Tutorial Server plugin fails to start. -> "err":"unable to start plugin: com.mattermost.server-hello-world: timed out waiting for plugin"

Troubleshooting
1

I am following the Hello, World plugin tutorial here: https://developers.mattermost.com/integrate/plugins/components/server/hello-world/.

I have mattermost installed on my local machine by following: Redirect

Here is my mattermost and db version:

Mattermost Version: 5.1.0
Database Schema Version: 5.1.0
Database: mysql

Here is my docker installation’s OS and arch.

root@4bdee6a90b82:/mm/mattermost/plugins# uname -a
Linux 4bdee6a90b82 4.9.87-linuxkit-aufs #1 SMP Wed Mar 14 15:12:16 UTC 2018 x86_64 GNU/Linux

These are the tutorial steps I followed for building the executable plugin:

➜  my-plugin$ GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -o plugin plugin.go
➜  my-plugin$ ls
plugin        plugin.go     plugin.yaml
➜  my-plugin$ file plugin
plugin: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, with debug_info, not stripped
➜  my-plugin$ cat plugin.yaml
id: com.mattermost.server-hello-world
name: Server "Hello, world!"
backend:
    executable: plugin

I uploaded the plugin on http://localhost:8065/admin_console/plugins/management.
I clicked Activate, which shows This plugin is starting.
After a while, it shows This plugin failed to start. Check your system logs for errors.
The logs show this:

{"level":"error","ts":1533035791.792267,"caller":"app/plugin.go:158","msg":"Plugin failed to activate","plugin_id":"com.mattermost.server-hello-world","err":"unable to start plugin: com.mattermost.server-hello-world: timed out waiting for plugin"}

How do I debug this?

Some headway that I was able to make:

I downloaded a certain “meme” plugin from GitHub - mattermost/mattermost-plugin-memes: Add culture to your Mattermost with memes 🔌. That works.

So I checked both the plugin executables:

root@4bdee6a90b82:/mm/mattermost/plugins# file memes/plugin.exe
memes/plugin.exe: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, not stripped

root@4bdee6a90b82:/mm/mattermost/plugins# file com.mattermost.server-hello-world/plugin
com.mattermost.server-hello-world/plugin: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, not stripped

Could this difference be the cause? If yes, what options do I need to pass in order to the same executable as with the meme plugin.exe?

Thanks in advance for your help!

2

Could you try to change “backend” in .yaml file to be “server”?

1 Like
3

@karim Oh wow! Thanks so much! That actually fixed it.

Could you tell me why that was relevant?

Also, on the same note, the tutorial suggests:

Once you’ve installed the plugin in one of the ways above, browse to https://<your-mattermost-server>/plugins/com.mattermost.server-hello-world, and you’ll be greeted by your plugin.

However, when I visit http://localhost:8065/plugins/com.mattermost.server-hello-world, I get a 404 page not found. Would you know why that is?

Thanks a ton again. :slight_smile:

1 Like
4

You are welcome bro :slight_smile:
i am new to mattermost as well :smiley:
https://developers.mattermost.com/extend/plugins/manifest-reference/
in the previous link you will find all the properties that you can use in config file
but, i noticed the following statement in “backend” section:
“Backend is a deprecated flag for defining the server-side portion of your plugin. Going forward, use Server instead.” :slight_smile:

Now, i have the same problem that you have (404 not found) and till now i don’t know why that is happening!

5

Ah ha.

Hmm… Maybe the “404 not found” is because the server is looking for the plugin on a certain path on the filesystem and it can’t find it? Dunno, let me do some exploration and will report back if I find anything.

And again, thanks for the mainfest-reference explanation as well.

1 Like
6

The solution is on another thread: Custom Plugin not found after upload/activation