socket.io-client 4.8.0 automatic reconnect is not working

[sruetzler]

Describe the bug
I have a client which connects to server
If the server stops and restarts the connect event is not called anymore

In version 4.7.5 the connect event was called when the server restarts and opens the websocket

Socket.IO client version: 4.8.0

Expected behavior
The connect event should be called automatically if the server restarts and opens the websocket

Platform:
NodeJs 16 on Ubuntu 20.04
and also in Chromium 128.0.6613.119

Additional context
On 4.7.5 I get multiple times this connect_error event until it reconnects.

TransportError: xhr poll error      
    at Polling.onError (/home/sruetzler/data/workspace/gitlab/target/installer/rauc-api-client/node_modules/engine.io-client/build/cjs/transport.js:47:37)                                                         
    at Request.<anonymous> (/home/sruetzler/data/workspace/gitlab/target/installer/rauc-api-client/node_modules/engine.io-client/build/cjs/transports/polling.js:238:18)                                           
    at Request.Emitter.emit (/home/sruetzler/data/workspace/gitlab/target/installer/rauc-api-client/node_modules/@socket.io/component-emitter/lib/cjs/index.js:143:20)
    at Request.onError (/home/sruetzler/data/workspace/gitlab/target/installer/rauc-api-client/node_modules/engine.io-client/build/cjs/transports/polling.js:343:14)
    at Timeout._onTimeout (/home/sruetzler/data/workspace/gitlab/target/installer/rauc-api-client/node_modules/engine.io-client/build/cjs/transports/polling.js:316:30)
    at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:557:17)
    at processTimers (node:internal/timers:500:7) {
  description: 0,
  context: XMLHttpRequest {
    UNSENT: 0,
    OPENED: 1,
    HEADERS_RECEIVED: 2,
    LOADING: 3,
    DONE: 4,
    readyState: 4,
    onreadystatechange: [Function (anonymous)],
    responseText: 'Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 192.168.70.132:443\n' +
      '    at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (node:net:1161:16)',
    responseXML: '',
    status: 0,
    statusText: Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 192.168.70.132:443
        at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (node:net:1161:16) {
      errno: -111,
      code: 'ECONNREFUSED',
      syscall: 'connect',
      address: '192.168.70.132',
      port: 443
    },
    open: [Function (anonymous)],
    setDisableHeaderCheck: [Function (anonymous)],
    setRequestHeader: [Function (anonymous)],
    getResponseHeader: [Function (anonymous)],
    getAllResponseHeaders: [Function (anonymous)],
    getRequestHeader: [Function (anonymous)],
    send: [Function (anonymous)],
    handleError: [Function (anonymous)],
    abort: [Function (anonymous)],
    addEventListener: [Function (anonymous)],
    removeEventListener: [Function (anonymous)],
    dispatchEvent: [Function (anonymous)]
  },
  type: 'TransportError'
}

on 4.8.0 I get this errror once and after that I get this endless

No transports available

[FredrikAugust]

We're also seeing that it doesn't automatically reconnect when the transport is broken using websockets.

[isarikaya]

Is it possible for you to create a minimal repo that simulates the issue? @sruetzler

[jsilvawbc]

Hi. Just commenting here so I get further notifications as this potentially affects our product.

In the mean time we locked socket.io related dependencies at ~4.7.5

And due to the new npm audit reports, we added overrides for cookie to version ^0.7.2

Thanks.

[sruetzler]

I tried to reproduce this in a short example. But until now could not reproduce it.
At this time I don't know what is different in my code that it fails.
Perhaps someone else could help.
What about @jsilvawbc or @FredrikAugust ?
Can you help? Do you know whats different or do you have a simple example code that can reproduce this problem?

[FredrikAugust]

@sruetzler

We initialise the io client like this;

		{
			auth: xxx,
			transports: ['websocket', 'polling'],
			withCredentials: true,
			reconnectionDelay: 100,
			reconnectionDelayMax: 1000,
			rememberUpgrade: true,
			closeOnBeforeunload: true
		};

And then observe that if you e.g. kill the backend server, it will simply not attempt to reconnect, even though it should based on the docs.

[AndersRobstad]

@sruetzler

We initialise the io client like this;

		{
			auth: xxx,
			transports: ['websocket', 'polling'],
			withCredentials: true,
			reconnectionDelay: 100,
			reconnectionDelayMax: 1000,
			rememberUpgrade: true,
			closeOnBeforeunload: true
		};

And then observe that if you e.g. kill the backend server, it will simply not attempt to reconnect, even though it should based on the docs.

this.client.on('connect_error', (error) => {
			// If this is active it indicates a transient issue and it will try to reconnect
			if (TypeUtils.isFalse(this.client?.active)) {
				this.logger.warning(`[SocketClient] Connection error occurred: ${error.message}`, {
					error
				});
				this.client.io.connect();
				return;
			}

			this.logger.error(`[SocketClient] Transient connection error occurred: ${error.message}`, {
				error
			});
}

We based the conclusion that the socket should try to automatically reconnect since we had this listener function on the connect_error event. And even though it logged the error as transient, a reconnect attempt was never initialized.

None of the below listener function were ever triggered when the backend was killed and the above mentioned transient connection error log was triggered:

client.io.on('reconnect_attempt', () => {
	this.logger.info('[SocketClient] Initiating attempt to reconnect to socket...');
});

client.io.on('reconnect', (attempt) => {
	this.logger.info(`[SocketClient] Reconnected after ${attempt} attempts`);
});

client.io.on('reconnect_failed', () => {
	this.logger.error('[SocketClient] Reconnection failed after allotted attempts');
});

client.io.on('reconnect_error', (error) => {
	this.logger.error(`[SocketClient] Reconnection error: ${error.message}`, error);
});

[wes337]

I am also facing this issue. It's pretty major since our "online users" counter just drops to 0 anytime we push updates to our code base. I think going back to 4.7.5 is the move for now

[darrachequesne]

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay.

I was not able to reproduce the issue:

• without transports
• with transports: ["polling", "websocket"]
• with transports: ["websocket"]

"No transports available" suggests the transports array is empty, but I don't know how this could happen. This might be linked to this change.

[darrachequesne]

I would need some additional information.

Does it happen with the client bundle? Or with a bundler (webpack, rollup, ...)? In that case, could you please provide your configuration?

Does it happen randomly? Always?

Does it happen in all browsers?

Thanks in advance.

[wes337]

Hey @darrachequesne

• I am using NextJS (14.2.5)
• It happens always
• It happens in all browsers

Here's how our frontend connects

export const socket = io(SOCKET_SERVER_URL, {
  autoConnect: false,
  transports: ["websocket"], // <--- Could it related be this?
  timeout: 10000,
  auth: (callback) => {
    const token = getToken()
    if (token ) {
      callback({
        token,
      });
    } else {
      console.log("No token found when trying to connect to Socket");
    }
  },
  parser: customParser, // <--- We're using socket.io-msgpack-parser here
});

[joweste]

I have the same problem. Does someone solved it?