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"The IP information could not be retrieved"
Closed, ResolvedPublicBUG REPORT

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Authored By
Novem_Linguae
Apr 22 2024, 11:53 PM
Referenced Files
F53483741: Screenshot 2024-05-16 at 15.58.58.png
May 16 2024, 1:01 PM
F53221254: Screenshot (10).png
May 14 2024, 7:42 PM
F53218266: Screenshot 2024-05-14 at 21.02.48.png
May 14 2024, 7:04 PM
F53218268: Screenshot 2024-05-14 at 20.59.18.png
May 14 2024, 7:04 PM
Unknown Object (File)
Apr 22 2024, 11:53 PM
F48177960: image.png
Apr 22 2024, 11:53 PM

Description

Reported by @codenamenoreste at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#IP_Information_feature_issue_on_the_English_Wikipedia_on_iPhones

Environment

  • iphone
  • safari
  • vector-2022
  • enwiki only
  • logged in
  • safemode does not fix
  • not IP or username blocked, able to make edits

Steps to replicate the issue (include links if applicable):

What happens?:

  • "The IP information could not be retrieved"

image.png (1×1 px, 1 MB)

What should have happened instead?:

  • Shows IP information

Software version (on Special:Version page; skip for WMF-hosted wikis like Wikipedia):

Other information (browser name/version, screenshots, etc.):

  • third parties have not reproduced yet
  • smells like an API issue to me
  • can logstash be searched for bad API queries related to IP info?

Event Timeline

I was able to reproduce it

I was able to reproduce.

  • iphone
  • safari
  • vector-2022
  • enwiki only
  • logged in
  • safemode does not fix
  • not IP or username blocked, able to make edits

Do these environmental factors match your situation exactly? If you have time, feel free to try tweaking them one at a time and see if the error stays or goes away. Would be nice to get this list smaller.

It is working now, I don't know what changed.

For me it works.

Are there hidden edits in contribs?

What do you see in Browser console (network)? Note dataContext=infobox and show details on this line.

For me it works.

Are there hidden edits in contribs?

What do you see in Browser console (network)? Note dataContext=infobox and show details on this line.

For the link in the description, there are no suppressed or deleted contributions from this IP as of today.

@Xaosflux works for you? If not, could you test network console?

I don't have the client to test this use case right now, I was just providing information that there were no oversighted or revdel revisions that could have been changing this specific result.

Is anyone else still able to reproduce this? I had a look in Logstash and didn't see anything related to this.

Is anyone else still able to reproduce this? I had a look in Logstash and didn't see anything related to this.

No, it has been working for me for a while now.

kostajh claimed this task.

Is anyone else still able to reproduce this? I had a look in Logstash and didn't see anything related to this.

No, it has been working for me for a while now.

OK, please reopen if it becomes an issue again.

Not sure if this is related, but the IP Info tool is currently providing almost no information on dewiki. I've checked with 10 random IPv4 / IPv6 and all I get is the country, sometimes not even that, e.g.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spezial:Beiträge/95.116.162.24
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spezial:Beiträge/2A01:599:312:3057:51E9:BD15:8DED:E964

Screenshot 2024-05-14 at 20.59.18.png (1×1 px, 298 KB)
Screenshot 2024-05-14 at 21.02.48.png (1×1 px, 243 KB)

Sometimes, I am experiencing this issue on enwiki where there is no access to the location of the IP address, even in limited view. Out of an abundance of caution, and due to this being a possible API error of this gadget, I am re-opening this task.

Screenshot (10).png (585×1 px, 56 KB)

Missing information is confirmed in Finnish Wikipedia also.

Novem_Linguae renamed this task from "The IP information could not be retrieved" for all pages on enwiki (but not other wikis) to "The IP information could not be retrieved".May 15 2024, 8:04 AM

What do you see in network console?

Here's a breakdown of what all those different errors mean:

The IP information could not be retrieved

image.png (1×1 px, 1 MB)

This could be any problem with the API availability - looks like that's fixed or was maybe a sporadic problem not related to the IPInfo extension code.

