Suddenly blank page on Android with version 2.7.2

[jesus2099]

I use Firefox for Android 68 on Android 9.

Since 2021-06-05, community.metabrainz.org is just a blank page for me, whether logged in or out.
I tried the included Chrome browser, same issue.

Meta however works OK.

MetaBrainz Discourse is Discourse 2.7.2 - https://github.com/discourse/discourse version 81070b323f4679e3052efe64b5db7fecada10f23 which is older than meta Discourse 2.8.0.beta2 - https://github.com/discourse/discourse version 940eb28e31636cf585a27daa92a1e86a14238423.

I tried on an older Android from my office and there it works with Samsung browser.

Any clue?

Here are errors that only occur on community.metabrainz.org (blank page):

SyntaxError: expected expression, got '.'
https://community.metabrainz.org/assets/application-b2ca9fbe8bab1b27bb00821fc91900c720b3c6836296c8e6062d44a1ed6d82f2.js

Error: Could not find module discourse/lib/theme-settings-store
https://community.metabrainz.org/assets/_ember_jquery-36a23101c869ab0dc53fc908de69adb785731593573d32bdeef416acc1076ef4.js

ReferenceError: Discourse is not defined
https://community.metabrainz.org/assets/start-discourse-efa4e5abfbd1b50b5152ffbe64d5dcea9f7c33f766dcc6387e2711f0f2112148.js

Update: I removed the Content Security Policy errors that were common to meta.discourse.org and community.metabrainz.org, it was just distracting and irrelevent.

[Falco]

@jesus2099

I use Firefox for Android 68 on Android 9.

Firefox for Android is currently on version 88.1.4, can you reproduce on that? It loads just fine for me on the current version:

Still, neither version is officially supported, as we only support Chrome on Android.

[michaeld (Michael - Communiteq)]

FYI - We have heard similar complaints after updating forums to 2.7.2: mobile site going completely blank. We do not have any specifics about the client OS or browser though.

[jesus2099]

@Falco

Firefox for Android is currently on version 88.1.4

I know but only 68 does support add-ons (I need Violentmonkey on mobile, to check my CD collection when in second hand shops).

And it is also blank with the built in browser (Chrome).

[Falco]

@jesus2099

And it is also blank with the built in browser (Chrome).

I can’t reproduce that on neither Firefox nor Chrome on my Android phone.

Also opens fine on my desktop.

[jesus2099]

Ah. Maybe it’s because I’m logged in.
I will try to identify all the possible cases where it works and does not work.

[jesus2099]

@Falco

we only support Chrome on Android

@michaeld

We have heard similar complaints after updating forums to 2.7.2: mobile site going completely blank.

@Falco

I can’t reproduce that on neither Firefox nor Chrome on my Android phone.

Thanks very much for your feedbacks.
Indeed it works with more recent Chrome!

For the record (in bold, my own setup; others are from my job test phones; striked-through browsers have no add-ons support):

Browser	Mobile OS	community.metabrainz.org status (2.7.3)	meta.discourse.org status (2.8.0)
Firefox 68.2.0	Android 5.0.2
Firefox 68.11.0	Android 9
Firefox 69+
Chrome 46.0.2490.76	Android 5.0.2
Chrome 56.0.2924.87	Android 6.0.1
Chrome 77.0.3865.92	Android 9
Chrome 91.0.4472.88	Android 5.0.2, Android 6.0.1, Android 9
Samsung Internet 13.2.3.2	Android 6.0.1
Samsung Internet 14.0.3.5	Android 6.0.1
Edge 40.15063.1868.0	Windows 10

Work-around

As a work-around, I have updated Chrome and installed the Discourse site as a desktop icon / favourite / app? and will use that until community.metabrainz.org (now in version 2.7.3) reaches similar recent version like meta.discourse.org (version 2.8.0) that is again compatible with Firefox for Android 68.11.0.
Long touch on links allow me to open links in Firefox. Slightly slower but good enough for me.

---

Associated post at community.metabrainz.org

[sam (Sam Saffron)]

Bug is being tracked here

Discourse does not render on gecko before version 74

I am open to dropping support provided our html fallback is in place. What we can certainly not do is show a working static page to ie9 and a broken page to 1 year old Firefox. I prefer to just transpile up to say 2-3 year old Firefox / Chrome, but am happy to leave that call to @eviltrout and you, we can go more aggressive I guess, but we can not display broken pages Edit, see backlink, this can be a pretty serious issue on android that tends to have terrible cadence upgrading browsers

[jesus2099]

Hi @sam,
Discourse version 2.8.0, used here on meta has no issues, so no need to change Discourse code for this issue, I think.
We just wait for version 2.8.0 and it will be fixed.
Meanwhile we use another browser.

[RGJ (Richard - Communiteq)]

Well… you’re not the only one suffering from this issue @jesus2099

[jesus2099]

Yes but the mentioned fix would apparently be to serve a static read-only HTML version to those browsers.

So I prefer waiting with no changes, as this more recent version of Discourse, here on meta (2.8.x), does work with those browsers in full featured mode (maybe thanks to transpiration).

[RGJ (Richard - Communiteq)]

@jesus2099

would apparently be to serve a static read-only HTML

No, I think you misunderstood.

@jesus2099

maybe thanks to transpiration

That was probably not on purpose, but it made me smile

[jesus2099]

Super, then!
I saw the unintentional typo, but then I intentionally left it like that.
It will be fixed! Super!

Discourse does not render on gecko before version 74

This is now fixed on stable (v2.7.4), the proposal-optional-chaining plugin for babel is now enabled there and it fixes the issue. Thanks @RGJ @joffreyjaffeux (and @vige for the original report)!