Several "Cannot resolve hostname" issues in Gnome Software, even though everything seems to be in working order

TheJooomes · 05-22-2021, 01:32 PM

I'm running Debian 10 with all updates installed. This happens the first time I open Gnome Software after I leave my laptop in suspend for any significant amount of time, about more than an hour. It seems the longer I leave it in suspend, the more error messages appear. I'll try to write out a transcript of them all here.

Code:

Unable to download updates from "extensions.gnome.org":
failed to download https://extensions.gnome.org//static/extensions.json:
Cannot resolve hostname

Code:

Unable to download updates: internet access was required but wasn't available <link to Network Settings>

Code:

Unable to download firmware updates  from "fwupd":
failed to download https://cdn.fwupd.org/downloads/firmware.xml.gz.asc:
Cannot resolve hostname

Code:

Unable to download updates from "odrs.gnome.org":
failed to download https://odrs.gnome.org/1.0/reviews/api/ratings:
Cannot resolve hostname

I have a working internet connection over WiFi and both apt and flatpak seem to be perfectly healthy. Gnome Software seems to be fully functional as well. There's no "real" issue being caused, it's just really annoying having to click these away when I open Gnome Software. I'm able to ping each of these domains successfully, but the full addresses don't succeed. I have a pretty basic router and I'm the only techie in the house so I'm pretty sure there's no firewall.

So does anyone know how to get rid of these messages? Also, why is Gnome Software fully functional even though I cannot ping these specific addresses? Would someone please explain what's going on?

frankbell · 05-22-2021, 07:42 PM

First, we need to find out what's happening (or, in this case, not happening). You may find this article helpful.

If it were I, the next time this happened, I would start with

Code:

ping [URL]
traceroute [URL]    
ping google.com
ping 8.8.8.8

Post the results, being careful to surround any terminal output with "code" tags which become available when you click the "Advanced" button beneath the compose/edit post window. It makes terminal output much easier to read.

TheJooomes · 05-23-2021, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell

First, we need to find out what's happening (or, in this case, not happening). You may find this article helpful.

If it were I, the next time this happened, I would start with

Code:

ping [URL]
traceroute [URL]    
ping google.com
ping 8.8.8.8

Post the results, being careful to surround any terminal output with "code" tags which become available when you click the "Advanced" button beneath the compose/edit post window. It makes terminal output much easier to read.

I just picked one of the addresses to use

Code:

james@debiant440p:~$ ping https://odrs.gnome.org/1.0/reviews/api/ratings
ping: https://odrs.gnome.org/1.0/reviews/api/ratings: Name or service not known
james@debiant440p:~$ traceroute https://odrs.gnome.org/1.0/reviews/api/ratings
https://odrs.gnome.org/1.0/reviews/api/ratings: Name or service not known
Cannot handle "host" cmdline arg `https://odrs.gnome.org/1.0/reviews/api/ratings' on position 1 (argc 1)
james@debiant440p:~$ ping google.com
PING google.com (172.217.6.110) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from ord37s03-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.6.110): icmp_seq=1 ttl=116 time=38.1 ms
64 bytes from ord37s03-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.6.110): icmp_seq=2 ttl=116 time=39.0 ms
64 bytes from ord37s03-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.6.110): icmp_seq=3 ttl=116 time=39.9 ms
64 bytes from ord37s03-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.6.110): icmp_seq=4 ttl=116 time=39.7 ms
64 bytes from ord37s03-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.6.110): icmp_seq=5 ttl=116 time=67.7 ms
^C
--- google.com ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 9ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 38.110/44.859/67.658/11.418 ms
james@debiant440p:~$ ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=117 time=33.5 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=117 time=34.9 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=117 time=32.1 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=117 time=32.4 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=117 time=32.3 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=117 time=32.7 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7 ttl=117 time=33.5 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=8 ttl=117 time=33.7 ms
^C
--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
8 packets transmitted, 8 received, 0% packet loss, time 18ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 32.052/33.110/34.852/0.898 ms
james@debiant440p:~$

I cut the pings short because there was proof enough of it working. Are you able to ping the addresses that Gnome Software has issues with?

michaelk · 05-23-2021, 11:56 AM

Try just:

ping odrs.gnome.org

or

ping extensions.gnome.org

TheJooomes · 05-23-2021, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

Try just:

ping odrs.gnome.org

or

ping extensions.gnome.org

I can successfully ping both.

Code:

james@Optiplex9020:~$ ping odrs.gnome.org
PING odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29): icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=51.4 ms
64 bytes from odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29): icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=52.0 ms
64 bytes from odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29): icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=58.7 ms
64 bytes from odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29): icmp_seq=4 ttl=53 time=51.2 ms
^C
--- odrs.gnome.org ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 51.227/53.345/58.706/3.109 ms
james@Optiplex9020:~$ ping extensions.gnome.org
PING extensions.gnome.org (8.43.85.29) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29): icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=51.9 ms
64 bytes from odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29): icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=55.3 ms
64 bytes from odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29): icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=52.9 ms
64 bytes from odrs.gnome.org (8.43.85.29): icmp_seq=4 ttl=53 time=55.7 ms
^C
--- extensions.gnome.org ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3005ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 51.928/53.969/55.691/1.581 ms
james@Optiplex9020:~$

michaelk · 05-23-2021, 12:47 PM

Quote:

https://extensions.gnome.org//static/extensions.json

Should probably be
https://extensions.gnome.org/static/extensions.json

At least for me all the other pages are valid but I do not know what is exactly is broken at the moment but it is all tied to the software center application. Maybe your .cache is corrupted.

computersavvy · 05-24-2021, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJooomes

I can successfully ping both.

As you can see, you ping a FQDN (fully qualified domain name) and not a service. You cannot ping to http://fqdn or http://fqdn/path/to/file since that is not the way ping works.

The error messages seem to be from the fact that leaving the laptop active or in suspend then closing the lid also shuts off the network until the lid is opened and activity resumed. The network normally is active only while the system is active so unless you reconfigure so the system continues to run while the lid is closed you will continue to get the (reported) interruption in communications that is seen when first opening the software center.