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Maniphest T5191

KDE Connect should warn user if it can't open needed ports
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KDE Connect on Fedora 25 and my Android phone couldn't pair up, even after I added my desktop hostname to the phone. The issue is you need to open the necessary ports in your firewall. There are ways to do this (in Fedora, open Firewall Configuration program and in Zones > Services check the kde-connect service), but the average user will have no idea what the problem is and has to luck into finding the fix.

Perhaps as Fedora bug 1279190 suggests KDE Connect could detect that the ports it needs are blocked by a firewall, and warn the user. At least that would give the user a hint as to what to fix. https://community.kde.org/KDEConnect#Troubleshooting documents the steps for ufw and Firewall Configuration.

(Thanks for a great utility!)

skierpage added a comment.Jan 25 2017, 10:56 PM

There is KDE Bugzilla 358440 "Should be aware of firewalls", I apologize if this is the wrong place.

albertvaka added a subscriber: albertvaka.Feb 3 2017, 6:32 PM

I don't think we can detect easily that we are being blocked by the firewall, specially for every different firewall software and configuration out there.

I think this is something that should be raised to the distribution packagers: most distros provide a way to run custom scripts when a package is installed and it can be used to automatically open the ports for the distro's default firewall, if any.

albertvaka moved this task from Ideas to Fixes on the KDE Connect board.Feb 18 2017, 3:29 PM
suryatejak added a subscriber: suryatejak.Sep 22 2018, 5:04 AM

Yes, I agree. It is fairly difficult to determine whether the ports are being blocked however I think we need to inform the user that we are experiencing issues with connecting/searching for devices on the network.

Something like Snackbar with message "We are unable to process your request" followed by a Action button "Learn more". On clicking Learn More, we can redirect the user to the Troubleshooting section.

nicolasfella moved this task from Fixes to Ideas on the KDE Connect board.Nov 28 2018, 6:30 PM