The binary make install builds retries a refused or unresolvable connection (closes #206)

Bun's `fetch`, which `~/bin/quak` runs under, rejects with a plain `Error`
that has no `cause` and a code of bun's own. Running the built binary against
local listeners gave `ConnectionRefused` for a refused connection and for a
failed TLS handshake, and `ConnectionRefused` or `FailedToOpenSocket` for a
name that does not resolve. Both codes join `TRANSPORT_CODES` and
`CONNECT_CODES` in `src/retry.ts`, so they are retried, replayed, and called
transient by `classify`. A reset already came as `ECONNRESET` and a deadline
as a `TimeoutError`; the tests pin every shape found.

Judgement call: a failed TLS handshake is replayed, as no request byte was
sent.
Not changed: a certificate bun rejects is not retried.

Model: opus-5-5

README.md

@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ encrypting and uploading them back to the server.
 
 ## Getting Started
 
+The commands below need git, node 22 or later, and yarn. `make install`, which
+builds the single binary that "Running the backup from cron" uses, also needs
+[nix](https://nixos.org/download).
+
 ```bash
 git clone https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/quak.git
 cd quak
@@ -86,9 +90,12 @@ enumeration/download calls) is exported too and documented under Design below.
 ## Running the backup from cron
 
 `quak backup` never prompts, so cron can run it. `make install` builds quak as a
-single binary and copies it to `~/bin/quak`. Log in once with it, as the user
+single binary and copies it to `~/bin/quak`. Besides what Getting Started needs,
-the cron job will run as; the session is saved in that user's data directory
+it needs [nix](https://nixos.org/download), even where bun is already installed:
-(see "Session handling"):
+`make install` runs `make build-bin`, which bundles the built `dist/` with bun
+run through `nix-shell -p bun`. Log in once with `~/bin/quak`, as the user the
+cron job will run as; the session is saved in that user's data directory (see
+"Session handling"):
 
 ```bash
 ~/bin/quak login
@@ -134,6 +141,20 @@ matters.
 | `2`  | Another backup of the same directory is running. This run sent no request and changed nothing.                                                                                    |
 | `3`  | There is no usable session: none is saved, the saved one is corrupt, or the server no longer accepts it. Run `quak login` as the user the cron job runs as.                       |
 
+`<message>` is the error's message, followed by the message of each error that
+caused it. Under Node, as `yarn quak` runs quak, `fetch` reports every failure
+below HTTP as just `fetch failed` and gives the reason as its cause, so a run
+that could not reach the server prints, for example,
+`quak: fetch failed: connect ECONNREFUSED 1.2.3.4:443`. When the server has
+several addresses and none of them could be reached, the line gives the reason
+for each, separated by `, `. A file whose download failed that way is in
+`failures.json` with that error, as a transient failure. So is each file with no
+ML data cached when the ML data fetch failed that way, its error starting
+`ML data: `. The `~/bin/quak` that `make install` builds runs under bun, and
+prints bun's own wording for such a failure, with no reason after it, such as
+`quak: Unable to connect. Is the computer able to access the url?` for a refused
+connection. It records such a failure in `failures.json` as transient too.
+
 After a `1`, the next run fetches each missing original again, fetches the ML
 data that is not cached, and rebuilds the album links. An album quak could not
 decrypt, or a file in `failures.json` because quak could not decrypt it, keeps
@@ -347,7 +368,8 @@ quak/
         exif.ts         EXIF read from an image's bytes with exifreader
         mldata-fetch.ts fetch + decrypt per-file ML data
         filename.ts     safe file names from server metadata
-        errors.ts       error types shared across layers
+        errors.ts       error types shared across layers, and how an error
+                        is described
         retry.ts        retry classifier + exponential backoff with jitter
         thumbnails.ts   detect + regenerate missing thumbnails
         client.ts       high-level Client class assembled from the above
@@ -474,6 +496,17 @@ request is repeated only when repeating it could produce a different answer:
   declining to retry a transient one costs a single file that the next run picks
   up.
 
