Network fail affecting Steam and other apps since updating OS

Hi there,

I have had a problem for quite a while with running Steam since an OS update, it says that it can’t connect to network despite my wifi connection being perfectly fine. What I did to override it was that I was returning to previous OS before the update where it worked perfectly fine.

Unfortunately, it seems that my OS has updated again and now both versions I can choose from are not able to run Steam, it comes up with the same fail message. Sadly also some more apps do not work in this version - for example Firefox and Chromium (while Google Chrome works fine).

I have attached the diagnostics, can you please help me?

eos-diagnostic-210405_205528_UTC 0200.txt (1016.3 KB)

  1. Open the application called ‘Terminal
  2. In this application run the command:
flatpak repair
flatpak update --appstream && flatpak update -y
flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam --reset
flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam

It said this when I got to the second line:
error: No such ref ‘app/org.kde.Kgeography/x86_64/eos3’ in remote eos-apps

Gtk-Message: 21:27:36.228: Failed to load module “canberra-gtk-module”
Gtk-Message: 21:27:36.229: Failed to load module “canberra-gtk-module”
Can’t find ‘steam-runtime-check-requirements’, continuing anyway
/sysroot/home/veronika/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Startup - updater built Feb 12 2021 23:21:33
ILocalize::AddFile() failed to load file “public/steambootstrapper_english.txt”.
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1608507519)
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Loading cached metrics from disk (/sysroot/home/veronika/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Failed to load cached hosts file (File ‘update_hosts_cached.vdf’ not found), using defaults
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] 1. http://media.steampowered.com, /client/, Realm ‘steamglobal’, weight was 1, source = ‘baked in’
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1608507519)
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Verifying installation…
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Unable to read and verify install manifest /sysroot/home/veronika/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_ubuntu12.installed
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Verification complete
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Downloading Update…
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Checking for available update…
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Downloading manifest: http://media.steampowered.com/client/steam_client_ubuntu12
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1608507519)
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Download failed: http error 0 (media.steampowered.com/client/steam_client_ubuntu12)
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] DownloadManifest - exhausted list of download hosts
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] failed to load manifest from buffer.
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Failed to load manifest
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Error: Download failed: http error 0
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Saving metrics to disk (/sysroot/home/veronika/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2021-04-05 21:27:51] Error: Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again.
[2021-04-05 21:27:59] Shutdown
src/tier0/threadtools.cpp (3553) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread ‘Thread(0x0x56fddc60/0x0xf2803b’
src/tier0/threadtools.cpp (3553) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread ‘Thread(0x0x56fddc60/0x0xf2803b’
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1608507519)
crash_20210405212800_5.dmp[4418]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/crash_20210405212800_5.dmp
veronika@endless:~$ crash_20210405212800_5.dmp[4418]: Finished uploading minidump (out-of-process): success = no
crash_20210405212800_5.dmp[4418]: error: Couldn’t resolve host name
crash_20210405212800_5.dmp[4418]: file ‘’/tmp/dumps/crash_20210405212800_5.dmp’’, upload no: ‘‘Couldn’t resolve host name’’

Can you please post the output of:

flatpak info --show-permissions org.mozilla.firefox

and

flatpak run --command=curl  org.mozilla.firefox -v -s https://egon.bot.nu/test.php

We had few similar issues in the past where network connections in (some) flatpak applications stopped working after doing a system upgrade - with varying success in solving these issues. I really would love to nail it down this time to make this not happen anymore in the future :wink:

This is the output of the first one:

[Context]
shared=network;ipc;
sockets=x11;pulseaudio;pcsc;
devices=all;
filesystems=xdg-download;/etc/firefox/policies;
persistent=.mozilla;

[Session Bus Policy]
org.gnome.SessionManager=talk
org.freedesktop.Notifications=talk
org.gtk.vfs.=talk
org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver=talk
org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.firefox.
=own
org.a11y.Bus=talk
org.freedesktop.FileManager1=talk

[System Bus Policy]
org.freedesktop.NetworkManager=talk

This is output of the second one:

  • STATE: INIT => CONNECT handle 0x55f55a1ac820; line 1643 (connection #-5000)
  • Added connection 0. The cache now contains 1 members
  • STATE: CONNECT => WAITRESOLVE handle 0x55f55a1ac820; line 1689 (connection #0)
  • Could not resolve host: egon.bot.nu
  • The cache now contains 0 members
  • Closing connection 0
  • Expire cleared (transfer 0x55f55a1ac820)

OK, can you please give the output of:

flatpak run --command=curl  org.mozilla.firefox -D - -s http://www.google.at | head -1

and

flatpak run --command=curl  org.mozilla.firefox -D - -s http://212.33.36.186 | head -1

if my current assumptions are correct, the first one shouldn’t output anything and the later one a HTTP/1.1 302 Found. Is that correct? If yes, please also give me the output of:

ls -la /etc/resolv.conf; cat /etc/resolv.conf

Yes, you were correct about the first two. This is output of the third one:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 Feb 7 16:44 /etc/resolv.conf -> /var/run/NetworkManager/resolv.conf

