EW: Inform users when fixing "key storage out of sync" fails

[mxandreas]

Problem

In case the user is notified about their key storage is out of sync (their device is missing a secret), they have the option to enter their recovery key and try to fix the issue by retrieving the missing secret from key storage. However, it could happen that the key storage also does not have the secret so the user will remain in the key storage is out of sync broken state.

The issue is that currently the user is not informed at all that fixing the issue failed, and that they need to reset their identity to set it up correctly.

Designs

• Inform user that they need to do a reset.

Note that the designs of the entire key storage is out of sync journey assume that the recovery key entry modal is modernized and the entire flow is embedded into the Settings overlay. This would be desired, but it is acceptable if the recovery key entry is present as modal after which user lands in the Settings overlay where they are told about the need to reset.

[richvdh]

There are two and a half potential failure modes:

• 4S is missing one or more secrets
  • or, it has the secrets, but they are not encrypted with the current 4S key and are therefore effectively inaccessible
• The secret keys in 4S do not match the public keys on the account (possibly as a result of Resetting cross-signing leaves account in a broken state if you abort halfway #13338)

[richvdh]

I think this is the same as #27808 and #27252. At the very least, I would expect to be able to close those issues after fixing this one.

[mxandreas]

I think this is the same as #27808 and #27252. At the very least, I would expect to be able to close those issues after fixing this one.

@richvdh I see how these are related issues but I am wondering what does it change regarding this issue? Are you saying that we do not need to tell the user that fixing failed, because by fixing some bugs we can make it succeed in 99.999% of the time?

[richvdh]

No, I don't think it changes anything here. I'm just adding cross-references between similar issues, to help us navigate the issue tracker, and (hopefully) remember to close existing issues when they are fixed.

Those other issues amount to much the same thing: "In situation XYZ, attempting to set up the local device using recovery fails silently. We should let the user know that it didn't work."