+The `~/bin/quak` that `make install` builds runs under bun, whose `fetch`
+rejects with a plain `Error` that has no `cause` and carries a code of bun's
+own. quak retries a refused connection, a name that does not resolve, a reset
+connection and a deadline under bun as it does under Node. Bun reports a refused
+connection, and a TLS handshake that failed, as `ConnectionRefused`. For a name
+that does not resolve it gives `ConnectionRefused` on some requests and
+`FailedToOpenSocket` on others. A connection reset or closed before the response
+ended is `ECONNRESET`, as under Node, and a deadline is the same `TimeoutError`.
+A certificate bun rejects, reported with a code such as
+`DEPTH_ZERO_SELF_SIGNED_CERT`, is not retried.
+
 Backoff is exponential with full jitter: the delay before retry _n_ is
 `random() * min(maxDelayMs, baseDelayMs * 2 ** (n - 1))`. The exponential term
 is the ceiling and the wait is drawn below it, so a client that lost many
@@ -521,17 +554,20 @@ second-factor attempts. They are retried only when every errno in the error's
 `cause` chain is one of the three that establish no TCP connection to the server
 ever existed, so no request byte can have been transmitted: `ENOTFOUND` and
 `EAI_AGAIN` (name resolution produced no address) and `ECONNREFUSED` (the peer
-refused the connection). A 5xx, a mid-flight reset and a deadline are all left
+refused the connection). Under bun these failures are `ConnectionRefused` and
-to the caller, because each of them can happen after the server has already
+`FailedToOpenSocket`. Bun also gives `ConnectionRefused` for a TLS handshake
-acted. These two do not follow redirects either: a redirect means the server
+that failed; the TCP connection existed then, but the request is only sent once
-already received the request, so it is reported as an error and not retried. The
+the handshake is done. A 5xx, a mid-flight reset and a deadline are all left to
-routing errnos `EHOSTUNREACH`, `ENETUNREACH` and `ENETDOWN` are excluded for the
+the caller, because each of them can happen after the server has already acted.
-same reason, despite looking like connect-time failures: on Linux an ICMP
+These two do not follow redirects either: a redirect means the server already
-unreachable arriving mid-flight, or a local interface going down after the
+received the request, so it is reported as an error and not retried. The routing
-request was written, delivers them on an already-established socket. They stay
+errnos `EHOSTUNREACH`, `ENETUNREACH` and `ENETDOWN` are excluded for the same
-retryable for the idempotent calls. `putFile` is exempt: a presigned PUT stores
+reason, despite looking like connect-time failures: on Linux an ICMP unreachable
-one whole object at one key in one request, so replaying it has no partial state
+arriving mid-flight, or a local interface going down after the request was
-to damage.
+written, delivers them on an already-established socket. They stay retryable for
+the idempotent calls. `putFile` is exempt: a presigned PUT stores one whole
+object at one key in one request, so replaying it has no partial state to
+damage.
 
 A download is retried as a whole — request, stream consumption, and decryption —
 because a socket reset after the response headers have arrived surfaces in the

TODO.md

@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@ pre-1.0
 
 # Next Step
 
-None: no implementation work is open. The check of quak against a live Ente
+Four bugs are open: https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/quak/issues/197,
+https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/quak/issues/198,
+https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/quak/issues/199 and
+https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/quak/issues/205. The check of quak against a live Ente
 account, https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/quak/issues/187, needs an account only sneak
 has, so it waits on him.
 
@@ -26,6 +29,30 @@ declares one.
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- 2026-10-16: The `~/bin/quak` that `make install` builds retries a refused
+  connection and a name that does not resolve, and the backup records either as
+  transient (issue 206). Bun's `fetch` reports them with codes of its own,
+  `ConnectionRefused` and `FailedToOpenSocket`, which `src/retry.ts` now counts
+  as transport failures that are safe to replay. Bun already gave `ECONNRESET`
+  for a reset and a `TimeoutError` for a deadline. The shapes were found by
+  running the binary against local listeners.
+
+- 2026-10-15: A network failure is printed and recorded with its reason, not as
+  just `fetch failed` (issue 196). `describeError` in `src/errors.ts` gives an
+  error's message followed by the message of each error on its `cause` chain,
+  such as `fetch failed: connect ECONNREFUSED 1.2.3.4:443`, and each address's
+  reason when a host has several and none could be reached. `run` prints that,
+  and the backup logs it and records it in `failures.json`, where `classify` now
+  calls the failure transient when the chain holds an errno that
+  `hasTransportCode` in `src/retry.ts` recognises, for a failed ML data fetch
+  too. The walk along the chain moved from `src/retry.ts` to `src/errors.ts`,
+  which both use. Tests refuse every connection of a backup, then only one
+  file's download, and fail the ML data fetch.
+
+- 2026-10-15: The README says that `make install` needs nix (issue 200), in
+  Getting Started and in "Running the backup from cron": `make build-bin` runs
+  bun through `nix-shell -p bun`. The `Makefile` is unchanged.
+
 - 2026-10-14: `lib.backup()`, and so `quak backup`, works on up to the content
   pool's limit of originals at once, 5 by default, instead of one at a time
   (issue 182). That many workers take files from one shared list, each doing all

