nixos/geoclue2: not working because Mozilla Location Service is retiring #321121

leon-erd · 2024-06-19T21:48:45Z

Describe the bug

Since June 12 Mozilla has shutdown their location service (see https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/geoclue/geoclue/-/issues/186, mozilla/ichnaea#2065). This means that the nixos geoclue service in its current state does not work anymore.
Quoting the upstream maintainer: "It is up to the distros and individual users to decide what backend they use for wifi and cell location and to get the necessary API keys. MLS already required distro-specific keys."

Steps To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

set services.geoclue2.enable = true;

Expected behavior

Geoclue service working out of the box.

Additional information

Geoclue service logs:

Jun 19 23:34:26 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found
Jun 19 23:35:31 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found
Jun 19 23:36:44 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Could not connect to location.services.mozilla.com: No route to host
Jun 19 23:36:49 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found
Jun 19 23:38:56 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found
Jun 19 23:41:02 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found
Jun 19 23:41:34 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found
Jun 19 23:41:52 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found
Jun 19 23:42:55 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found
Jun 19 23:46:20 leon-inspiron .geoclue-wrappe[294835]: Failed to query location: Query location SOUP error: Not Found

Notify maintainers

@davidak @bobby285271 @lovesegfault @peterhoeg @worldofpeace

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bobby285271 · 2024-06-19T23:56:00Z

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/geoclue/geoclue/-/merge_requests/177 removes/disables MLS stuff in default config, the relevant NixOS options are services.geoclue2.enable3G, services.geoclue2.enableWifi, services.geoclue2.geoProviderUrl, services.geoclue2.submissionUrl.

cc @NixOS/freedesktop

Janrupf · 2024-06-22T14:40:04Z

I'd like to note that for anyone who comes across this issue and has enabled services.automatic-timezoned.enable = true;, this is now the reason it no longer works.

zoriya · 2024-06-22T14:51:23Z

Do we have a workaround for this in the meantime?

Janrupf · 2024-06-22T15:54:51Z

None of the solution I came across would work for large scale distribution, other services seem to require an API key. I for now have set up a Google Maps API key for my system, but that obviously wouldn't work for putting it into nixpkgs.

Nemo157 · 2024-06-22T22:42:21Z

In the meantime it would be useful to expose config for the static-source in the module so we can manually set it and keep using services dependent on geoclue.

tylerjl · 2024-06-24T06:39:33Z

Should we consider emitting a warning when the Mozilla location server is set? I also got bitten by this and given that we all now what's going on, any user that 1) has enabled geoclue and also 2) leaves the provider URL to the now-defunct Mozilla server is going to be in a broken state we can detect just by the nature of the options that are set. At the very least we can short-circuit users' debugging at the module option level (I also ended up plugging in a Google API key which sucks, but at least it's working again).

Arch just loaded up a static API key, is that... an okay thing to do? I imagine that they might be in a precarious position over there if it's just a normal user API key that the entire distribution is using now, but if that's permissible from Google's perspective, maybe it's a workaround at the nixos-level (albeit kind of... icky).

Long term a viable third-party location provider would be good (though who knows who'd run it), medium-term maybe we can ensure that all possible configuration options are available at the module level to configure geoclue2 and provide some wiki docs about it, and immediate-term we can warn users about what's going on at system build-time.

l0b0 · 2024-06-26T15:37:09Z

In the meantime, timedatectl set-timezone CONTINENT/CITY works.

This reverts commit ade34b3. I understand now why redshift wasn't working this time. See [this issue](NixOS/nixpkgs#321121).

This provider is now-defunct and will not work correctly. For additional information, refer to: NixOS#321121

tylerjl · 2024-07-08T05:56:23Z

Module update PR is up at #325430. Not ideal, but it should help lead users to solutions in broken installations.

I'd argue that next steps here are:

Update the module to accept all available settings in case users need to customize it further to find resolution
Long term, find an alternative to default to. The recent announcement of https://beacondb.net/ might be the sort of thing we're looking for.

lucasmz-dev · 2024-07-20T03:26:47Z

positon.xyz is also an option that might have more availability due to having the benefit of using commercial data, instead of having a bunch of computer nerds collect data with their phone

jtojnar · 2024-07-21T12:38:07Z

Re: position.xyz https://grapheneos.org/articles/positon-location-service

Edit: I have not verified the veracity of the above article, but there are some serious accusations in it, that warrant investigation.

NovaViper · 2024-07-21T16:16:37Z

👀 Wow I thought something was fishy on initial glance but reading that article revealed a much deeper rabbit hole that shows just how dishonest the people over the project are. Thanks for sharing that @jtojnar, this needs to blow up more so people are aware of their antics and stop giving them support.