Generated by NetworkManager

search broadband
nameserver 192.168.1.1
nameserver fe80::d635:1dff:fe07:6f3e%wlp2s0

Ok, the reason for the apps not able to connect to anywhere has something to do with their inability to resolve the DNS name (something like www.google.at) to the IP adress used for the communication…

As this happens only for applications running Sandboxed, can you please give use additional insight with:

  1. Run:cat /etc/nsswitch.conf (and post it’s output)
  2. Run: flatpak run --command=sh org.mozilla.firefox
  3. Now you are inside the Sandbox, please now run and post the output of those two commands:
ls -la /etc/resolv.conf; cat /etc/resolv.conf

and

ls -la /etc/nsswitch.conf; cat /etc/nsswitch.conf

With these information we should have enough insight to either solve the issue or creating a bugreport upstream if it’s not a configuration issue arisen during the upgrade.

Thank you for your patience in searching for the cause :slight_smile:

Here are the outputs:

  1. /etc/nsswitch.conf

Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.

If you have the glibc-doc-reference' and info’ packages installed, try:

`info libc “Name Service Switch”’ for information about this file.

passwd: files altfiles systemd
group: files altfiles systemd
shadow: files
gshadow: files

hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname
networks: files

protocols: db files
services: db files
ethers: db files
rpc: db files

netgroup: nis

  1. [:package: org.mozilla.firefox ~]$ ls -la /etc/resolv.conf; cat /etc/resolv.conf
    lrwxrwxrwx 1 veronika veronika 29 Apr 11 16:48 /etc/resolv.conf -> /run/host/monitor/resolv.conf
    cat: /etc/resolv.conf: No such file or directory

  2. [:package: org.mozilla.firefox ~]$ ls -la /etc/nsswitch.conf; cat /etc/nsswitch.conf
    -rwxr-xr-x 21 nfsnobody nfsnobody 248 Jan 1 1970 /etc/nsswitch.conf

Name Service Switch configuration file.

See nsswitch.conf(5) for details.

passwd: files
group: files
shadow: files

publickey: files

hosts: files dns
networks: files

protocols: files
services: files
ethers: files
rpc: files

netgroup: files

@egrath Any solution please?

Sorry, forgot about the Thread :pensive:

Can you please run:

echo nameserver 192.168.1.1 | sudo tee /etc/resolv.conf

If this does not make any difference, please proceed with:

Run:

flatpak install -y flathub org.gnome.Sdk//3.38

Then, when this command has finished, run:

flatpak run --share=network --devel --command=strace org.gnome.Sdk//3.38 -y python3 -c 'import socket; print(socket.gethostbyname_ex("github.com"))' 2>&1 | tee -a ~/dns-strace.txt

This will produce a file called “dns-strace.txt” in your Home Directory. Please upload it.

Hii, thank you for your answer.

Actually the second command came up with an error:
veronika@endless:~$ flatpak install -y flathub org.gnome.Sdk//3.38
Looking for matches…
error: Flatpak system operation Configure not allowed for user

Sorry, my fault - the correct command has to be prepended with a sudo:

sudo flatpak install -y flathub org.gnome.Sdk//3.38

Then proceed with the second command:

flatpak run --share=network --devel --command=strace org.gnome.Sdk//3.38 -y python3 -c 'import socket; print(socket.gethostbyname_ex("github.com"))' 2>&1 | tee -a ~/dns-strace.txt

@egrath

Thank you, that worked now. This is the file: dns-strace.txt (146.2 KB)

I now know the reason, but have no solution… (files needed for name resolution are not set up correctly for flatpaks on your device).

Can you please run:

systemctl status --user flatpak-session-helper

and post its output.

@egrath This is the output.

veronika@endless:~$ systemctl status --user flatpak-session-helper
● flatpak-session-helper.service - flatpak session helper
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/flatpak-session-helper.service; stati
Active: active (running) since Sun 2021-05-09 14:55:17 CEST; 1min 40s ago
Main PID: 998 (flatpak-session)
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1001.slice/user@1001.service/flatpak-session-helpe
├─ 998 /usr/libexec/flatpak-session-helper
└─1002 server --sh -n /run/user/1001/.flatpak-helper/pkcs11-flatpak

May 09 14:55:17 endless systemd[620]: Starting flatpak session helper…
May 09 14:55:17 endless systemd[620]: Started flatpak session helper.
lines 1-10/10 (END)

@Daniel Any Ideas on this? It seems that for some reason, /run/host/monitor/resolv.conf is not available, so /etc/resolv.conf links to a file actually not available and name resolution fails in turn.

Please run in the terminal:

strace -s 4096 flatpak run --verbose --command=ls org.mozilla.firefox &>log.txt

That will create a file called log.txt, please upload it here.

And then run:

ls -lR /run/user/$UID/.flatpak-helper/monitor

and paste the output of that command here too.