[Freedombox-discuss] Quassel trouble.

[A. F. Cano]

On Mon, Sep 15, 2025 at 10:32:13PM -0700, Sunil Mohan Adapa wrote:
> On 9/15/25 13:24, A. F. Cano via Freedombox-discuss wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I have recently installed the quassel core app on the FreedomBox.  The
> > tests report everything working.
> > 
> > I found this:
> > 
> > https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Manual/Quassel
> > 
> > But the behavior doesn't match what I see after the quassel client
> > is installed on Debian.  Even after an apt-get purge quassel-client,
> > it seems to remember previous (probably incorrect) setups and keeps
> > jumping to DebianIRC when it can't connect to the FreedomBox.
> > 
> > I'm getting:
> > 
> > Connecting to <my-subdomain>.freedombox.rocks:4242...
> > Connection failure: The remote host closed the connection
> > 
> > Even after deleting all the files in ~/.config/quassel-irc.org
> > 
> > all I get is the "connect to Core" window, I click "+Add..."
> > and I enter a name for the group chat I want to set up.  According to
> > the above manual page, this can be an arbitrary name.
> > 
> > Then I enter
> > Hostname: <my-subdomain>.freedombox.rocks
> > Port: 4242 (unchanged from the default)
> > User: <user name from the FreedomBox list of users>
> > Password: <the associated password>
> > 
> > I then select no proxy and click ok. Ok again at the "connect to Core
> > window after selecting "Always connect to <account just created> so I
> > can avoid jumping to "DebianIRC" as the client tends to do.
> > 
> > THen it apparently proceeds to log in, but it jumps to "Debian IRC"
> > 
> > I then manually select my newly created account (in the left frame) and
> > all I see are the error messages above, repeated every time it tries to
> > reconnect.
> > 
> > What did I mis-configure? I saw once the warning about untrusted
> > certificates, but I could never again get to the complete setup
> > described in the page above.  I saw a page with a "server password" and
> > tried the user password and the admin user password, but now I can't
> > even find where that setting is.  As far as I know the FreedomBox has no
> > such thing as a server password.
> > 
> > In "Identities" the user name is listed as a "Nickname".  Is this
> > normal?
> > 
> > Obviously, I'm a total novice at setting up IRC.  Any assistance would
> > be greatly welcome.  Thanks.
> > 
> 
> The duty of the Quassel server (referred to as "Core") running on FreedomBox
> is to connect to IRC servers and keep receiving messages all the time without
> missing any messages. The duty of the Quassel client is to present a UI for
> this server. The actual configuration of which IRC servers to connect to is
> present on the FreedomBox with the Quassel core server. If you remove client's
> configuration this does not clear the list of IRC servers on the FreedomBox's
> Quassel server.

What I'm trying to do is to set up a private IRC server on my
FreedomBox, say <my-subdomain-IRC>, which is what I entered into the
Networks page of the client.  It has a field for "Server address" where
I entered <my-subdomain>.freedombox.rocks, and port 4242 as instructed
on the FreedomBox setup docs.  Just under that there is a
field for "Password", presumably a server password, but what is that for
the Freedombox? I left it blank and selected "Use encrypted connection"
and I entered the FreedomBox admin user password, but neither works.
There is no field in this quassel client setup for a user name.  Then I
added a nickname in the "identities" that is my admin user name on the
FreedomBox, but that apparently is not what's used.
> 
> To remove Quassel configuration on the server, connect to the server using the
> client and alter the configuration (In Quassel QT Client, this is through File
> -> Networks -> Configure Networks). Alternatively, uninstall and reinstall the
> Quassel core server app on FreedomBox.

I'll wait on that.  Now that I'm understanding better how IRC works, I
want to explore the client.

> It is not clear what error message you are facing reading above. To connect to

I get this 

[3:31:12 pm] * Connecting to <my-subdomain>.freedombox.rocks:4242...
[3:31:12 pm] * Connection failure: The remote host closed the connection
[3:32:12 pm] * Connection failed. Cycling to next server...

> FreedomBox IRC channel, you can:
> 
> 1) Create a new network. Call it OFTC.
> 
> 2) Add a server. Server address = irc.oftc.net, port = 6697, "Use encrypted
> connection" = Yes.
> 
> 3) Select a Identity and set your nickname there.

This is already configured in the client and works.  The client goes to
irc.debian.org:6697 and everything works.

> 
> After connecting click on the Network name "OFTC" in the "All Chats" tree to
> see the log for the network. There you should find any error messages
> connecting to the network.

The error above is what I encounter when attempting to connect to the
FreedomBox.  the documentation on the Freedombox doesn't match what I
see in the client.  In the client I see no option to "add core account"
(step 2) and in step 3 "Fill any value in the account name" there is no
place to enter any account name, just the server password.

I never got to any "Core configuration wizard" where I can supposedly
create an admin user.

The quassel client I'm using is

V0.14.0, version date: 1/1/22 10:55 AM, protocol version 10.  This is
what comes with debian 12.12.  It might be too old to work properly with
the FreedomBox.