99linesofcode · 2024-08-29T21:28:38Z

Perhaps something like https://beacondb.net would qualify* as a worthy FOSS alternative to MLS?

fufexan · 2024-08-29T21:46:23Z

Could be a good option. The maintainer is looking for beta testers in order to gauge the potential load on a server, and plan hardware upgrades accordingly. https://codeberg.org/beacondb/beacondb/issues/5

nyabinary · 2024-09-20T16:55:05Z

Could be a good option. The maintainer is looking for beta testers in order to gauge the potential load on a server, and plan hardware upgrades accordingly. https://codeberg.org/beacondb/beacondb/issues/5

The developer also uses NixOS which is pretty cool and nice (On an actual on topic thing I have been using it for a while, and it has been working pretty well for me :))

joelkoen · 2024-10-01T08:26:14Z

Hey, BeaconDB dev + fellow NixOS user here.

There has been some discussion in various channels about transferring Mozilla's dataset to a trusted organisation that can sign a legal contract with Mozilla, so that an organisation can host MLS's DB while merging new data for the open source community.

As the NixOS foundation is based in The Netherlands (not the US, no silly patents), and the NixOS community seems to be quite keen on working towards a solution for an MLS replacement, is this something the NixOS foundation could look in to? Keen to hear any thoughts on this.

Edit: I'd like to make clear that I have not confirmed this with the Mozilla side of things just yet. Am in touch with them now though

lovesegfault · 2024-10-01T13:30:25Z

(Yubikey sneeze + tridactyl, sorry)

99linesofcode · 2024-10-15T09:45:34Z

Hey, BeaconDB dev + fellow NixOS user here.

There has been some discussion in various channels about transferring Mozilla's dataset to a trusted organisation that can sign a legal contract with Mozilla, so that an organisation can host MLS's DB while merging new data for the open source community.

As the NixOS foundation is based in The Netherlands (not the US, no silly patents), and the NixOS community seems to be quite keen on working towards a solution for an MLS replacement, is this something the NixOS foundation could look in to? Keen to hear any thoughts on this.

Edit: I'd like to make clear that I have not confirmed this with the Mozilla side of things just yet. Am in touch with them now though

@joelkoen I applaud your effort. Was told on Matrix that the timing on this wasn't great (the foundation is undergoing some governance changes) but @refroni would be the person to talk to. Perhaps you can reach out to him to see whether it's something the NixOS foundation would be interested in?

joelkoen · 2024-10-16T00:09:45Z

Unfortunately, a week ago Mozilla responded saying that for privacy reasons they are unable to share the WiFi database with another organisation, which I understand.

I replied a day later asking if they would consider temporarily making their data available again on a server they would own. If it was read only, it would also be much simpler+cheaper for them to run, and this would greatly benefit the open source software community given the amount of coverage they have. They have not responded to that idea yet.

Mozilla discontinued its gelocation service, used by Geoclue2 as default See: NixOS/nixpkgs#321121

The Mozilla API key option was removed since the Mozilla location service is now defunct, see NixOS#321121

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/geoclue/geoclue/-/blob/2.7.2/NEWS The Mozilla API key option was removed since the Mozilla location service is now defunct, see NixOS#321121 Fixes NixOS#325430

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/geoclue/geoclue/-/blob/2.7.2/NEWS The Mozilla API key option was removed since the Mozilla location service is now defunct, see NixOS#321121 Fixes NixOS#327464

workaround for MLS shutdown. see NixOS/nixpkgs#321121

yajo · 2024-12-03T08:56:50Z

I found out https://reallyfreegeoip.org/ with the promise to be always free without tokens or auth. The API endpoint https://reallyfreegeoip.org/json/ seems to give a lot of details.

However, I enabled it with services.geoclue2.geoProviderUrl = "https://reallyfreegeoip.org/json"; but it fails with:

dic 03 09:54:03 yajothink .geoclue-wrappe[30661]: json_object_get_object_member: assertion 'node != NULL' failed
dic 03 09:54:03 yajothink .geoclue-wrappe[30661]: json_object_get_double_member: assertion 'object != NULL' failed
dic 03 09:54:03 yajothink .geoclue-wrappe[30661]: json_object_get_double_member: assertion 'object != NULL' failed
dic 03 09:54:03 yajothink .geoclue-wrappe[30661]: json_object_get_double_member: assertion 'node != NULL' failed

Is there some way to wire that service with geoclue2? (Reported upstream FWIW)

sim6 · 2024-12-03T09:31:34Z

@yajo services.geoclue2.geoProviderUrl is the url to the wifi based geolocation service like https://beacondb.net (https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/732ec1a9eaae7759f086bd6d796877854842da1f/nixos/modules/services/desktops/geoclue2.nix#L128C11-L128C51). It is not for a IP based geolocation service like https://reallyfreefeoip.org.

joelkoen · 2024-12-16T22:45:50Z

I've given the OK for distros to start setting BeaconDB as a default if they are interested. I would be happy to open a PR here in nixpkgs if the NixOS community is keen on using BeaconDB by default?

