[Bug]: NC 26 - OCA\Text\Service\EncodingService::encodeToUtf8(): Argument #1 ($string) must be of type string, bool given

[MikeDev101]

⚠️ This issue respects the following points: ⚠️

• This is a bug, not a question or a configuration/webserver/proxy issue.
• This issue is not already reported on Github (I've searched it).
• Nextcloud Server is up to date. See Maintenance and Release Schedule for supported versions.
• Nextcloud Server is running on 64bit capable CPU, PHP and OS.
• I agree to follow Nextcloud's Code of Conduct.

Bug description

I just finished upgrading my Nextcloud Proxmox container to NC 26. After fixing various PHP configuration settings and enabling system cron for the first time, I started getting errors while loading descriptions in the files app.

Trying to load the README file using the built-in file reader keeps failing.

I tried to view/tinker with the PHP files to see what was going on, seems like I'm not getting anything proper out of the getContent() function.

I have no clue what I'm doing in PHP... I'm just a backend Python dev. Thought I would share this to see if it's me being a dummy or if something went wrong with NC 26.

Steps to reproduce

1. Upgrade NC 25.0.4 to NC 26.0.0.
2. Access the Files app.
3. Try to access *.md files.

Expected behavior

The file description should appear in the top menu, and the file should be rendered in the editor when opened manually.

Installation method

Other Community project

Operating system

Debian/Ubuntu

PHP engine version

PHP 8.1

Web server

Apache (supported)

Database engine version

MySQL

Is this bug present after an update or on a fresh install?

Updated to a major version (ex. 22.2.3 to 23.0.1)

Are you using the Nextcloud Server Encryption module?

Encryption is Disabled

What user-backends are you using?

• Default user-backend (database)
• LDAP/ Active Directory
• SSO - SAML
• Other

Configuration report

{
    "system": {
        "passwordsalt": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "secret": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "trusted_domains": [
            "localhost",
            "(REDACTED - PUBLIC HOSTNAME)",
            "(REDACTED - LAN IP)"
        ],
        "datadirectory": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbtype": "mysql",
        "version": "26.0.0.11",
        "overwrite.cli.url": "http:\/\/localhost",
        "dbname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbhost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbport": "",
        "dbtableprefix": "oc_",
        "mysql.utf8mb4": true,
        "dbuser": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbpassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "installed": true,
        "instanceid": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "memcache.local": "\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis",
        "redis": {
            "host": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
            "port": 6379,
            "timeout": 0
        },
        "filelocking.enabled": true,
        "memcache.locking": "\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis",
        "maintenance": false,
        "theme": "",
        "loglevel": 2,
        "app_install_overwrite": [
            "occweb",
            "impersonate",
            "group_default_quota",
            "duplicatefinder",
            "richdocumentscode",
            "quota_warning",
            "uppush",
            "sharerenamer"
        ],
        "default_phone_region": "US",
        "mail_smtpmode": "smtp",
        "mail_smtpsecure": "tls",
        "mail_sendmailmode": "smtp",
        "mail_smtpauth": 1,
        "mail_smtpauthtype": "LOGIN",
        "mail_from_address": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_domain": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtphost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpport": "587",
        "mail_smtpname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtppassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtptimeout": 60,
        "updater.secret": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "allow_local_remote_servers": true
    }
}

