Signal does not start / hangs on "Optimizing messages…"

[wamdam]

• [ X] I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates (no error with arrayBufferToString)

---

Bug description

NODE_ENV production
NODE_CONFIG_DIR /opt/Signal/resources/app.asar/config
NODE_CONFIG {}
ALLOW_CONFIG_MUTATIONS undefined
HOSTNAME undefined
NODE_APP_INSTANCE undefined
SUPPRESS_NO_CONFIG_WARNING undefined
Set Windows Application User Model ID (AUMID) { appUserModelId: 'org.whispersystems.signal-desktop' }
userData: /home/dk/.config/Signal
making app single instance
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"app ready","time":"2018-08-08T14:01:58.961Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Ensure attachments directory exists","time":"2018-08-08T14:01:58.975Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"updateSchema: Current schema version: 1; Most recent schema version: 1; SQLite version: 3.20.1; SQLCipher version: 3.4.2;","time":"2018-08-08T14:01:58.981Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"removeKnownAttachments: About to iterate through 0 messages","time":"2018-08-08T14:01:59.005Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"removeKnownAttachments: Done processing 0 messages","time":"2018-08-08T14:01:59.007Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"deleteAll: deleted 0 files","time":"2018-08-08T14:01:59.007Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Initializing BrowserWindow config: {\"show\":true,\"width\":712,\"height\":613,\"minWidth\":640,\"minHeight\":360,\"autoHideMenuBar\":false,\"webPreferences\":{\"nodeIntegration\":false,\"nodeIntegrationInWorker\":false,\"preload\":\"/opt/Signal/resources/app.asar/preload.js\",\"nativeWindowOpen\":true},\"icon\":\"/opt/Signal/resources/app.asar/images/icon_256.png\",\"maximized\":false,\"x\":47,\"y\":1424}","time":"2018-08-08T14:01:59.010Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Updating BrowserWindow config: {\"maximized\":false,\"autoHideMenuBar\":false,\"width\":712,\"height\":613,\"x\":47,\"y\":1454}","time":"2018-08-08T14:01:59.623Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Detected Linux. Setting up spell check with locale de_DE and dictionary location /usr/share/hunspell","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.374Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"pre-main prep time: 3 ms","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.671Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Build expires:  2018-11-05T02:17:12.000Z","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.727Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"background page reloaded","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.805Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"environment: production","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.805Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Start IndexedDB migrations","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.806Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Run migrations on database with attachment data","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.806Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Database status {\"firstMigrationVersion\":12,\"lastMigrationVersion\":18,\"databaseVersion\":18,\"isAlreadyUpgraded\":true}","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.913Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"Storage fetch","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:00.913Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"upgradeMessages: Mandatory message schema upgrade started. Target version: 7","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:01.039Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"upgradeMessages: upgrade without index {\"done\":true}","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:01.043Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"upgradeMessages: upgrade without index complete!","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:01.043Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"upgradeMessages: upgrade with index {\"done\":true,\"numProcessed\":0,\"fetchDuration\":10,\"upgradeDuration\":0,\"saveDuration\":0,\"totalDuration\":10}","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:01.055Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"upgradeMessages: upgrade with index complete!","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:01.055Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"upgradeMessages: Message schema upgrade complete","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:01.056Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":30,"msg":"About to migrate 1762 messages","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:01.130Z","v":0}
{"name":"log","hostname":"praha2","pid":28304,"level":50,"msg":"Top-level unhandled promise rejection: Error: Need arrayBufferToString function!","time":"2018-08-08T14:02:01.130Z","v":0}

Steps to reproduce

1. unknown. Was an apt update on a ubuntu 18.04 machine today.

Actual result:

Hangs as seen on this screenshot. Bubbles are moving, but no progress seen:

Expected result:

Does whatever "optimizing messages" means.

Platform info

Signal version:

1.15.1

Operating System:

Ubuntu 18.04

Linked device version:

Android 8

Link to debug log

https://debuglogs.org/63432bacdd1e77eab899f2745227ee8579feced6fc822f0722b5f2a94e4c177d

[cpgw]

Same problem here on Windows 10 and same signal version.

[mihai-chezan]

@wamdam @cpgw
You should try v1.15.2 or later.
Release notes for v1.15.2 mention:

Fixed: Migration to SQLCipher blocked with error: 'Error: Need arrayBufferToString function!'

which seem to be your error.

[wamdam]

Confirmed, v1.15.3 works.