GSConnect systems with hyphenated device IDs are broken after upgrading to KDE Connect 1.35

[githubtefo]

Describe the bug

Since the last update on the android App to 1.35, device is not detected anymore.
I had to downgrade to 1.34.4 and now is back.

Steps to reproduce

No response

Expected behavior

No response

GSConnect version

71

Installed from

GNOME Extensions website

GNOME Shell version

No response

Linux distribution/release

Ubuntu 22.04

Paired device(s)

Pixel 9 Pro

KDE Connect app version

1.35.2

Plugin(s)

No response

Support log

Screenshots

No response

Notes

No response

[ferdnyc]

@githubtefo I have 1.35.2 installed, and it's working fine with GSConnect 71 in Fedora 43. It's possible it was just a glitch, have you tried restarting both devices after upgrading to 1.35?

If that doesn't solve it, depending how old your install(s) and device pairing are, there's a small possibility that one side of the connection (probably GSConnect) is using an outdated device ID or name that the newer version won't accept. (I'm not aware of any changes in 1.35 that would affect recognition, but I also haven't really looked too hard.) The extension is supposed to have taken care of upgrading all of those automatically, but that code isn't foolproof.

One option would be to unpair the devices while running 1.34, then upgrade KDE Connect and try to pair them again. Or, you could try uninstalling GSConnect, clearing out your device information from your account and GSettings (I can provide commands to do that, if you need, but I'll have to look into exactly what's necessary), then reinstalling and letting it generate all-new credentials and etc.

But I'd try turning it off and on again, before going down any of those more-destructive roads. I can say for certain that KDE Connect 1.35.2 is not inherently incompatible with GSConnect 71, though, so there must be some issue specific to your install.

[githubtefo]

I unpaired it on v1.34, then update and still I'm not able to re-pair it on v1.35. The device is even not visible on my network.
Re-pair on v1.34 is totally fine.

[j-mir-prazak]

hi, i have the same issue. Downgraded to 1.34 and I see the gsconnect and can pair. 1.35.2 does not see anything (tested with 2 different devices both with 71).

I am happy to nuke any config files that might be broken - just point me to them...

Thanks.

[ferdnyc]

Hmmm. OK, I guess it's time to go read over the list of changes in KDE Connect between 1.34 and 1.35, that should provide a hint as to where the issue lies.

Before you wipe anything out, though, it would be helpful to run this command (to get your local GSConnect device ID):

# If the extension isn't installed in your user account,
# you might need to adjust the path to the schemas dir
GSETTINGS_SCHEMA_DIR="\
$HOME/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/gsconnect@andyholmes.github.io/schemas" \
gsettings get org.gnome.Shell.Extensions.GSConnect id

Don't post the results, because you shouldn't, but what I'm primarily curious about is the format of the ID.

Mine, for example, looks like this:

• 12345678_1234_1234_1234_123456789abc (a UUID with underscore separators)

Other possible formats are:

• 1234567890abcdefghij1234567890ab (32 hex digits with no separators)
• 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc (a hyphenated UUID)
• a much shorter form something like 123456abcdef

Either of the latter two, especially, would probably be very bad.

[githubtefo]

This is my output format but randomized
8f2a7c91-6b3e-4d5a-9c10-3e7f2a8b6d4c

[ferdnyc]

Ohhh, that's bad, I bet. KDE Connect has been saying for some time that they won't accept invalid device IDs like that, they must've pulled a trigger.

Our code is supposed to fix an invalid device ID and replace it with a valid one, but... like I said, not foolproof.

The best way to fix this, then, is likely to be the following:

1. Disable or uninstall GSConnect. (Duh, you can't uninstall because you need the schema.)
2. Delete everything in $HOME/.config/gsconnect/ so it'll have to be regenerated on startup. (The device ID is a component of the certificates.)
3. Run this command to zero out your GSConnect settings:

GSETTINGS_SCHEMA_DIR="\
$HOME/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/gsconnect@andyholmes.github.io/schemas" \
gsettings reset-recursively \
org.gnome.Shell.Extensions.GSConnect

You'll lose all of your settings, but on startup GSConnect should generate a new, KDE Connect 1.35-compatible device ID.

[ferdnyc]

(Oh, right, step 4: Enable GSConnect. Actually, log out + log in or reboot is probably better.)

[ferdnyc]

I'll try and look at our migration code and see if I can't figure out why it isn't migrating for you, hopefully we can push an update for that.