cannot stay logged into phpBB3

[bobbank]

We seem to have JFusion mostly up-and-running with phpBB3 and Joomla. But it seems that, after about 60 minutes, I get logged out of the phpBB3 boards. The odd thing is that I am still logged into Joomla.

The session durations for both softwares is currently set to max, and we are using the latest release of JFusion. 1.0.8. I'm not sure if this problem was newly created with that version, or if I just hadn't noticed it until recently.

The only solution is to manually log out of Joomla, then back in. This seems to "renew" the session with phpBB3. Looking at the JFusion settings, I did not see anything that pertained to this, so I wonder if you have any advice on where to start looking?

[bobbank]

It seems you are having the same problem with your own site, actually.

The Joomla portion of your site "remembered" me, as it should have. But when I clicked the forum link, I was not logged in at all.

Any thoughts?

/edit: perhaps this is related to another issue I have at your site, which is that if I remain on the forums for a while (maybe 30+ minutes), then try to click a forum link (ie post reply), instead of going there, I am redirected to your home page. This redirection only happens if I have been idle - it's as if the URL is no longer valid or has expired. But maybe that is just a frameless issue.

[Imran]

It is a sh404SEF issue and not a frameless. It is a simple hack by Marius to remove a small error that was showing up. Looking into a fix for it.

[bobbank]

OK. In that case, my bug is unrelated, because I am not using sh404SEF. I think it must be related to the cookie or something like this. And I think you guys are having the same issue here.

If you stay logged into Joomla, but remain idle for 60+ minutes, then try to click on the forums, you are not logged in there. Maybe cookie / session expiring within jfusion? But I don't see any setting to control this.

On my site both Joomla and phpBB have max session durations.

[bobbank]

Confirmed following:

If you remain logged into the Joomla site, without forums open, wait 60 minutes, then try to bring up the forums (in wrapper or otherwise), you will not be logged in. This bug effects my site and this one.

Currently testing if the session also expires if you already have forums open.

Unknown whether this is unique to phpBB3 or basic to JFusion.

[Imran]

Yup just as I thought. Nothing to do with JFusion.

Please look under Load settings on the left hand column in your phpBB ACP. Change the session time there.

[bobbank]

I do not think so, Imran.

Session length on phpBB is set to 9999999999 seconds. That is a little less than 318 years, so I don't believe I hit that figure yet.

I have now confirmed this bug effects you even if you have already logged into phpBB3. So, perform these steps: log into joomla, visit forums, remain idle for an hour. Then try to click a forum link. You will find that you have been kicked out.

Again, this is true not only for my site, but also for jfusion.org.

For my next test I will confirm that, if will just log directly into the forums, without Joomla or Jfusion, to confirm that this is working.


/edit: for testing purposes I am not checking the box to remember me next time on my own site. Although I do have that box checked with jfusion.org's site, and the identical error persists.

[Imran]

I am always automatically logged into the JFusion Forums Can't replicate the bug here!

[bobbank]

Confirmed that, if I log into my phpBB3 boards directly, I am not kicked out after the 60 minute mark. So it is not a phpBB3 issue.

[bobbank]

OK, I have additional information which may help. Tonight I logged into my test site and carefully recorded cookie information, as follows:

(1) Deleted all cookies for my site.

(2) Logged in 10/17/08 8:01pm.

(3) Three cookies created.

d040002b5ccb052c8e499ade69e5dc86
(end of session)

phpbb3_caj1g_sid
(10/17/08 8:31pm)

phpbb3_caj1g_u
(10/17/08 8:31pm)

Alright now as you see the phpBB3 cookies have a duration of only 30 minutes, which explains why I get kicked out after that amount of time. However, my Joomla session duration is currently set for 1 year, and my phpBB3 session duration is set for 318 years.

So the question becomes - how do I convince JFusion to make a longer-lasting cookie?


I could not find any setting that seemed to relate to this in the plugin configuration, except for one thing. Allow Auto Login Cookie was set to 1. But I assume this would only be relevant if I had chosen the "remember me" option when logging in.