MMS users: call for testing

rik · 13 Oct 2021, 20:11

Hey everyone, I am confused at the state of this? In my Pixel 3a XL MMS is working if wifi is off and if NOT a group MMS. So this is good, but I don't remember if that is due to @fredldotme incorporating the fixes only for the P3a or if it is in "mainstream" UT Dev / RC / Stable?

I am wondering about the status of these patches first.

Then I would like to start at least looking at the issue of needing wifi to be OFF for MMS to work. My thought would be try and determine how we could "force" MMS to always use the cellular data connection and "ignore" wifi. For me this seems like a better beginning point than currently where MMS will fail if wifi is enabled. Would I look into ofono or nuntium or other for this? If anyone had a link to the existing issue report for this it is a good start. Pointers? I can also add this to a new thread if it is best.

lduboeuf · 14 Oct 2021, 09:57

@rik Yes, that is another story and better on another topic.

From what i understand, nuntium call lomiri-download-manager ( https://github.com/ubports/nuntium/blob/b182b1a4ff41910dd3d1a4b064df2f56505be923/mms/download.go#L34 )

see project https://gitlab.com/ubports/core/lomiri-download-manager
But i don't get where we can force using cellular data instead of wifi

kristatos · 14 Oct 2021, 12:18

Why do we need cellular data instead of using any kind of internet connection (other SIM or wifi) for fetching the content of the MMS? Is there a special reason why?
In my case my main SIM-card does not have a mobile-data-volume, for this I have a second SIM-card in my E4.5. So I'm using only the second card for internet-connection or wifi at home. From this point of view it's not possible for me to receive a MMS.
If I remember it right, on my old Nokia's the was no need of a mobile-data-volume or a datapass. If there was an incoming MMS the phone build up a internet-connection only for downloading the content of the MMS and then stopped the connection. There was no payment needed for this kind of connection (AFAIR).

stanwood · 14 Oct 2021, 13:38

@kristatos This is because the Multimedia Messaging Service protocol is processed by the operator via cellular data.

It is not possible to handle mms via WiFi currently on Ubuntu Touch without VoWiFi relay.

Maybe this will be the case in the future...(?)

rik · 15 Oct 2021, 00:03

@lduboeuf said in MMS users: call for testing:

@rik Yes, that is another story and better on another topic.

From what i understand, nuntium call lomiri-download-manager ( https://github.com/ubports/nuntium/blob/b182b1a4ff41910dd3d1a4b064df2f56505be923/mms/download.go#L34 )

see project https://gitlab.com/ubports/core/lomiri-download-manager
But i don't get where we can force using cellular data instead of wifi

Alfred suggested I file an issue at the general Ubuntu Touch github repo until we sort out where exactly changes may be needed. I found this one already listed here: https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/1753 so I think we can keep following the "need to turn wifi off for MMS to work bug there" but my ignorant thought was to somehow use iptables / routing rules somehow to force using the cellular data network interface? Not sure if possible at all.

About group MMS messages not working, I see an old issue related to the OPO there, not sure if I should add to it or start a new issue? OPO uses legacy canonical ofono etc that may not overlap with current halium 9 ports?? Here is the OPO issue for it: https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/383

lduboeuf · 15 Oct 2021, 07:36

@rik said in MMS users: call for testing:

About group MMS messages not working, I see an old issue related to the OPO there, not sure if I should add to it or start a new issue? OPO uses legacy canonical ofono etc that may not overlap with current halium 9 ports?? Here is the OPO issue for it: https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/383

Yes MMS group has never worked well on UT according to ticket report. Don't forget to thumb up or add a comment in the issue report.
MMS is a feature that most core developers don't use, so hard to find a motivated developer..

Emphrath · 12 Nov 2021, 12:12

@lduboeuf @jezek Did you guys make it in time for OTA-20 ? All the best

Lakotaubp · 12 Nov 2021, 13:05

@emphrath All the details of how to find what is new and needs testing can be found here https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-ota-20-call-for-testing-3789

lduboeuf · 12 Nov 2021, 13:46

@emphrath Unfortunately, no. Ubports Team are very busy atm, and that big feature would take quite a lot of their time. Lets give another chance for OTA-21. I live with all that PRs since 8 months now without big trouble. I don't receive/send MMS often. But with @jezek feature, when i receive a notification of an incoming MMS, i don't ask others to please send it again...

domubpkm · 11 Dec 2021, 17:47

@lduboeuf said in MMS users: call for testing:

sudo ubports-qa install PR_nuntium_8
sudo ubports-qa install telepathy-ofono 20
sudo ubports-qa install history-service 35
sudo ubports-qa install telephony-service 20
sudo ubports-qa install messaging-app 260
And reboot

Is it always that ? Can i do the procedure on OTA-19 ? I have an OTA-19 already patched for an other MMS issue

BlueFroggie · 12 Nov 2021, 21:16

On my Redmi Note 7 when I have cellular data on, some MMS come normally, and some in no longer time than 24 hours via SMS from the operator informing me to log in on the website to download MMS. It is frutrating enough, that usually I keep internet data off so the useless battery drain is not that big. I wonder if the script provided here coul help with that

Keneda · 12 Nov 2021, 22:23

@bluefroggie said in MMS users: call for testing:

I wonder if the script provided here coul help with that

That's kind of exactly what this messaging app fix is about.

lduboeuf · 13 Nov 2021, 00:31

@domubpkm yes the procedure doesn't change

jezek · 28 Dec 2021, 22:03

Hello. The whole MMS redownload fix stack (nuntium, telepathy-ofono, history-service, messaging-app, telephony-service) has been merged. So I made a test if everything is alright.

