Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2021 15:23:04 -0500
To: zoom-hosts@arisia.org, virtual@arisia.org
Subject: test results: Linux 5.4.9.57862.0110 client

I've been doing some Zoom client testing this morning, pulling down the
latest client whose version number implies that it was released yesterday.
I'm running it to primarily test breakout-room navigation, against both a
host running the same version and a host running the older 5.3.x.

The new client has the same damn problem, where it sporadically blows me
completely out of the meeting when trying to self-switch breakout rooms.
The first time I even tried to *enter* one after arriving in the main
meeting, it did this.  Retry + subsequent movement was distinctly unreliable;
sometimes it works, sometimes it fetches back up at the startup window.

This is a fragment of my proxy log, showing that things are still distinctly
wrong and hostnames are getting corrupted for no apparent reason:

   MANGLED host: -- AM-^W(&#zoomca129-151-0-89mmr.cloud.zoom.us^K^D --, punting
   relay CONNECT zoomva3-219-163-140mmr.cloud.zoom.us : 443
   relay CONNECT zoomva3-219-163-140mmr.cloud.zoom.us : 443
   MANGLED host: -- ^^M-@(kM-@'gM-^?^-W(&#zoomca129-151-1-128zc.cloud.zoom.usM"X, --, punting
   relay CONNECT zoomva3-219-163-140mmr.cloud.zoom.us : 443

And yes, I've tried it non-proxied and the same thing still happens.

Mind you, any 5.4 version is probably fine for *hosting* a breakout-room
infrastructure if you're going to stay "up top" as the lobby fixed-point.
It just can't freely jump around, so if you're going to "party-hop" you
still want the older 5.3 client.  An Ubuntu-compatible x64 copy is here,
as I also dropped into the training chat the other day:

   http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/random/zoom_amd64_5.3.4x.deb

If you need a .rpm or other distro format I'm not sure where to point you
but I could probably do some digging, as I have mostly discerned the internal
naming scheme of their downloads and as far as I know they stay on the
site long-term.  [Which in turn is a redirect to Cloudfront.]

I haven't tested running webinars, but if we get some practice ones this week
I'll be happy to give it a run for that.  There may be some new controls or
stuff moved around that we should know about.

    [Later note: also when switching between attendee and panelist in
     a webinar, same mechanism comes into play; *hosting* a webinar is
     still fine however]

I'm trying to get Arisia to use its "paid account muscle" to help me file
an official bug report, but the process at Zoom even for that level is
completely opaque and fraught with "chatbots" programmed to stonewall.
Zoom no longer listens to free-tier account holders at all, pointing them
to a largely useless website as the only contact option.

_H*