I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

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pir
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby pir » Thu Sep 03, 2015 12:40 am

arthaey wrote:I've been logged out (from non-form pages) on this forum twice more in the past 12 hours. What's up? :(

It's not something the forum is doing as a matter of course; the last time I was logged out was when the DNS changed. Since then I've been logged in without a problem, even though for most of the time this tab just sits there and I don't interact with it. I don't even lose text in the input form when the 7200 seconds are up; I just need to resubmit it (Firefox 39.0.3, Mac OS X 10.9.5).

Since your log-out problem doesn't seem to happen to other people, it would probably be a good idea to know what OS and what browser (versions, too) you're using. There might be something specific in the interaction between this forum and your browser that causes you to get logged out.
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby zenmonkey » Thu Sep 03, 2015 8:46 am

pir wrote:
arthaey wrote:I've been logged out (from non-form pages) on this forum twice more in the past 12 hours. What's up? :(

It's not something the forum is doing as a matter of course; the last time I was logged out was when the DNS changed. Since then I've been logged in without a problem, even though for most of the time this tab just sits there and I don't interact with it. I don't even lose text in the input form when the 7200 seconds are up; I just need to resubmit it (Firefox 39.0.3, Mac OS X 10.9.5).

Since your log-out problem doesn't seem to happen to other people, it would probably be a good idea to know what OS and what browser (versions, too) you're using. There might be something specific in the interaction between this forum and your browser that causes you to get logged out.


Add me to the list, looking at the log in key in your profile, you can see when this happens - yesterday 2x for me also. Not that I see it as a problem, but certainly something to watch.
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby arthaey » Thu Sep 03, 2015 2:49 pm

pir wrote:Since your log-out problem doesn't seem to happen to other people, it would probably be a good idea to know what OS and what browser (versions, too) you're using. There might be something specific in the interaction between this forum and your browser that causes you to get logged out.

iOS 8.1.2 (iPhone 6), Safari
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby Serpent » Thu Sep 03, 2015 4:25 pm

I also got logged out today. Previously this only happened during the migration :)
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby Serpent » Wed Nov 11, 2015 2:13 pm

Can this be some sort of protection feature that tracks the IP? I got logged out while in Finland last week, and I think during my previous trip too. I know arthaey's been travelling a lot this year ;)
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby emk » Wed Nov 11, 2015 2:47 pm

Serpent wrote:Can this be some sort of protection feature that tracks the IP? I got logged out while in Finland last week, and I think during my previous trip too. I know arthaey's been travelling a lot this year ;)

Yeah, it's entirely possible that that your login is tied to your IP address. This would make it harder for somebody with a network sniffer to steal your login "cookie" and impersonate you.
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby Serpent » Wed Nov 11, 2015 9:31 pm

But is this actually a major risk on a site like HTLAL? Perhaps there's an admin setting for something like that?
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby rdearman » Thu Nov 12, 2015 12:34 am

As far as I know, cookies are only used to store the session id and to make possible to log in automatically (autologin). phpBB works even if you disable cookies because all (most) links have the "sessionid" parameter. As long as your Session ID or SID is valid in the DB here on the forum, and hasn't been cleared from your browsers cache then you should be ok.

You should only encounter problems if the SID your browser is giving isn't recognised by the forum page, in which case it redirects you to the login page. Or if your browser doesn't have a SID (cookie) to present. Or if you haven't ticked the "autologin" option when you signed in. There could also be problems on the server side. For example when we migrated the domain to the current one, the old SID were invalid because they didn't have the new domain name in them. Or if your SID is expired in the database. Some browsers can be set to automatically clear the cache on exit, or other trigger, so this would clear your SID and cause you to re-login.

Your IP address is recorded as part of the session ID (see below) and therefore a change in IP address could cause the autologin to fail. However all the reseach I have done indicates the programmers don't check for IP changes. This is because you could, for example, on a mobile device change from WiFi to mobile data and get a different IP, but you wouldn't want to be logged out of your session. On this board the "remember me" is allowed, and for an unlimited amount of time.

So the short answer is: I have absolutely no idea why you got logged out. I blame wizards or aliens.

==============
session_id varchar(32) primary key
session_user_id mediumint(8) unsigned tbd 0
session_last_visit int(11) unsigned tbd 0
session_start int(11) unsigned tbd 0
session_time int(11) unsigned tbd 0
session_ip varchar(40) tbd
session_browser varchar(150) tbd
session_page varchar(255) tbd
session_viewonline tinyint(1) unsigned tbd 1
session_autologin tinyint(1) unsigned tbd 0
session_admin tinyint(1) unsigned tbd 0
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby Mohave » Thu Nov 12, 2015 7:39 pm

arthaey wrote:
pir wrote:Since your log-out problem doesn't seem to happen to other people, it would probably be a good idea to know what OS and what browser (versions, too) you're using. There might be something specific in the interaction between this forum and your browser that causes you to get logged out.

iOS 8.1.2 (iPhone 6), Safari


I am using an iPad - iOS 9.1 - and I am logged out constantly. I never have a problem re-logging in - just a little bit annoying. I wonder if it is something with the iDevices.....
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Re: I almost lost my post because of automatic log-out

Postby arthaey » Thu Nov 26, 2015 5:51 pm

I'm still getting logged out failing on my iPhone. Perhaps changing the cookie name as per this forum post would solve the problem for us too?
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