src/backup.ts

@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ import {
     init,
 } from "./crypto/index.js";
 import { removeLeftoverTempFiles } from "./download/index.js";
+import { describeError } from "./errors.js";
 import { sanitizeFileName, withExtension } from "./filename.js";
 import {
     copyAtomic,
@@ -94,6 +95,7 @@ import type { Undecryptable } from "./library/store.js";
 import { extractImageMetadata } from "./metadata-backup.js";
 import type { MLData } from "./mldata-fetch.js";
 import type { Collection, EnteFile, FileMetadata } from "./model/types.js";
+import { hasTransportCode } from "./retry.js";
 
 export type ProgressCallback = (message: string) => void;
 
@@ -219,11 +221,13 @@ const isPresent = (path: string): boolean => {
 
 // Best-effort classification for the ledger. Retryable server/network problems
 // are transient; refusals and local filesystem/decrypt errors are permanent;
-// anything else is unknown. Both the error code and message are inspected.
+// anything else is unknown. The error code and the error as `describeError`
+// gives it are inspected, and so is each errno on the error's cause chain,
+// where Node's `fetch` puts it.
 const classify = (err: unknown): FailureClass => {
+    if (hasTransportCode(err)) return "transient";
     const e = err as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
-    const text =
+    const text = `${e?.code ?? ""} ${describeError(err)}`.toLowerCase();
-        `${e?.code ?? ""} ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`.toLowerCase();
     if (
         /timeout|timed out|econnreset|econnrefused|econnaborted|network|socket|eai_again|throttl|temporarily|429|500|502|503|504/.test(
             text,
@@ -241,9 +245,6 @@ const classify = (err: unknown): FailureClass => {
     return "unknown";
 };
 
-const errorMessage = (err: unknown): string =>
-    err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-
 // Ensure `linkPath` is a symlink to `target`, rebuilding a missing, wrong, or
 // non-symlink entry. Throws on failure (a directory in the way, no permission)
 // so the caller records it and moves on rather than aborting the run.
@@ -470,7 +471,7 @@ const imageMetadataFor = async (
         const bytes = await readFile(originalPath);
         return { imageMetadata: extractImageMetadata(bytes) ?? {} };
     } catch (err) {
-        return { imageMetadataError: errorMessage(err) };
+        return { imageMetadataError: describeError(err) };
     }
 };
 
@@ -610,7 +611,7 @@ const runLockedBackup = async (
         // and thumbnail both fail this run must not double its attempt count
         // or appear twice in errors.
         if (failedThisRun.has(fileID)) return;
-        const error = errorMessage(err);
+        const error = describeError(err);
         errors.push({ fileID, title, collection, error });
         const prior = ledger.get(fileID);
         ledger.set(fileID, {
@@ -681,7 +682,7 @@ const runLockedBackup = async (
                 }
             } catch (err) {
                 log(
-                    `FAILED verifying original ${file.metadata.title}: ${errorMessage(err)}`,
+                    `FAILED verifying original ${file.metadata.title}: ${describeError(err)}`,
                 );
                 recordFailure(
                     file.id,
@@ -717,7 +718,9 @@ const runLockedBackup = async (
             }
             downloaded++;
         } catch (err) {
-            log(`FAILED original ${file.metadata.title}: ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+            log(
+                `FAILED original ${file.metadata.title}: ${describeError(err)}`,
+            );
             recordFailure(
                 file.id,
                 file.metadata.title,
@@ -785,12 +788,14 @@ const runLockedBackup = async (
     // instead and is recorded as failed. The next run fetches its ML data
     // again because none is cached.
     if (includeOriginals) {
+        let mlDataFailure: unknown;
         let mlDataError: string | undefined;
         try {
             log("Fetching ML data...");
             await lib.fetchMLData();
         } catch (err) {
-            mlDataError = errorMessage(err);
+            mlDataFailure = err;
+            mlDataError = describeError(err);
             log(`FAILED ML data: ${mlDataError}`);
         }
         for (const file of distinct.values()) {
@@ -814,7 +819,7 @@ const runLockedBackup = async (
                     file.id,
                     file.metadata.title,
                     collectionName.get(file.collectionID) ?? "",
-                    new Error(`ML data: ${mlDataError}`),
+                    new Error("ML data", { cause: mlDataFailure }),
                 );
             } else {
                 writeSidecar(path, file, { mlData }, image);
@@ -846,7 +851,7 @@ const runLockedBackup = async (
             downloadDirectory,
         );
     } catch (err) {
-        log(`FAILED removing old album directories: ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+        log(`FAILED removing old album directories: ${describeError(err)}`);
     }
 
