[Freedombox-discuss] Why is syncthing contacting "relays" out there?

[A. F. Cano]

Hi,

I have installed syncthing but have not configured it yet.  While
troubleshooting other stuff I found these troubling messages in
/var/log/messages:

Dec 26 04:41:07 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Disconnected from relay relay://45.79.172.54:22067
Dec 26 04:41:12 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Joined relay relay://192.99.175.39:22067

and after I disconnected from the internet:

Dec 26 05:04:41 fbx NetworkManager[418]: <info>  [1514282681.8647] device (ppp0): state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'connection-assumed', sys-iface-state: 'external')
Dec 26 05:04:41 fbx NetworkManager[418]: <info>  [1514282681.8714] device (ppp0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'external')
Dec 26 05:05:20 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Disconnected from relay relay://192.99.175.39:22067
Dec 26 05:05:27 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Could not connect to relay relay://74.111.40.65:443/?id=REBDAOM-CDHW4UA-B63Y477-CTTZYQE-VOSIPPB-SNR63DS-R244DS6-P37KAQN&pingInterval=1m0s&networkTimeout=2m0s&sessionLimitBps=0&globalLimitBps=0&statusAddr=:22070&providedBy=harry.lu - New York, US: EOF
Dec 26 05:05:34 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Could not connect to relay relay://192.99.71.152:443/?id=OOCD4WB-BWU2SBD-YD62YUZ-E5DP7PN-YGEHKBT-TJDO3ND-VQG3NUF-72JRKQS&pingInterval=1m0s&networkTimeout=2m0s&sessionLimitBps=0&globalLimitBps=10000000&statusAddr=:22070&providedBy=https://keybase.io/gibstick: EOF
Dec 26 05:05:42 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Could not connect to relay relay://104.193.225.93:443/?id=UV3SIHA-N6U7DL2-XOQ7OSX-TMUO2Y5-V7CMJSA-3EM4YVP-5KMMB2W-B4OVDAK&pingInterval=1m0s&networkTimeout=2m0s&sessionLimitBps=0&globalLimitBps=0&statusAddr=:22070&providedBy=harry.lu - Texas, US: EOF
Dec 26 05:05:49 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Could not connect to relay relay://107.170.56.60:443/?id=4DPTHBY-G6Y5CDI-2HH2ZUI-674CQUG-IYTPVZ7-CRRJMPH-7A5ELMO-4WM5SQS&pingInterval=1m0s&networkTimeout=2m0s&sessionLimitBps=0&globalLimitBps=400000&statusAddr=:22070&providedBy=congruity: EOF
Dec 26 05:06:01 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Could not connect to relay relay://107.150.6.122:8080/?id=YZEDTET-MSMJW5I-FHP65VK-KTARQPH-OWBWODN-6IRBXNR-JGMDUJL-GBQXRAA&pingInterval=1m0s&networkTimeout=2m0s&sessionLimitBps=0&globalLimitBps=1024000&statusAddr=:22070&providedBy=assortedflotsam.com: EOF
Dec 26 05:06:12 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Could not connect to relay relay://159.203.30.69:443/?id=BHRVSCI-OS7CQUT-GD52ST6-ADHJ3BZ-OKLJ6O7-2VXKV73-YC477KC-BGWSRAK&pingInterval=1m0s&networkTimeout=2m0s&sessionLimitBps=0&globalLimitBps=0&statusAddr=:22070&providedBy=Colin Taylor: EOF
Dec 26 05:06:32 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Could not connect to relay relay://89.163.130.244:22067/?id=E76TLVX-UNGBGPN-OL4P3EC-XN24JUK-UWSPZBI-I5DVXRE-XWHKM3M-ESN3IAT&pingInterval=1m0s&networkTimeout=2m0s&sessionLimitBps=0&globalLimitBps=0&statusAddr=:22070&providedBy=marcohald: read tcp 75.213.225.50:41058->89.163.130.244:22067: i/o timeout
Dec 26 05:06:52 fbx syncthing[524]: [V7KVP] INFO: Could not connect to relay relay://165.227.61.6:22067/?id=LXHDHBN-S7TAF6Q-K5NXQQO-MGHAHH7-LMV4ZAA-5WVQ4S7-WTKI2EQ-55TUMQ4&pingInterval=1m0s&networkTimeout=2m0s&sessionLimitBps=0&globalLimitBps=0&statusAddr=:22070&providedBy=: read tcp 75.213.225.50:34226->165.227.61.6:22067: i/o timeout

Nothing I've read about syncthing indicated that it would be connecting
to these "relays" out there.  Why is it doing this? Like I said I
haven't even configured it yet.  Until I figure out why it's doing this
it will remain disabled.  The prospect that my files I'm trying to sync
might end up at those "relays" is not too appealing.  Can someone shed
some light on this?

FreedomBox testing, just updated.  Thanks a bunch for the switch to turn
off snapshot generation and the "delete all" button.  Even with a 32G
ssd, it got filled up.  The huge log files (1.2-1.4G) that are generated
also don't help.  I realize this is not an issue about freedombox or
plinth, it's caused by thousands of "named: network unreachable" error
messages when the outside interface is down, which is the case for hours
at a time in my setup.

Thanks.

Augustine