Syncthing has stopped syncing...cannot identify the issue.

[SalishSea420]

A couple of months ago my Macbook Pro had what appeared to be an unusually hard finder crash. After the dust had settled and I completed repairs, I noticed SyncThing had stopped syncing.

As I attempted to work through the issue, I noticed that my version (1.6.1) was far behind the current version (1.27.10), that has been addressed...SyncThing version update, seeming version contradiction...

The update did afford one benefit to this issue, it returned the browser interface, which would not appear prior to the update.

Behavior:

The SyncThing menu cycles between two states, Unavailable and then Running Offline ( refer to attachments ). Selecting any of those options in the drop down menus has no affect. The cycle is about 4 to 5 seconds.

During the cycle, a Connection Error is shown and then vanishes, then reappears, etc. My attempt to remove and then reinstall SyncThing ( above ) did not stop the problem. Pausing SyncThing does not affect the cycle.

The other machine, Mac Pro is not affected, other than not syncing with the MacBook Pro and simply shwos the MacBook Pro as disconnected.

I am completely stumped. I have no idea how to fix this.

I am running Ventura 13.6.9 (22G830)

[xor-gate]

Probably this has something todo with the Executable is started. With previous version it was copied and auto-updated. Now it is executed from within the bundle and auto-update the for the daemon/webinterface is disabled. You could try to reset the Syncthing macOS settings:

• Quit Syncthing from menubar
• Open Terminal
• Execute defaults delete com.github.xor-gate.syncthing-macosx
• Open Syncthing

[xor-gate]

Also make sure when Syncthing from menubar is stopped, open "Activity Monitor" and search for syncthing and make sure it is not running.

[SalishSea420]

xor-gate: this completely worked with one caveat...I ran exactly to your directions but when I started SyncThing the exact same behavior began again.

I started over, following your directions, but this time I used an Uninstaller app, cleaning everything out of the computer that had anything to do with SyncThing, this time when I restarted SyncThing it worked. The cycling of status has stopped.

Thank you so much.

The one downside, is that the setup on the MacBook Pro is now completely at start, attempts to reconnect the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro and their existing folders (once connected) have not gone well.

Rather than connect to the existing device and folders, it creates another device ( a duplicate ).

Trying to work that out. But I am still a lot farthger than where I ws before I recived your help, thanks again.

[xor-gate]

If the "Uninstaller app" removed the ~/Library/Application Support/Syncthing folder then your device certificate and settings are lost. Then indeed it creates a new device. Maybe you could try the following:

• Stop Syncthing from menubar
• Open Terminal
• Move current settings to download folder command mv 'Library/Application Support/Syncthing/' ~/Downloads
• Start Syncthing
• Reconfigure everything

NOTE: When you reconfigure everything you have two options for folders. Receive them from the other devices by letting them announce them as shared. Make sure they are set as send & receive or send only from the other side. Make sure you have at least a copy of your files somewhere safe just in case Syncthing removes files. Setting them send-only from the other device makes sure deletes are not propagated from your problematic machine.

Good luck!

[SalishSea420]

Apologies, I may have failed to tell you some critical information.

My setup does not have the SyncThing folders in my system/user folder.

I created a separate volume dedicated to SyncThing so a path would look like this...

/Volumes/SyncThing/Archive | eMail

rather than...

/Users/username/Archive | eMail

Would I use the same procedure you've shown earlier in this thread?

[xor-gate]

Syncthing stores its settings and configuration under ~/Library/Application Support/Syncthing. The volume you mention is only for data. So yes you still could try my instructions.

[SalishSea420]

I double backed up everything on both computers, with Time Machine and SuperDuper. For future reference the MacBook Pro is named PORTA XX and the Mac Pro (2019) is named The Beast.

I shutdown SyncThing on both computers that share SyncThing folders.

I executed mv 'Library/Application Support/Syncthing/' ~/Downloads in the Terminal, on the Macbook Pro that has been having all the issues.

I enabled SyncThing on both devices. At first, the MacBook Pro seemed noticeably improved. Using the API key from the MacBook Pro I 'invited' it to connect to the Mac Pro, that all went well but not for long.

They connected but like I mentioned earlier, instead of reestablishing the former connection between the two computers, it created a new duplicate. (revue attached images)

The SyncThing interface on the MacBook Pro / PORTA XX seems normal but on the Mac Pro / The Beast you can see that there are two devices named PORTA XX.local, one is listed as active and one is not. The active one is the new duplicate.

The status of SyncThing on the Macbook Pro, also seems suspect as reported by the menu icon...

This is where I stopped, fearing another move on my part might be a mistake.

Did I miss some step in your advice?

Again, your help is much appreciated.

[xor-gate]

The active one is not a duplicate its a new "node" for the Syncthing network. Because I let you move all current settings/state with mv 'Library/Application Support/Syncthing/' '~/Downloads' you "lost" your default settings/state.

So when you started Syncthing again you needed to reconfigure everything. At startup an PKI/SSL certificate is generated and the certificate is cryptographic hashed into a human readable Syncthing DeviceID (P2P nodeid). You can safely remove the disconnected node/device on 'The Beast' node.

Share the folder(s) from 'The Beast' back to 'PORTA'. If you didn't delete your files on 'The Beast' you should point it at the "old" location when you get the notification 'The Beast' wants to share folder X. Then you can locate the directory, and would set it at first in read-only send/receive mode. So when something bricks on 'The Beast' on a bi-directional synced folder a delete/change is not propagated back to 'PORTA'. The story has gotten a bit long. But hope this gets you up and running again.

[SalishSea420]

Thank you for all your help. Everything has been reconfigured and is working. Tested everything and it's syncing well.

Thanks for your patience. There might a special place in heaven for you. :-)

It's no rush, I think, but there is one last question. After all was said and done the SyncThing menu status on the Macbook Pro ( Porta XX) does not appear to be quite right. Should I be concerned?

[xor-gate]

You could probably fix this by setting correct API key and can be obtained from web interface by going to Open -> Browser opens Syncthing webGUI -> Actions menu -> Advanced -> GUI -> API key. The Syncthing macOS going to Preferences -> set API key. Then Quit. Start again and it should get a green bullet.