     for (const c of collections) {
@@ -868,7 +873,9 @@ const runLockedBackup = async (
         try {
             removeStaleLinks(colDir, new Set(linkNames), downloadDirectory);
         } catch (err) {
-            log(`FAILED removing old links in ${c.name}: ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+            log(
+                `FAILED removing old links in ${c.name}: ${describeError(err)}`,
+            );
         }
 
         const metaFiles = files.map((f) => ({
@@ -885,7 +892,7 @@ const runLockedBackup = async (
                 );
             } catch (err) {
                 log(
-                    `FAILED symlink ${c.name}/${linkName}: ${errorMessage(err)}`,
+                    `FAILED symlink ${c.name}/${linkName}: ${describeError(err)}`,
                 );
                 recordFailure(
                     link.file.id,

src/cli-run.ts

@@ -2,14 +2,17 @@
 
 import type { Writable } from "node:stream";
 import { ApiError } from "./api/client.js";
+import { describeError } from "./errors.js";
 
 // Run a command and exit with its code once stdout/stderr have drained.
 // Exiting before the drain can truncate piped output, and the library can keep
 // the event loop alive after a command returns, so a plain return could hang.
 // An error the command throws is printed as one `quak: MESSAGE` line, without
-// the stack trace, and exits 1. A 401 from the server means it no longer
+// the stack trace, and exits 1. MESSAGE is the error as `describeError` gives
-// accepts the saved session: that prints one line saying to log in again and
+// it, so it carries the reason Node's `fetch` puts on `cause`. A 401 from the
-// exits 3, as a missing or corrupt session file does.
+// server means it no longer accepts the saved session: that prints one line
+// saying to log in again and exits 3, as a missing or corrupt session file
+// does.
 export const run = async (
     command: Promise<number>,
     stdout: Writable,
@@ -26,9 +29,7 @@ export const run = async (
             );
             code = 3;
         } else {
-            stderr.write(
+            stderr.write(`quak: ${describeError(err)}\n`);
-                `quak: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}\n`,
-            );
             code = 1;
         }
     }

src/download/index.ts

@@ -135,15 +135,17 @@ const streamDecrypt = async (
                     // cannot tell a partial chunk from a corrupt one, so this
                     // is reported as the truncation it almost always is, with
                     // the authentication failure kept as the error's cause.
-                    // Only the pull is guarded: a sink failure on a chunk
+                    // The message leaves that failure to the cause, which
-                    // that did authenticate is a disk error, not a
+                    // `describeError` appends to what `quak backup` prints and
+                    // records. Only the pull is guarded: a sink failure on a
+                    // chunk that did authenticate is a disk error, not a
                     // truncation.
                     let pulled;
                     try {
                         pulled = pullStreamChunk(state, buffer);
                     } catch (err) {
                         throw new TruncatedStreamError(
-                            `download: stream truncated: response body ended with ${buffer.length} trailing bytes that did not authenticate as a final chunk (transfer stopped mid-chunk, or the data is corrupt)`,
+                            `download: stream truncated: response body ended with ${buffer.length} trailing bytes (transfer stopped mid-chunk, or the data is corrupt)`,
                             { cause: err },
                         );
                     }

src/errors.ts

@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
-// Error types that more than one layer of quak needs to recognise.
+// Error types that more than one layer of quak needs to recognise, and how an
+// error is described in what quak prints and in `failures.json`.
 //
-// They live here rather than beside the code that throws them so that the
+// The types live here rather than beside the code that throws them so that the
 // retry classifier can identify them without importing the HTTP client or the
 // download layer — both of which import the classifier. `ApiError` is
 // re-exported from `src/api/client.ts`, which is where callers have always
-// imported it from and where it still belongs conceptually.
+// imported it from and where it still belongs conceptually. The walk along an
+// error's `cause` chain is here too, because the retry classifier reads the
+// chain for errnos and `describeError` for messages.
 
