Good Idea to give federation issues a separate topic. I have made the changes on your list resulting in posts and chat messages coming out of the forum, but still nothing can be pulled into it, no matter how many people or sites I follow or try to follow. Funny, I couldn't find how to access AP users that I am apparently following other than by re-following them. They are not listed among local forum users.

@julian Can you give me some ideas what to do next?

@Jakub-Urbanowicz can you give me a example of something that cannot be pulled in?

Also run the forum under dev mode (./nodebb dev) for some additional logging around ActivityPub.

@julian Some of the users I am following (or so it reads on each user's page):

@ju@pol.social (Mastodon)
@kodmalopolskie@soc.citizen4.eu (Friendica)
@oko_press@101010.pl
@kravietz@agora.echelon.pl
@julian@community.nodebb.org
https://community.nodebb.org/post/102755 – imported by link (can't post remotely)

Nothing special happens when running dev mode. Just some plugin incompatibilities get printed:

2025-02-15T05:36:53.950Z [4567/3360] - warn: [plugins/load] The following plugins may not be compatible with your version of NodeBB. This may cause unintended behaviour or crashing. In the event of an unresponsive NodeBB caused by this plugin, run ./nodebb reset -p PLUGINNAME to disable it.

• nodebb-plugin-soundpack-default
• nodebb-plugin-emoji-android
• nodebb-widget-essentials
• nodebb-rewards-essentials
• nodebb-plugin-who-read-it
• nodebb-plugin-question-and-answer
• nodebb-plugin-poll
• nodebb-plugin-dbsearch
• nodebb-plugin-custom-pages
• nodebb-plugin-composer-default

I've been able to npm unl / npm i nodebb-theme-harmony, but I wasn't successful with plugin-composer-default or plugin-custom-pages, so I gave up on the rest of them. Every time I ran npm I saw a warning that my nodejs was outside requirements (probably too new, if I got it right).

./nodebb log

    ../../../bootstrap/scss/forms/_form-control.scss 40:7  @import
    bootstrap/scss/_forms.scss 3:9                         @import
    - 19:9                                                 root stylesheet

WARNING: The keyword 'none' must be used as a single argument.
    ../../../bootstrap/scss/mixins/_box-shadow.scss 10:9  box-shadow()
    ../../../bootstrap/scss/forms/_form-select.scss 32:7  @import
    bootstrap/scss/_forms.scss 4:9                        @import
    - 19:9                                                root stylesheet

./nodebb build
  started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.136Z [4567/2898] - info: [build] Building in parallel mode
2025-02-15T05:33:08.138Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]         plugin static dirs  build started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.139Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]          requirejs modules  build started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.139Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]           client js bundle  build started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.140Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]            admin js bundle  build started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.140Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]         client side styles  build started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.140Z [4567/2898] - info: [build] admin control panel styles  build started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.142Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]                  templates  build started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.142Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]                  languages  build started
2025-02-15T05:33:08.665Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]         plugin static dirs  build completed in 0.527sec
2025-02-15T05:33:09.350Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]           client js bundle  build completed in 1.211sec
2025-02-15T05:33:09.368Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]            admin js bundle  build completed in 1.228sec
2025-02-15T05:33:11.753Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]                  languages  build completed in 3.611sec
2025-02-15T05:33:11.807Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]          requirejs modules  build completed in 3.668sec
2025-02-15T05:33:11.807Z [4567/2898] - info: [build] Bundling with Webpack.
[10%] building (0/0 modules)
2025-02-15T05:33:13.983Z [4567/2898] - info: [build]         client side styles  build completed in 5.842sec
[10%] building (398/608 modules)
2025-02-15T05:33:25.087Z [4567/2898] - info: [build] Bundling took 10113 ms
2025-02-15T05:33:25.089Z [4567/2898] - info: [build] Asset compilation successful. Completed in 16.951sec.

sudo systemctl status nodebb
● nodebb.service - NodeBB
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/nodebb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-02-15 06:39:50 CET; 12s ago
       Docs: https://docs.nodebb.org
    Process: 3477 ExecStart=/usr/bin/node loader.js (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 3488 (node)
      Tasks: 36 (limit: 9348)
     Memory: 375.1M
        CPU: 20.494s
     CGroup: /system.slice/nodebb.service
             ├─3488 /usr/bin/node /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/loader.js
             ├─3499 /usr/bin/node /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/app.js
             └─3527 /usr/bin/node /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/meta/minifier.js

Feb 15 06:39:50 sv systemd[1]: Starting NodeBB...
Feb 15 06:39:50 sv systemd[1]: nodebb.service: Can't open PID file /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/pidfile (yet?) after start: Operation not permitted
Feb 15 06:39:50 sv systemd[1]: Started NodeBB.

In trying to fix things I have made changes to nginx reverse proxy configuration, but I seem to have made things even worse, which is not a bad thing, because in that may lie the solution.
I'll be happy to provide log and config files by a secure channel of your choosing.

@julian
Here you are some AP errors from a few days ago, before I made any changes.

