Search issue since 1.8.7

Anonymous41

endlessedits same

IanM

Hello everyone 👋

hf06 endlessedits Oshvam tom23 vegetable-garden SZSZ Anonymous41 peopleinside

I've pushed a potential fix for these search issues, and this is now deployed here on discuss.

Would you all please try your various searches here and let me know if things are improved? 🤞

luceos

Can you both please report your php flarum info?

endlessedits

I have replicated the same issue on a second VPS from a different provider, and have tried using both PHP 8.3 and 8.2 -- the same basic problem occurs. Both VPSes are fresh installs of Debian 12, using Hestia CP. Search worked perfectly for a year previously.

Flarum core: 1.8.7
PHP version: 8.3.12
MySQL version: 10.11.6-MariaDB-0+deb12u1
Loaded extensions: Core, date, libxml, openssl, pcre, zlib, filter, hash, json, pcntl, random, Reflection, SPL, session, standard, sodium, mysqlnd, PDO, xml, bcmath, bz2, calendar, ctype, curl, dom, mbstring, FFI, fileinfo, ftp, gd, gettext, iconv, imagick, imap, intl, ldap, exif, mysqli, pdo_mysql, Phar, posix, pspell, readline, shmop, SimpleXML, soap, sockets, sysvmsg, sysvsem, sysvshm, tokenizer, xmlreader, xmlwriter, xsl, zip, Zend OPcache
+------------------------------------------+---------+--------+
| Flarum Extensions                        |         |        |
+------------------------------------------+---------+--------+
| ID                                       | Version | Commit |
+------------------------------------------+---------+--------+
| flarum-tags                              | v1.8.2  |        |
| fof-merge-discussions                    | 1.4.1   |        |
| flarum-flags                             | v1.8.1  |        |
| v17development-seo                       | v1.8.1  |        |
| nearata-tags-color-generator             | v2.3.0  |        |
| nearata-embed-video                      | 3.3.2   |        |
| michaelbelgium-discussion-views          | v7.3    |        |
| katosdev-automore                        | 1.0     |        |
| ianm-synopsis                            | 1.3.4   |        |
| fof-recaptcha                            | 1.3.4   |        |
| fof-links                                | 1.2.3   |        |
| fof-html-errors                          | 1.1.2   |        |
| fof-forum-statistics-widget              | 1.2.1   |        |
| fof-formatting                           | 1.0.3   |        |
| fof-discussion-thumbnail                 | 1.1.3   |        |
| flarum-suspend                           | v1.8.2  |        |
| flarum-statistics                        | v1.8.1  |        |
| flarum-mentions                          | v1.8.4  |        |
| flarum-markdown                          | v1.8.1  |        |
| flarum-lock                              | v1.8.1  |        |
| flarum-likes                             | v1.8.1  |        |
| flarum-lang-english                      | v1.8.0  |        |
| flarum-emoji                             | v1.8.1  |        |
| flarum-com-tags-under-discussion         | 1.1.0   |        |
| flarum-bbcode                            | v1.8.0  |        |
| flarum-approval                          | v1.8.2  |        |
| davwheat-custom-sidenav-links            | 1.0.1   |        |
| datlechin-link-preview                   | v1.5.0  |        |
| datlechin-discussion-count               | v0.1.0  |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-selective-mediaembed     | 1.0.1   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-formatted-banner         | 1.0.0   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-discussion-open-position | 1.1.0   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-circle-groups            | 1.0.1   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-author-change            | 1.0.3   |        |
| blomstra-sort-order-toggle               | 0.2.0   |        |
| blomstra-fontawesome                     | 0.1.5   |        |
| askvortsov-categories                    | v3.1.0  |        |
+------------------------------------------+---------+--------+
Base URL: https://[redacted]
Installation path: /[redacted]
Queue driver: sync
Session driver: file
Mail driver: smtp
Debug mode: off

endlessedits

Additional info:

I did not seek out 1.8.7 manually, it presumably upgraded when I ran the below commands, which I do periodically.

