[Release] AB-Solution 3 - The Ad Blocking Solution

[Wutikorn]

Question: how can i link sending weekly stats via gmail if my gmail account has 2-factor authentication?

Make new Gmail account without 2-factor authentication for AB-Solution, and then use that new account to forward every emails to your main account.

 

[pirx73]

Oh well... i can do that i suppose. Thanks!

 

[tomsk]

You can use the App password ( 16 digit code generated from within your gmail account) ..... you paste this into your AB3 email configuration instead of your regular email password and it works great with 2-factor authentication

 

[thelonelycoder]

You can use the App password ( 16 digit code generated from within your gmail account) ..... you paste this into your AB3 email configuration instead of your regular email password and it works great with 2-factor authentication

I'll add this to the Info in AB and the manual for the next release.

 

[cybrnook]

Updated brothers firmware and all today, and noticed a small syntactical correction. Check for updates options should return 1-2, instead of 1-3. Merry Christmas all.

What do you want to do? cu
__________________________________________________


Update info:
This will check with ab-solution.info for newer
script versions for AB-Solution.
-------------------------------------------------

Continue? [1=Yes e=Exit] 1

getting version info from ab-solution.info...

-------------------------------------------------

AB-Solution is up to date!

ab-solution.sh: 3 (3.0) (latest version)
update-hosts.add: 3.0 (latest version)
rotate-logs.add: 3.0 (latest version)
-------------------------------------------------

1. Redownload add-on script
2. Redownload ab-solution.sh

Select what to do [1-3] e=Exit

 

[thelonelycoder]

Updated brothers firmware and all today, and noticed a small syntactical correction. Check for updates options should be 1-2, instead of 1-3. Merry Christmas all.

What do you want to do? cu
__________________________________________________


Update info:
This will check with ab-solution.info for newer
script versions for AB-Solution.
-------------------------------------------------

Continue? [1=Yes e=Exit] 1

getting version info from ab-solution.info...

-------------------------------------------------

AB-Solution is up to date!

ab-solution.sh: 3 (3.0) (latest version)
update-hosts.add: 3.0 (latest version)
rotate-logs.add: 3.0 (latest version)
-------------------------------------------------

1. Redownload add-on script
2. Redownload ab-solution.sh

Select what to do [1-3] e=Exit

3 is for the magic wand. The one that you're holding in your hand.
It magically fixed it weeks ago in a development world near a coders place.
Thanks!

 

[pirx73]

There is a small issue with crontab tasks after installing AB-Solution 3:
cru l before AB3:
0 22 * * * /jffs/scripts/ledsoff.sh #lightsoff#
0 8 * * * /jffs/scripts/ledson.sh #lightson#

cru l after AB3:
00 2 * * 4 /tmp/mnt/sdb2/adblocking/addon/update-hosts.add cronjob #UpdateHosts#
20 5 * * * /tmp/mnt/sdb2/adblocking/addon/rotate-logs.add #RotateLogs#

existing tasks are removed.

Of course it is easily remedied with running services-start but thought it is worth mentioning.
cru l after re-running "services-start":
00 2 * * 4 /tmp/mnt/sdb2/adblocking/addon/update-hosts.add cronjob #UpdateHosts#
20 5 * * * /tmp/mnt/sdb2/adblocking/addon/rotate-logs.add #RotateLogs#
0 22 * * * /jffs/scripts/ledsoff.sh #lightsoff#
0 8 * * * /jffs/scripts/ledson.sh #lightson#

 

[thelonelycoder]

There is a small issue with crontab tasks after installing AB-Solution 3:
cru l before AB3:
0 22 * * * /jffs/scripts/ledsoff.sh #lightsoff#
0 8 * * * /jffs/scripts/ledson.sh #lightson#

cru l after AB3:
00 2 * * 4 /tmp/mnt/sdb2/adblocking/addon/update-hosts.add cronjob #UpdateHosts#
20 5 * * * /tmp/mnt/sdb2/adblocking/addon/rotate-logs.add #RotateLogs#

existing tasks are removed.

Of course it is easily remedied with running services-start but thought it is worth mentioning.
cru l after re-running "services-start":
00 2 * * 4 /tmp/mnt/sdb2/adblocking/addon/update-hosts.add cronjob #UpdateHosts#
20 5 * * * /tmp/mnt/sdb2/adblocking/addon/rotate-logs.add #RotateLogs#
0 22 * * * /jffs/scripts/ledsoff.sh #lightsoff#
0 8 * * * /jffs/scripts/ledson.sh #lightson#

Do you have syslog entries with 'services-start' reporting an error?

AB-Solution does not delete crontab entries, except its own, with the only delete commands being run when the file ab_dnsmasq_postconf.sh is written. This is done during install and whenever you disable or enable services like (a), (h), (l), (ws), (ps) or during the startup or shutdown of the UI if certain files are missing.
The only cru d commands are those on line 1426 and on line 3502 in ab-solution.sh. They all specifically target the AB generated entries:

# write file ab_dnsmasq_postconf.sh
write_ab_postconf(){
if [ $adBlockingState == off ];then
    cru d UpdateHosts
    # switch off weekly stats when ad-blocking is off
    if [ $weeklyStats == on ];then
        cru d WeeklyStats
    fi
    if [ $loggingState == off ];then
        cru d RotateLogs
    fi
elif [ $loggingState == off ];then
    cru d RotateLogs
    # switch off weekly stats when ad-blocking is off
    if [ $weeklyStats == on ];then
        cru d WeeklyStats
    fi
elif [ $weeklyStats == off ];then
    cru d WeeklyStats
fi

 

[elorimer]

Ah, Christmas. I was shoved three Amazon devices to set up, a tablet and two Echos. None would connect. It took me a minute thinking about Amazon before I thought about blocking sites. I turned off ab-solution and they set up fine. Turned it back on, and they continued to work fine.