Not available

Screenshot 2024-05-14 at 20.59.18.png (1×1 px, 298 KB)

This means Spur/Maxmind doesn't have that data. Looking at these fields, they're all populated by Spur. Maxmind and Spur have different coverage, so we may have a location for an IP but no other data for it.

No access

Screenshot (10).png (585×1 px, 56 KB)

This means you don't have the permission to see that data. This looks like a bug because anyone who can see the IPInfo infobox should at least be able to see the location.

@Zache Were you also seeing "No access"?


I think this task is about that first error, so unless it's reliably being reproduced, I propose that we close this task. But I think we should file another one about the final screenshot, since that shouldn't happen.

No, in Finnish Wikipedia it is that there is data is "no available" except the IPv4/IPv6 information. In some rare cases there is country information.

Screenshot 2024-05-16 at 15.58.58.png (1×3 px, 961 KB)

Thanks @Novem_Linguae. To anyone else reading this, see also T355392: Confirm and update what information IPInfo users should be able to see.

@Zache Thanks for the additional info. The "not available" error would be a coverage issue, meaning that the IP isn't in the Spur database. I've made a related comment here: T355392#9805549.

@Zache Thanks for the additional info. The "not available" error would be a coverage issue, meaning that the IP isn't in the Spur database. I've made a related comment here: T355392#9805549.

I've now checked the last 50 dewiki edits made by anon users and got the "not available" error (except for sometimes stating „Germany“ as the location) for every single IP.
In previous months I almost never saw IPs without data, so I'm sure something is broken (either at the Spur database or with our database access)

That's useful @Johannnes89. Sounds like this supports the theory that MaxMind (who we used until earlier this year) has much more coverage than Spur (which we switched to more recently - in T341395: Display Spur data on IPInfo infobox and related tasks).

This is happening to me on enwiki, but all that is showing, is "No access" for the country. All the other stuff I am able to see is there as normal. It does not say not able to be retrieved, just that I have no access to the country.

*desktop (laptop)
*chromium browser
*vector
*enwiki only
*logged in
*not IP or username blocked, able to make edits

On my iPhone or Windows 11 laptop, on the desktop version, it is the same result (no country available) for me even when I use Safari on my iPhone. I'm logged in, I'm using vector skin from 2022, and I am not currently blocked from editing.

On enwiki, did somebody behind this gadget change from Spur to MaxMind?

Thanks @Novem_Linguae. To anyone else reading this, see also T355392: Confirm and update what information IPInfo users should be able to see.

@Zache Thanks for the additional info. The "not available" error would be a coverage issue, meaning that the IP isn't in the Spur database. I've made a related comment here: T355392#9805549.

I can confirm it happens on English Wiktionary with Vector 2022 on Chrome as well. Rarely, there will be country information, but if I check the IP on a third party geolocation site then in (almost) all cases more information has been available.

Thanks everyone. We'll try to solve this via T355393 - so if MaxMind has data, but Spur doesn't, we'd show the MaxMind data.

kostajh closed this task as Resolved.EditedWed, May 22, 1:49 PM

EDIT: I hadn't refreshed the page in order to see @Tchanders comment in T363118#9821090 which is pretty much the same as what I am writing below.

Here's a breakdown of what all those different errors mean:

The IP information could not be retrieved

image.png (1×1 px, 1 MB)

This could be any problem with the API availability - looks like that's fixed or was maybe a sporadic problem not related to the IPInfo extension code.

That's what this task was initially about, so I think we should now mark this task as "resolved". See below for more comments, though.

Not available

Screenshot 2024-05-14 at 20.59.18.png (1×1 px, 298 KB)

This means Spur/Maxmind doesn't have that data. Looking at these fields, they're all populated by Spur. Maxmind and Spur have different coverage, so we may have a location for an IP but no other data for it.

There are two follow-ups here:

No access

Screenshot (10).png (585×1 px, 56 KB)

This means you don't have the permission to see that data. This looks like a bug because anyone who can see the IPInfo infobox should at least be able to see the location.

Follow-up for that is T355392: Confirm and update what information IPInfo users should be able to see


So in summary:

Thank you everyone for your feedback, comments, and testing.