Also, forgot to update here with regards to my previous comment - Mozilla has unfortunately said they're not interested in temporarily hosting their data read-only.

nyabinary · 2024-12-17T20:50:55Z

I've given the OK for distros to start setting BeaconDB as a default if they are interested. I would be happy to open a PR here in nixpkgs if the NixOS community is keen on using BeaconDB by default?

Also, forgot to update here with regards to my previous comment - Mozilla has unfortunately said they're not interested in temporarily hosting their data read-only.

Might as well open a PR :3 and have the discussion there

leon-erd added the 0.kind: bug Something is broken label Jun 19, 2024

This was referenced Jun 26, 2024

services.geoclue2: no way to add [static-source] #311595

Open

services.localtimed.enable = true by itself fails #293212

Open

dmarcoux added a commit to dmarcoux/dotfiles that referenced this issue Jun 30, 2024

Revert "Replace redshift by go-sct"

c9966fa

This reverts commit ade34b3. I understand now why redshift wasn't working this time. See [this issue](NixOS/nixpkgs#321121).

tylerjl added a commit to tylerjl/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Jul 8, 2024

nixos/geoclue2: issue warnings when mozilla location service is set

af420ed

This provider is now-defunct and will not work correctly. For additional information, refer to: NixOS#321121

tylerjl mentioned this issue Jul 8, 2024

nixos/geoclue2: issue warnings when mozilla location service is set #325430

Open

13 tasks

stephen-huan mentioned this issue Jul 25, 2024

Enabling Geoclue2 should enable services.avahi #329522

Open

99linesofcode mentioned this issue Aug 29, 2024

localtimed fails to set time zone #68489

Open

3ulalia mentioned this issue Aug 31, 2024

upstream: fix geoclue2 location api endpoint 3ulalia/flake#11

Open

lovesegfault assigned lovesegfault and unassigned lovesegfault Oct 1, 2024

maxbrunet mentioned this issue Oct 15, 2024

Geoclue not providing location anymore maxbrunet/automatic-timezoned#424

Closed

workflow added a commit to workflow/dotfiles that referenced this issue Oct 19, 2024

fix(redshift): remove automatic location provider

98bcfc6

Mozilla discontinued its gelocation service, used by Geoclue2 as default See: NixOS/nixpkgs#321121

kira-bruneau added a commit to kira-bruneau/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Oct 30, 2024

geoclue2: 2.7.0 -> 2.7.2

8022800

The Mozilla API key option was removed since the Mozilla location service is now defunct, see NixOS#321121

kira-bruneau added a commit to kira-bruneau/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Oct 30, 2024

geoclue2: 2.7.0 -> 2.7.2

5fc03e2

The Mozilla API key option was removed since the Mozilla location service is now defunct, see NixOS#321121

kira-bruneau added a commit to kira-bruneau/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Oct 30, 2024

geoclue2: 2.7.0 -> 2.7.2

9fa820e

The Mozilla API key option was removed since the Mozilla location service is now defunct, see NixOS#321121

kira-bruneau mentioned this issue Oct 30, 2024

geoclue2: 2.7.0 -> 2.7.2 #352480

Merged

13 tasks

jakobkukla added a commit to jakobkukla/nixos-config that referenced this issue Nov 12, 2024

fix(base): use beaconDB as geoclue provider

155f102

workaround for MLS shutdown. see NixOS/nixpkgs#321121

TraceyC77 mentioned this issue Jan 6, 2025

geoclue: Add a default provider getsolus/packages#4753

Open

1 task

RyanGibb mentioned this issue Jan 19, 2025

feat: Automatic location retrieval using geoclue2 bcyran/timewall#141

Merged

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nixos/geoclue2: not working because Mozilla Location Service is retiring #321121

nixos/geoclue2: not working because Mozilla Location Service is retiring #321121

leon-erd commented Jun 19, 2024

bobby285271 commented Jun 19, 2024 •

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Janrupf commented Jun 22, 2024

zoriya commented Jun 22, 2024

Janrupf commented Jun 22, 2024

Nemo157 commented Jun 22, 2024

tylerjl commented Jun 24, 2024

l0b0 commented Jun 26, 2024

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nyabinary commented Dec 17, 2024

nixos/geoclue2: not working because Mozilla Location Service is retiring #321121

nixos/geoclue2: not working because Mozilla Location Service is retiring #321121

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leon-erd commented Jun 19, 2024

Describe the bug

Steps To Reproduce

Expected behavior

Additional information

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bobby285271 commented Jun 19, 2024 • edited Loading

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