composer update --prefer-dist --no-plugins --no-dev -a --with-all-dependencies
php flarum migrate
php flarum cache:clear

endlessedits

I have ruled out Cloudflare's caching as a possible cause, the same problem exists with caching temporarily turned off. The first search for any term produces either no results or shows the results of the previous search. The second search attempt presents the proper results.

vegetable-garden

I've been having this problem as well, but as far as I can tell it's not a caching issue, the problem is that the full search term isn't being submitted. It only "saves" the search term you've typed in when it loads the quick list of results below the search bar, so if you hit enter before that loads it won't work. The full term will still be written in the search bar, but you can see in the url to the page that only part of the search term went through. And sometimes when you change the search term, the reload of the quick list of results isn't triggered at all for whatever reason, so you have to delete some letters and add them back to get it to recognize that the term has changed.

I am on Flarum 1.8.7 and PHP 8.3.12.

endlessedits

vegetable-garden

Thanks for confirming my experience of the issue and identifying a cause/solution. Since starting to consciously delay hitting "enter" until after the quick dropdown list fully presents itself, I have not had any issues. I'll keep an eye on it and report back whether it solves everything 100% (it seems that is it not a 100% solution for you).

SZSZ

endlessedits it seems that we are not having the same issue😯. Hope you find the solution soon.

vegetable-garden

I forgot to mention before that I have also been noticing this issue on this flarum, not just my own (I was running up against it a few days ago while trying to search for extensions because I'd press enter too quickly and none of my search term would go through). I don't know what software version is being used here.

hf06

vegetable-garden I'd press enter too quickly

I encountered an interesting issue while testing this. When I search for "abc" it works fine. Then, I return to the homepage and quickly press enter again to search for "xyz" Even though "xyz" appears in the search bar, I noticed that the URL still shows "?q=abc" and the results are listed based on that.

tom23

same here

Oshvam

endlessedits I had a similar problem. My database indexes were corrupted. This is what I did to fix it

https://discuss.flarum.org/d/36072-crazy-bug-with-flarum-search-engine-crashes-api-doesnt-return-results/4

endlessedits

Oshvam

Thanks very much for pointing me to this idea. I read your thread and the one referenced within it.

In my own case I am getting accurate search results, but it sometimes takes two or three search attempts to get them. I assume I may not have database corruption if it does work on the second try.

Since I don't know SQL enough to start modifying the database manually, I am going to live with the issue and hope it gets resolved eventually (since others seem to be having similar search issues since upgrading to 1.8.7 as well).

Thanks again.

endlessedits

For those following my search problems, I have been methodically going through my extensions. One of my favorite extensions is askvortsov-categories.

I have had the "sense" that my search requests have more latency than before. I have no actual idea what Flarum or its extensions do processing-wise, on their own, in the background (if anything).

However, I noted there is a toggle switch in the settings of the "Categories" extension, and it reads:

Optimize for small forums?
This will give more accurate discussion/post counts, but will slow medium and large forums dramatically.

I turned this switch OFF.

Now when I search, as long as I wait for the items in the quick drop-down box to populate before hitting ENTER, my search seems to be working as before, which is perfectly. But if I don't wait, I still have the issue of getting no results.

This is still different behavior than before 1.8.7, but I can easily educate my users to wait for the drop down before hitting enter.

I'd be interested to know if others with the issue are using the same extension I am and if this solves the issue.

endlessedits

IanM

I have not been able to replicate any of the problems I had on my site when searching this forum just now. Thanks for your efforts!

vegetable-garden

IanM It is working for me now as well. Thank you for the quick fix!

IanM

endlessedits that's great to hear, thank you for your feedback!

I'll wait for some of the others to also give their input, and if all is good I'll release the fix!

endlessedits

I just stumbled onto 1.8.8 and my search is working like a charm again. Thanks very much, amazing!

IanM

endlessedits glad to hear it 🙂

Yes it's released as of this morning, but it's not yet announced as I'd like to release an update for another Flarum component and announce them both together. Just waiting for a little assistance from others in the team before I can do that 🙂

endlessedits

I was looking at an extension and it said it should work with 1.8.8 and I said "whoah, let's go get it." I guess it populates the latest version number automatically. Sorry to front-run you on this.