Thanks to ab-solution, it was easy to turn it off and then back on, without having to remember exactly what was what. Also, to look at the logs and pick out which urls the gizmos were trying to reach if, were I so inclined, I wanted to white-list those sites instead.

So thanks TLC for all your work this year!

 

[pirx73]

Do you have syslog entries with 'services-start' reporting an error?

No i don't. Just checked them.
I installed AB3 on 22nd of dec and yesterday noticed missing entries in "cru l" list.
As i mentioned "services-start" looks OK, so i just re-run it and it added missing 2 tasks back to crond.

 

[Xentrk]

The email stats function on AB-Solution 3 is not working for me. I can’t receive a test email either. I may have overlooked something in the instructions. Hoping someone can pinpoint what I may be doing wrong.

For example, say my gmail is xentrk.2016@gmail.com, I have ab solution email configured as below:

1. Edit From address: xentrk.2016@gmail.com

2. Edit User name: xentrk.2016

3. Edit Password: select Edit to show

4. Edit To address: xentrk.2016@gmail.com

I don’t have dual factor authentication on my gmail account.

 

[tomsk]

The email stats function on AB-Solution 3 is not working for me. I can’t receive a test email either. I may have overlooked something in the instructions. Hoping someone can pinpoint what I may be doing wrong.

For example, say my gmail is xentrk.2016@gmail.com, I have ab solution email configured as below:

1. Edit From address: xentrk.2016@gmail.com

2. Edit User name: xentrk.2016

3. Edit Password: select Edit to show

4. Edit To address: xentrk.2016@gmail.com

I don’t have dual factor authentication on my gmail account.

It looks like it should work ok like this.... i assume you have logging and weekly stats turned on?
what is the error message you get when the email tries to send?

 

[thelonelycoder]

In Settings / Accounts and Import
Under 'Change Account settings' click on 'Other Google Account settings'
Then in 'Sign-in & security' click on 'Connected apps & sites': Switch on 'Allow less secure apps'

This is not a safe method for your main gmail account, so you best make a new secondary account and forward mail to your preferred account from there.

 

[tomsk]

In Settings / Accounts and Import
Under 'Change Account settings' click on 'Other Google Account settings'
Then in 'Sign-in & security' click on 'Connected apps & sites': Switch on 'Allow less secure apps'

This is not a safe method for your main gmail account, so you best make a new secondary account and forward mail to your preferred account from there.

oooo... yes, i forgot about the less secure apps setting in the gmail account. I felt very uncomfortable about that too. I ended up enabling the 2FA to make things more secure all round and then used the app password to get the email from AB3.Works great!

 

[thelonelycoder]

oooo... yes, i forgot about the less secure apps setting in the gmail account. I felt very uncomfortable about that too. I ended up enabling the 2FA to make things more secure all round and then used the app password to get the email from AB3.Works great!

Well hidden setting, but since some of the many accounts I have are just test accounts I don't bother.

 

[Xentrk]

It looks like it should work ok like this.... i assume you have logging and weekly stats turned on?
what is the error message you get when the email tries to send?

Yes, logging and weekly status are turn on.

I don't get an error message when trying to send the email through the ab solution menu option. I tried a cat syslog.log | grep <parm> where <parm> is smtp, email, gmail in the syslog.log file in /jffs but don't get any hits. Doing a visual look at the file does not give me any clues. Is there another log file I should look at?

BTW, All traffic goes through VPN server in USA.

 

[tomsk]

Yes, logging and weekly status are turn on.
View attachment 8097

I don't get an error message when trying to send the email through the ab solution menu option. I tried a cat syslog.log | grep <parm> where <parm> is smtp, email, gmail in the syslog.log file in /jffs but don't get any hits. Doing a visual look at the file does not give me any clues. Is there another log file I should look at?

@thelonelycoder hit the nail on the head...its your gmail account blocking the email... the "less secure apps" option needs to be set, but as mentioned, isn't the best solution.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Uhh, HTML email stats would be a nice feature for AB-Solution X...

 

[tomsk]

Uhh, HTML email stats would be a nice feature for AB-Solution X...

Indeed...... tricky?

 

[thelonelycoder]

Yes, logging and weekly status are turn on.
View attachment 8097

I don't get an error message when trying to send the email through the ab solution menu option. I tried a cat syslog.log | grep <parm> where <parm> is smtp, email, gmail in the syslog.log file in /jffs but don't get any hits. Doing a visual look at the file does not give me any clues. Is there another log file I should look at?

BTW, All traffic goes through VPN server in USA.

In the AB-UI you get the error 'sendmail: failed' while sending it if it does not work.
If it succeeds you may or may not see the 'read:errno=0' success line.
The read:errno=0 however, does not always show in my case.

The email function is still some sort of hack of mine and may get better if Asus implements a better way in future.
ATM I just use the BusyBox sendmail and makemail (if as attachment) to send it.