might be linked to the migration process, although all migrations were completed without errors.
- Number of comments this week: None
2.2 Top 5 Stale Issues:
We consider stale issues to be issues that has had no activity within the last 30 days. The team should work together to get these issues resolved and closed as soon as possible.
As of our latest update, there are no stale issues for the project this week.
2.3 Open Issues
This section lists, groups, and then summarizes issues that were created within the last week in the repository.
Issues Opened This Week: 32
Summarized Issues:
- Starter Kits for Fediverse: The proposal for "starter kits" aims to simplify the onboarding process for new users on the Fediverse by allowing them to follow curated accounts across various instances. This initiative is inspired by Bluesky's starter packs and seeks to lower the entry barrier for smaller or single-user instances. By streamlining the federating process, it hopes to enhance user engagement and community building.
- Moderation and User Awareness Enhancements: Several issues address the need for improved moderation tools and user awareness on Mastodon. These include adding warnings for posts from moderated accounts, allowing post deletions within the Appeals form, and enabling public acknowledgment of reported posts. These features aim to enhance user control, reduce unnecessary reports, and maintain moderation transparency.
- Profile Customization and Image Handling: Enhancements to profile customization and image handling are proposed to improve user experience on Mastodon. These include features for cropping profile pictures, increasing the maximum allowed size for profile images, and addressing issues with image uploads. These changes aim to enhance the aesthetic appeal and functionality of user profiles.
- Search and Discovery Improvements: The need for better search functionality and discovery on Mastodon is highlighted through issues focusing on search accuracy and filtering. Suggestions include improving search results by indexing author names and excluding automated accounts from searches. These improvements aim to enhance the relevance and efficiency of user searches.
- Technical and Performance Issues: Various technical issues affecting Mastodon's performance and reliability are identified, including problems with the ActivityPub::ProcessingWorker, login errors due to encryption changes, and slow post loading. Addressing these issues is crucial for maintaining a smooth and responsive user experience.
- Account Management and Security: Enhancements to account management and security are proposed, including features for account mirroring across servers and multiuser setups for institutional accounts. These features aim to improve account resiliency, security, and ease of management.
- User Interface and Usability Enhancements: Several issues focus on improving the user interface and usability of Mastodon, such as adding timestamps to notifications, enhancing the handle display, and improving the moderation interface. These changes aim to make the platform more intuitive and user-friendly.
- Bug Fixes and System Improvements: Various bugs and system improvements are identified, including issues with CSS on Windows, email sending errors, and problems with embed.js. Addressing these issues is essential for ensuring the platform's stability and functionality.
2.4 Closed Issues
This section lists, groups, and then summarizes issues that were closed within the last week in the repository. This section also links the associated pull requests if applicable.
Issues Closed This Week: 13
Summarized Issues:
- Scheduled Statuses from Frozen Accounts: This issue highlights a problem in the Mastodon project where scheduled statuses from frozen accounts are still being sent. The expectation is that such accounts should not be able to post, even if the posts were scheduled before the account was frozen. This behavior contradicts the intended functionality and poses a risk of unauthorized content being published.
- Rendering Problems on Admin Page: A rendering issue on the /admin/accounts/ page of a Mastodon instance causes long display names to not be truncated. This results in layout issues by pushing off other elements like post count, follower count, and last active time. The problem affects the usability and visual consistency of the admin interface.
- Incorrect Reply Count in Home Feed: In Mastodon version 4.2.7, the home feed displays a reply count of "0" for some Toots that actually have multiple replies. This inconsistency occurs despite other Toots showing the correct reply count. The issue affects user perception and interaction with the platform.
- Right-Click Functionality for Posts: There is a need for the Mastodon web interface to allow users to right-click on a post to open it in a new tab. The current method of clicking the timestamp is not intuitive and disrupts the user experience by causing the timeline view to change. This feature would align Mastodon's functionality with other platforms like Twitter.
- API Pagination Error: A bug in the Mastodon API causes a
422 Invalid dateerror when usingmax_idormin_idparameters for searching statuses. This error is due to the API's rejection of internally converted ISO-8601 datetimes, affecting pagination in clients like Ivory. The issue hinders efficient data retrieval and navigation.
- Future-Dated Posts Trending: On the Mastodon platform, posts with future dates can trend, which is contrary to expected behavior. Such posts should either be excluded from trends or not trend at all. This issue was demonstrated by a specific post that trended unexpectedly on mastodon.social.
- Persistent Loading Bar on Firefox: A blue loading bar appears constantly on Firefox for MacOS due to a potential bug related to the
notificationsendpoint. This may be caused by interrupted websocket connections leading the browser to switch to active polling. The issue affects user experience by displaying the loading bar unnecessarily.
- Blank Pages After Upgrade: A user experiences completely blank pages on their Mastodon server after upgrading from version 4.2.0 to 4.3.1 on Debian 11. Despite following various troubleshooting steps, potential problems were identified in the lockfile and dependency versions. This issue disrupts the functionality and accessibility of the server.
- Docker Hub Rate Limit Error: A user encounters a Docker Hub rate limit error when attempting to pull Docker images for Mastodon version 4.3.x. This has led to difficulties in maintaining their Mastodon instance. A suggestion is made to use GitHub's package registry to avoid these rate limits.
- Deployment Error on TrueNAS: Deploying a Mastodon instance on TrueNAS results in the streaming container exiting with a "Module Not Found" error. This is due to an incorrect configuration in the Docker Compose file. The issue was resolved by adjusting the command to correctly reference the module within the container.
- Duplicate Notifications in Slow Mode: Enabling slow mode in the Mastodon project results in duplicate notifications within notification groups. This occurs due to the logic failing to differentiate between old and new notifications, particularly when streaming is broken and polling is used instead. The issue affects the clarity and efficiency of notifications.
- Incorrect Video Aspect Ratio: A portrait-mode video posted on Mastodon is incorrectly displayed with a landscape aspect ratio. This is due to the CSS aspect-ratio being set based on the video's base resolution without accounting for its rotation metadata. The issue results in the video being cropped vertically, affecting its presentation.