localStorage / IndexDB write failures are fatal

[novocaine]

Steps to reproduce

1. Run out of disk space or use a browser that disallows writing to localStorage, such as mobile safari in private mode
2. Perform an operation in Element Web that requires writing to localStorage. There are many of these cases all over the app.

What happened?

A console error will usually be visible as we don't typically catch these exceptions.

The app will show undefined behaviour depending on what was prevented from happening; ranging from minor state not being preserved across sessions to irretrievable data loss of state that might only be held client side.

What did you expect?

The app should gracefully handle localStorage write failure. It should inform the user and cleanly abort the current operation.

Operating system

No response

Application version

No response

How did you install the app?

No response

[Yoric]

For what it's worth, it happened to me yesterday (10 minutes before my Fosdem talk) with a disk that still had 300Gb free. I suspect that some quota was hit somewhere, either by Firefox, or AppArmor, or snap, or something: https://github.com/matrix-org/element-web-rageshakes/issues/10415

[colemickens]

I'm pretty confused. I'm hitting this right now, being told that my browser isn't supported... but I just logged in yesterday, have barely had the client open, have nothing in localStorage, it seems to be in IndexedDB. How do I even recover from this state? :/

[jukefr]

While waiting for this issue to get solved :

The localStorage allowed size per origin varies browser to browser.
It is 2.5 MB on Chrome, 5 MB on Firefox by default.
I used to face this issue every month or so (with increasing frequency), which completely prevents you from sending any messages, or reacting or anything (rendering element completely unusable).
There is no error displayed on the UI and it only becomes apparent if you know about the dev tools and look at the console.

As a temporary hack for firefox you can change the default maximum storage size allowed in the about:config page under the key dom.storage.default_quota. A similar thing is probably possible on most browsers. You would want to search for something along the lines of increase localStorage default value in [browser].
Do take note that this will apply to every single website and could lead to significant increase in storage consumption potentially.

This is only a hack, it would be preferable to fix this issue on the actual app.
This workaround is also probably out of reach of non "power-users".

edit: apparently it is only possible to increase the value on firefox and opera, not chrome.

[novocaine]

@colemickens @Yoric If you are experiencing fatal issues that are not obviously linked to running out of disk space, please don't comment in this issue (which is about disk space), please file a separate issue - we need all the details in the bug template from you and ideally debug logs. There are other reasons why indexDb may spontaneously combust e.g. #18625

[Yoric]

@novocaine Sure, I'll reopen #20931.

[t3chguy]

Needs design for the UX of the app presenting the user with a failure when the app completely breaks and a refresh may not be enough to fix it, your browser simply said that we cannot access storage or your quote is full, this may be related to your disk getting too full for your browser to be happy

[roberth]

I've encountered this problem in element-desktop.

The worst part is that I had no clue that anything was wrong for more than a day. If Element had shown an error message asking for a restart, that would have been fine, but in my case, there was no way for me to know that I was not receiving any messages, even though I got quite the deluge when I figured it out eventually. (For context, I usually only respond to matrix messages, so an error message when sending would not help me usually)

---

Not sure if useful, but I've found these logs when restarting element-desktop after it's been sitting idle not receiving anything, after disk had been full for a couple of hours.

Apr 08 17:11:04 hostname xsession[2488556]: [2488556:0408/171104.750105:ERROR:leveldb_factory.cc(88)] Failed to open LevelDB database from /home/user/.config/Element/IndexedDB/vector_vector_0.indexeddb.leveldb,Corruption: checksum mismatch
Apr 08 17:11:04 hostname xsession[2488556]: [2488556:0408/171104.750139:ERROR:indexed_db_factory_impl.cc(677)] Got corruption for { origin: vector://vector, top-level site: vector://vector, nonce: <null>, ancestor chain bit: Same-Site }, checksum mismatch
Apr 08 17:11:04 hostname xsession[2488556]: [2488556:0408/171104.759099:ERROR:indexed_db_factory_impl.cc(813)] IndexedDB recovering from a corrupted (and deleted) database.

I also have log lines from around the time that the disk was full, but I'm not sure whether the process was element-desktop or chromium, but I guess it could be relevant either way because it's the same tech.

:ERROR:simple_index_file.cc(322)] Failed to write the temporary index file

Versions:

Element version: 1.11.24
Olm version: 3.2.12

[MayeulC]

I also encountered that error while running out of disk space (updates in the background).

I would have sent an error with logs from the client, but it returns "No connected database".

Screenshot

Restarting Element twice after this (initially to try to send the logs), it looks like I didn't actually have to logout, and I'm back in my account.

Edit: I got the message again some time later (without running out of disk space again). I'm not able to skip the message anymore.

[erebion]

I just had my disk running out of space while using Element Desktop. It forced me to log out and now I cannot log in, it just keeps syncing forever.

[gaelledel]

Solution here: https://www.figma.com/file/6stpb3BzdAIYoiqToelD6x/GH-issues?type=design&node-id=1-7836&mode=design&t=re3NRnvUgbZuDLzj-4