List of activated Apps

Enabled:
  - activity: 2.18.0
  - admin_audit: 1.16.0
  - circles: 26.0.0
  - cloud_federation_api: 1.9.0
  - comments: 1.16.0
  - contacts: 5.2.0
  - contactsinteraction: 1.7.0
  - dashboard: 7.6.0
  - data_request: 1.13.0
  - dav: 1.25.0
  - deck: 1.9.0
  - federatedfilesharing: 1.16.0
  - federation: 1.16.0
  - files: 1.21.1
  - files_external: 1.18.0
  - files_pdfviewer: 2.7.0
  - files_rightclick: 1.5.0
  - files_sharing: 1.18.0
  - files_trashbin: 1.16.0
  - files_versions: 1.19.1
  - fileslibreofficeedit: 1.1.0
  - firstrunwizard: 2.15.0
  - forms: 3.2.0
  - impersonate: 1.13.0
  - integration_github: 2.0.1
  - integration_google: 1.0.9
  - integration_onedrive: 1.1.4
  - logreader: 2.11.0
  - lookup_server_connector: 1.14.0
  - mail: 3.0.0
  - nextcloud_announcements: 1.15.0
  - notes: 4.7.2
  - notifications: 2.14.0
  - oauth2: 1.14.0
  - occweb: 0.1.0
  - password_policy: 1.16.0
  - passwords: 2023.3.21
  - privacy: 1.10.0
  - provisioning_api: 1.16.0
  - quota_warning: 1.15.0
  - recommendations: 1.5.0
  - registration: 2.1.0
  - related_resources: 1.1.0-alpha1
  - secrets: 1.4.0
  - serverinfo: 1.16.0
  - settings: 1.8.0
  - sharebymail: 1.16.0
  - sharerenamer: 3.1.0
  - spreed: 16.0.0
  - support: 1.9.0
  - suspicious_login: 4.4.0
  - systemtags: 1.16.0
  - text: 3.7.2
  - theming: 2.1.1
  - twofactor_admin: 4.1.9
  - twofactor_backupcodes: 1.15.0
  - twofactor_email: 2.7.2
  - twofactor_nextcloud_notification: 3.6.0
  - twofactor_reminder: 1.0.0
  - twofactor_totp: 8.0.0-alpha.0
  - twofactor_webauthn: 1.1.2
  - updatenotification: 1.16.0
  - uppush: 1.2.0
  - user_status: 1.6.0
  - viewer: 1.10.0
  - workflowengine: 2.8.0
Disabled:
  - bruteforcesettings: 2.6.0
  - encryption: 2.14.0
  - onlyoffice: 7.8.0 (installed 7.8.0)
  - photos: 2.2.0 (installed 2.0.1)
  - richdocuments: 8.0.0 (installed 8.0.0)
  - richdocumentscode: 22.5.802 (installed 22.5.802)
  - survey_client: 1.14.0 (installed 1.13.0)
  - user_ldap: 1.16.0
  - weather_status: 1.6.0 (installed 1.5.0)

Nextcloud Signing status

No errors have been found.

Nextcloud Logs

{"reqId":"79kCTxFSKYVPbvtaKZT2","level":3,"time":"2023-03-23T01:45:19+00:00","remoteAddr":"172.70.174.27","user":"mikedev","app":"index","method":"PUT","url":"/index.php/apps/text/session/create","message":"OCA\\Text\\Service\\EncodingService::encodeToUtf8(): Argument nextcloud/server#1 ($string) must be of type string, bool given, called in /var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/ApiService.php on line 279 in file '/var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/EncodingService.php' line 39","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/111.0","version":"26.0.0.11","exception":{"Exception":"Exception","Message":"OCA\\Text\\Service\\EncodingService::encodeToUtf8(): Argument nextcloud/server#1 ($string) must be of type string, bool given, called in /var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/ApiService.php on line 279 in file '/var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/EncodingService.php' line 39","Code":0,"Trace":[{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/AppFramework/App.php","line":183,"function":"dispatch","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/Route/Router.php","line":315,"function":"main","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\App","type":"::"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/base.php","line":1055,"function":"match","class":"OC\\Route\\Router","type":"->"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/index.php","line":36,"function":"handleRequest","class":"OC","type":"::"}],"File":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","Line":169,"Previous":{"Exception":"TypeError","Message":"OCA\\Text\\Service\\EncodingService::encodeToUtf8(): Argument nextcloud/server#1 ($string) must be of type string, bool given, called in /var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/ApiService.php on line 279","Code":0,"Trace":[{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/ApiService.php","line":279,"function":"encodeToUtf8","class":"OCA\\Text\\Service\\EncodingService","type":"->"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/ApiService.php","line":148,"function":"loadContent","class":"OCA\\Text\\Service\\ApiService","type":"->"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Controller/SessionController.php","line":57,"function":"create","class":"OCA\\Text\\Service\\ApiService","type":"->","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":230,"function":"create","class":"OCA\\Text\\Controller\\SessionController","type":"->","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":137,"function":"executeController","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/AppFramework/App.php","line":183,"function":"dispatch","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/Route/Router.php","line":315,"function":"main","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\App","type":"::"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/lib/base.php","line":1055,"function":"match","class":"OC\\Route\\Router","type":"->"},{"file":"/var/www/nextcloud/index.php","line":36,"function":"handleRequest","class":"OC","type":"::"}],"File":"/var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/EncodingService.php","Line":39},"CustomMessage":"--"},"id":"641bb25cb3353"}