My phone was on RC channel, so I installed stable version and then RC version again to be sure the whole image is reinstalled and not only incremental updates.

Then I used the nuntium-inject-push tool to inject an MMS message that produces a download error, to test if the error is propagated to messaging-app and the message can be re-downloaded. The test failed, cause in mesaging-app there was no re-download button, only the error message that tells you need to ask the sender to send again.

After some logs reading and some experimenting, I found out that I needed to run only the sudo ubports-qa install telepathy-ofono 20 command (and then reboot) to be able to re-download erroneous MMS messages. After that everything works as intended.

I don't know why there is the need to downgrade (that's what the QA script tells me) the telepathy-ofono package. The PR was merged, so if the telepathy-ofono libraries are compiled from the repository, everything should work automatically after upgrade.

Can enyone confirm (or deny) my findings? Does anyone know what could cause this? Or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks.

Note: If anyone wants to test this and is struggling how to, cause my report here is incomprehensible, don't hesitate to write me, I'll try write step-by-step instructions.

flohack · 28 Dec 2021, 22:24

@jezek Well that sounds bad. Everything should work in RC as expected, as everything was merged.

jezek · 29 Dec 2021, 16:56

@flohack said in MMS users: call for testing:

@jezek Well that sounds bad. Everything should work in RC as expected, as everything was merged.

So I tested again.
Switched to stable.

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ apt list | grep -P 'nuntium|telepathy-ofono|history-service|messaging-app|telephony-service'
history-service/now 0.3~0ubports4+0~20210526173549.20~1.gbp17c341 armhf [installed,local]
messaging-app/now 0.1.3~0ubports0+0~20210927064939.80~1.gbpdcb599 armhf [installed,local]
nuntium/now 1.4+ubports1+0~20210315192859.11~1.gbpb182b1 armhf [installed,local]
telepathy-ofono/now 0.3+ubports+0~20200930080735.3~1.gbpdb5e35 armhf [installed,local]
telepathy-ofono-ril-mc-plugin/now 0.3+ubports+0~20200930080735.3~1.gbpdb5e35 armhf [installed,local]
telephony-service/now 0.4+0ubports3+0~20210817080913.31~1.gbpaae257 armhf [installed,local]

Then switched to rc.

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ apt list | grep -P 'nuntium|telepathy-ofono|history-service|messaging-app|telephony-service'
history-service/now 0.3~0ubports4+0~20211216130156.4~1.gbp88201f armhf [installed,local]
messaging-app/now 0.1.3~0ubports0+0~20211220103430.85~1.gbp654469 armhf [installed,local]
nuntium/now 1.4+ubports1+0~20211215170043.12~1.gbp054848 armhf [installed,local]
telepathy-ofono/now 0.3+ubports+0~20200930080735.3~1.gbpdb5e35 armhf [installed,local]
telepathy-ofono-ril-mc-plugin/now 0.3+ubports+0~20200930080735.3~1.gbpdb5e35 armhf [installed,local]
telephony-service/now 0.4+0ubports3+0~20211220103455.35~1.gbp61321e armhf [installed,local]

As you can see, the telepathy-ofono package didn't get updated to new build. It's still from year 2020.

lduboeuf · 29 Dec 2021, 20:30

@jezek same for me on devel. Strange because i received a MMS notification without issue

jezek · 29 Dec 2021, 21:52

@lduboeuf said in MMS users: call for testing:

@jezek same for me on devel. Strange because i received a MMS notification without issue

Remember the time when I thought, that the stack was merged (and was not), because after my RC update error notifications still worked? It turned out, that the incremental updates didn't reinstall packages after the ubports-qa script updates. I think this is your case too. It works because binaries after the ubports-qa script are not updated/downgraded when doing incremental update (original package was not changed, so no need to be in incremental update). Try to update system to stable and than back to devel and you should not receive error notifications (Edit: I mean, the ones with re-download button).

rik · 29 Dec 2021, 22:50

@jezek Good explanation. I think you are right because at this time the devel and rc images both have the same package versions, so switching between them would not change those bits.

Previously when rc didn't have the new packages this technique of going between rc and devel would ensure you would get them installed when going to devel, but now as you note going to stable then to rc or devel is needed.

jezek · 30 Dec 2021, 21:37

@lduboeuf @Flohack
I've been thinking, why the telepathy-ofono package didn't got updated. The last build (according to apt) was 2020-09-30. When I look at commits, that includes the sentdateempty MR. After this commit, no new builds of xenial branch are updated in debian packages. The next MR after this date are some debian/changelog changes. I remember we had troubles with debian packaging in nuntium, caused by my forgotten TODO in debian/changelog. I'm not really sure, but i think I read somewhere, that the debian/changelog updates are made automatically and not by hand by users. Could this be the case of this? Does anyone has more insights to debian packaging?