2025-02-13T06:25:09.462Z [4567/24115] - error: [activitypub/api] Error
Error: [[error:activitypub.invalid-id]]
    at /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:42:9
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async Object.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:30:5)
    at async Categories.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/controllers/write/categories.js:117:2)
    at async /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/routes/helpers.js:80:5
2025-02-13T06:28:56.552Z [4567/24115] - error: [activitypub/api] Error
Error: [[error:activitypub.invalid-id]]
    at /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:42:9
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async Object.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:30:5)
    at async Categories.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/controllers/write/categories.js:117:2)
    at async /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/routes/helpers.js:80:5
2025-02-13T06:33:19.290Z [4567/24115] - error: [activitypub/api] Error
TypeError: Invalid URL
    at new URL (node:internal/url:804:36)
    at /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/activitypub/index.js:100:25
    at Array.filter ()
    at ActivityPub.resolveInboxes (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/activitypub/index.js:99:13)
    at ActivityPub.send (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/activitypub/index.js:373:36)
    at /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:51:21
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async Object.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:30:5)
    at async Categories.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/controllers/write/categories.js:117:2)
    at async /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/routes/helpers.js:80:5
2025-02-13T06:37:05.361Z [4567/24115] - error: [activitypub/api] Error
Error: [[error:activitypub.invalid-id]]
    at /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:42:9
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async Object.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:30:5)
    at async Categories.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/controllers/write/categories.js:117:2)
    at async /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/routes/helpers.js:80:5
2025-02-13T06:37:20.692Z [4567/24115] - error: [activitypub/api] Error
Error: [[error:activitypub.invalid-id]]
    at /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:42:9
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async Object.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/api/activitypub.js:30:5)
    at async Categories.follow (/home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/controllers/write/categories.js:117:2)
    at async /home/xxxxxxxx/nodebb/src/routes/helpers.js:80:5
[cluster] Restarting...

My forum.n66.pl-proxy.conf is now very similar to official recommendations and doesn't seem to have any effect on AP following/sharing capabilities.
I am unaware of server tweaks to facilitate AP following/sharing.

@Jakub-Urbanowicz your ActivityPub user is resolving, but the URLs are incorrect.

Please update your config.json so that it properly reflects your site's url, it should be https://forum.n66.pl, with the https

Hi! I am also having federation issues on a fresh install of 4.0.3. For example, I can not see the content of all the posts here including the original post. I think I see the content of around half of the posts. I tried to reply on another post on community.nodebb.org, but after ten minutes it is still not visible at community.nodebb.org.

Ironically, I am not sure this reply will reach community.nodebb.org either.

@reynir OK great! This one went through. However, I still only see about half of the posts.

(Finally, sorry for barging in on your topic - perhaps we can fork the topic somehow)

@reynir@forum.fedi.dk the post content being blank issue might be an unrelated bug. I'm still trying to figure out that one.

@julian@community.nodebb.org thanks for the reply! Is there a tracking issue I can subscribe to?

(I am having a lot of fun with our new NodeBB instance btw!)

@reynir@forum.fedi.dk there wasn't, so I added one:

Reports of blank posts · Issue #13172 · NodeBB/NodeBB

There are reports of blank posts appearing on NodeBB. They are related to remote posts who have markdown defined. At some point in the logic the post is parsed with the empty content and cached as empty. A NodeBB restart usually temporar...

GitHub (github.com)

@julian That and upgrading to 4.0.4 helped a little – at least direct messages are coming through, but following still not working in either direction. Following seems to be set up correctly and confirmed on both the forum and other AP instances. Testing with Friendica and Mastodon. Only the messages are stopped somewhere.

@julian I am now unable to import threads using the search area. It worked a few days ago (before 4.0.4) and maybe before changing http to https in config.json. Now I can only follow users without actually following their content (no following is operational). While importing threads worked, it was still useless, because I couldn't join in on conversations.
Yesterday I experimented with different proxy_pass values in my nginx proxy.conf file:

• proxy_pass http://forum_n66_pl; – original configuration
• proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4567; – no effect on AP behaviour, nodebb's admin privileges affected
• proxy_pass https://forum_n66_pl; – resulted in a "Bad Gateway" error.
  I attach the recent log file: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZun2L5Zy2PaNwGjuh72kxKbh6Wl9jEb4FmX

Please tell me you know how to fix it.

@Jakub-Urbanowicz http://forum_n66_pl this suggests there's an upstream block.

Can you paste your entire nginx config?

@julian just a moment; it's a bit complex, because configuration is divided into several files.

@julian Please find attached a summary of my nginx settings.
The back-end installation of NodeBB was done manually in a home directory, while the reverse proxy is part of on automated server solution called Webinoly. It is typically used for self-hosting WordPress, but not only. It worked pretty well before the advent of Federation capabilities, so I wasn't bothered. I just uncommented some proxy headers in /etc/nginx/apps.d/forum.n66.pl-proxy.conf and added "X-NginX-Proxy true" as per documentation. Mongodb (7.0) is provided from a deb repository as is nodejs.
I'm not sure why the web root directory as mentioned in /etc/nginx/sites-available/forum.n66.pl does not exist (root /var/www/forum.n66.pl/htdocs). I don't even have /var/www/forum.n66.pl/.
Thank you for helping me.

@Jakub-Urbanowicz whatever your nginx config, if it was working before, it should not require any changes to support federation.

I would revert back to a working config if you're seeing issues with regular usage of NodeBB. Otherwise if the site is loading fine then tweaking nginx (probably) won't fix anything and the problem likely lies elsewhere.

I will look into your configs tomorrow.

@wall_e@ioc.exchange This is done now, consecutive shares are merged.

@julian Updated to nodejs 22.x and nodebb 4.0.5. Still no joy with Federation. Did you manage to have a look at my Nginx settings? I have quite a few people subscribed, but not a piece of new ever showed from them. Otherwise the forum is working fine.