Additional info

Software used to create my NC instance:
Turnkey Nextcloud Container - First used with NC 25.0.3.
The server is running on top of Proxmox VE.

Proxmox VE v7.3-6.
Host CPU: E3-1275v2 (8 vCores and max shares allocated for container)
RAM: 16GB (2GB Allocated for the container)
Storage: 256GB allocated for container

[MikeDev101]

Seems like re-installing Nextcloud Office and the Built-in CODE server seems to have done the trick. Close or no?

Edit: I think otherwise - Messages regarding this error still appear in logs. I think other users on my server might be having issues.

[juliusknorr]

I don't think installing the built-in code server is related. It looks like there was a temporary issue when reading the file, which might have caused the exception. We should handle this case more gracefully though, so let's keep this open.

[juliusknorr]

Note that getContent should just read the file from the filesystem which should just call fopen. Was there any log message before the one you pasted that could indicate why this failed?

[MikeDev101]

Note that getContent should just read the file from the filesystem which should just call fopen. Was there any log message before the one you pasted that could indicate why this failed?

Other than various instances of user login failures, I noticed a similar error coming from the mail client:

Otherwise, no.

[NickCloudAT]

I have pretty much the same problem.. Since the Upgrade to 26 I cannot open ANY file from the Browser or APP anymore.
Not a txt, not a md not a office document, nothing :/

I also get the following error in logs:

Exception: OCA\Text\Service\EncodingService::encodeToUtf8(): Argument #1 ($string) must be of type string, bool given, called in /var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/ApiService.php on line 279 in file '/var/www/nextcloud/apps/text/lib/Service/EncodingService.php' line 39

I already tried various things (except tinkering with source files) > Updates etc pretty much..
I really depend on the feature to edit files in web, would be nice to know how to fix this.

[mic05]

I have exactly the same issue after upgrading to 26.0.1. I traced it down to the Common.php line 198:

https://github.com/nextcloud/server/blob/46459ae93fd2fe76a684569d802e7c8972098005/lib/private/Files/Storage/Common.php#LL198C44-L198C44

public function file_get_contents($path) {
$handle = $this->fopen($path, "r");
if (!$handle) {
return false;
}
$data = stream_get_contents($handle);
fclose($handle);
return $data;
}

Seems that the handle is false and therefore false is returned instead of the content of the file. Sadly, I'm no developer and couldn't trace it down further.
Can someone tell me how to fix this or is this an error in nextcloud 26 or in text in general?

[juliusknorr]

Can you test if you can actually download the affected file through the file list? Might be worth to see if the file is still there in the data directory of your nextcloud instance.

[mic05]

Can you test if you can actually download the affected file through the file list? Might be worth to see if the file is still there in the data directory of your nextcloud instance.

@juliushaertl Yeah, all files can be downloaded via the file list just fine, only the text editor and collabora can't open the files.

[fanonwue]

Just wanted to chime in that I've encountered this problem as well after upgrading to NC 26. The getContent() function of the File object returns false for some reason, but downloading the file works perfectly fine.

Might be related to nextcloud/server#37943

EDIT: I've rescanned the files via occ files:scan <user>, and it works now. No idea why.

[mic05]

@fanonwue Thanks for this!
@juliushaertl Rescanning the files worked like a charm. No idea why.

[mic05]

@juliushaertl After a few days I cannot open the files again, same problem. Rescanning doesn't work now. What can I do?

Edit: If I create a new user, everything is working fine. How can I solve this?
Edit2: If I place the same file in a folder again, it is not working. If I place the file in the root folder, I can open it without problem.
Edit3: The files can be opend without problems by the Plain text editor.