Failed to download the license (after change linux distro)

[hapaxlegomena]

I changed my linux distro, and my hostname changed. When I try to activate my license I get the error message below:

Failed to download the license: Post “https://duplicacy.com/request_license”: dial tcp: lookup duplicacy.com on [::1]:53: read udp [::1]:49306->[::1]:53: read: connection refused

My hostname (asmi800elite) appears to be correct at Log in required. I tried inputting various other potential hostnames, including “hostname”, but none of them worked. How can I activate on my new os?

I reviewed forum posts, but could not find an answer.
The post with the most similar error message that I found is this:

Failed to download the license

Hello, After reinstalling my computer, I’m getting this error message in Duplicacy: Failed to download the license: License error: Activation code has already been assigned to host localhost. Please log in to your Duplicacy customer page to change the host I went to the customer page and tried different host names with the same result. What should I do? I own a personal license expiring June 2020. Thanks

Also similar:

License rejected after O/S change

I changed O/S from OpenSuse to Fedora. The hostname remains the same (Lance-Desktop). But I keep getting this error: Failed to download the license: License error: Activation code has already been assigned to a different host and can’t be activated on fedora. Please log in to your Duplicacy customer page to change the hostname associated with the license. Do I need to change the hostname on both systems to “temporary” then change it back…or something silly like that? Thanks, Lance

[saspus]

@hapaxlegomena

dial tcp: lookup duplicacy.com on [::1]:53: read udp [::1]:49306->[::1]:53: read: connection refused

Broken dns. Check resolver. Make sure

ping duplicacy.com

works. Looks like you are using localhost as dns. Unless you are running resolver there — it won’t work.

[hapaxlegomena]

Not sure what I am looking for, but I see that ping shows an IP that belongs to google:
connected to broadband:
PING duplicacy.com (216.239.34.21) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from any-in-2215.1e100.net (216.239.34.21): icmp_seq=1 ttl=115 time=10.1 ms

tethered to phone (tested in case something was wrong with my pfsense setup):
PING duplicacy.com (216.239.38.21) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from any-in-2615.1e100.net (216.239.38.21): icmp_seq=1 ttl=111 time=37.6 ms

Maybe I need to fiddle with dns on my pc’s settings? My os, Asmi, is based on debian 13 trixie. (Maybe I shouldn’t have moved from a KDE distro to an XFCE one…)

Thanks for the rapid response.

[saspus]

Is duplicacy running on the host or in the container?

What’s in /etc/resolv.conf? (On the host and/or container).

[hapaxlegomena]

I believe it’s the host (just launched the duplicacy executable file–not sure what the container would be).
/etc/resolv.conf is empty

I also checked /etc/systemd/resolved.conf and it has the following (commented out text not included):
DNS=1.1.1.1#cloudflare-dns.com 1.0.0.1#cloudflare-dns.com 2606:4700:4700::1111#cloudflare-dns.com 2606:4700:4700::1001#cloudflare-dns.com
FallbackDNS=8.8.8.8#dns.google 8.8.4.4#dns.google 2001:4860:4860::8888#dns.google 2001:4860:4860::8844#dns.google

[saspus]

@hapaxlegomena

/etc/resolv.conf is empty

Ok, this is the problem, go resolver has no idea what to do.

Quickest fix would be to add name servers there, paste this to the shell:

sudo tee /etc/resolv.conf >/dev/null <<'EOF'
nameserver 1.1.1.1
nameserver 1.0.0.1
EOF

Alternatively, if you are actually using systemd resolver (confirm with systemctl is-active systemd-resolved) then you would need to link /etc/resolv.conf to systemd resolver stub:

sudo ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

[hapaxlegomena]

Thank you!! systemd-resolved was indeed active. Although my distro had already set dns in /etc/systemd/resolved.conf it seems like the the symlink you identified was rather important.

After your feedback, to try and understand this further, I also looked at sites like https://serverfault.com/questions/1145358/how-can-i-configure-my-dns-settings-on-debian-12 and I repeatedly tested with pages like dnsleaktest.com . I could hardly believe it when it finally worked. I really appreciate your help.

I had never previously made any changes to the dns settings locally on this pc running the Asmi Debian Trixie distro. I never noticed anything was off until I tried to register my edition of duplicacy (such an unusual and unexpected chore).

[saspus]

Glad it worked! You can mark that comment as a “Solution” so future readers can find it immediately.

Rant:
Great example of why people find systemd annoying. It borrowed the design from macOS launchd – singe supervisor for services/IPC/configuration and then sprawled cross half a dozen of files, mysterious symlinks and strange defaults. And when it is broken – it is unobvious why. As you have seen yourself.

One’d expect that if systemd resolver is active it shall take ownership of the whole DNS resolution business. But nope, why make it easy?!

On freeBSD the resolver is boring like funeral. /etc/resolv.conf is the whole thing. Nothing else. You put stuff there, and it works. You don’t – and it does not. At all, not partially

/rant