 export class ApiError extends Error {
     readonly status: number;
@@ -43,3 +46,68 @@ export class TruncatedStreamError extends Error {
         this.name = "TruncatedStreamError";
     }
 }
+
+// `cause` is an arbitrary user-settable property and nothing prevents it from
+// forming a cycle, so the walk is bounded. Hanging the process would be worse
+// than misclassifying an error or describing only part of it.
+const MAX_CAUSE_DEPTH = 8;
+
+// The error and each error on its `cause` chain, top first, at most
+// `MAX_CAUSE_DEPTH` of them. `complete` is false when the walk stopped at the
+// depth limit with more of the chain still below it.
+export const causeChain = (
+    err: unknown,
+): { chain: object[]; complete: boolean } => {
+    const chain: object[] = [];
+    let current: unknown = err;
+    for (let depth = 0; depth < MAX_CAUSE_DEPTH; depth++) {
+        if (current === null || typeof current !== "object") {
+            return { chain, complete: true };
+        }
+        chain.push(current);
+        const { cause } = current as { cause?: unknown };
+        if (cause === current) return { chain, complete: true };
+        current = cause;
+    }
+    return { chain, complete: current === null || typeof current !== "object" };
+};
+
+// An error as quak prints it and records it in `failures.json`: its message,
+// then the message of each error on its `cause` chain, joined with ": ". Node's
+// `fetch` rejects with just "fetch failed" and puts the reason on `cause`, so
+// this gives "fetch failed: connect ECONNREFUSED 1.2.3.4:443". When the host
+// has several addresses and every one fails, the cause is an `AggregateError`
+// with an empty message and one error per address in `errors`, so an
+// `AggregateError` is given as the messages of its errors, joined with ", ".
+// A cause that is not an object, such as a thrown string, is given as
+// `String(cause)`. Each message is trimmed of the white space around it, as
+// OpenSSL ends its own with a newline. A message the text already holds is
+// left out.
+export const describeError = (err: unknown): string => {
+    if (!(err instanceof Error)) return String(err);
+    const { chain } = causeChain(err);
+    const messages = chain
+        .slice(1)
+        .map((cause) =>
+            cause instanceof AggregateError
+                ? cause.errors
+                      .map((e: unknown) =>
+                          (e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e)).trim(),
+                      )
+                      .join(", ")
+                : (cause as { message?: unknown }).message,
+        );
+    // `causeChain` stops at a cause that is not an object, so that one is read
+    // from the last error on the chain.
+    const last = chain[chain.length - 1] as { cause?: unknown };
+    if (last.cause !== undefined && typeof last.cause !== "object") {
+        messages.push(String(last.cause));
+    }
+    let text = err.message.trim();
+    for (const message of messages) {
+        if (typeof message !== "string") continue;
+        const trimmed = message.trim();
+        if (!text.includes(trimmed)) text += `: ${trimmed}`;
+    }
+    return text;
+};

src/retry.ts

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 // declining to retry a transient one costs a single file that the next run
 // picks up anyway. When the evidence is ambiguous, fail fast.
 
-import { ApiError, TruncatedStreamError } from "./errors.js";
+import { ApiError, causeChain, TruncatedStreamError } from "./errors.js";
 
 export interface RetryOptions {
     // Total calls, not retries: `attempts: 1` disables retrying.
@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ export const resolveRetryOptions = (
 });
 
 // Transport failures: the request did not complete, for reasons below HTTP.
+//
+// The errnos are Node's. The binary `make install` builds runs under bun,
+// whose `fetch` rejects with a plain `Error` that has no `cause` and a `code`
+// of bun's own; `CONNECT_CODES` says what bun's two codes mean. For a
+// connection reset or closed before the response ended, bun gives Node's
+// `ECONNRESET`. These were found by running that binary, built with bun
+// 1.3.13, against listeners on 127.0.0.1.
 const TRANSPORT_CODES = new Set([
     "ECONNRESET",
     "ECONNABORTED",
@@ -70,12 +77,19 @@ const TRANSPORT_CODES = new Set([
     "ENETUNREACH",
     "ENETRESET",
     "ENETDOWN",
+    // Bun's.
+    "ConnectionRefused",
+    "FailedToOpenSocket",
 ]);
 
-// The subset of the above that can only be reported before a TCP connection
+// The subset of the above that can only be reported before any request byte
-// exists, and therefore before any request byte could have been written: name
+// could have been written. Node reports these before a TCP connection exists:
-// resolution produced no address (`ENOTFOUND`, `EAI_AGAIN`) or the peer
+// name resolution produced no address (`ENOTFOUND`, `EAI_AGAIN`) or the peer
-// refused the connection with an RST to the SYN (`ECONNREFUSED`).
+// refused the connection with an RST to the SYN (`ECONNREFUSED`). Bun gives
+// `ConnectionRefused` for a refused connection, and `ConnectionRefused` or
+// `FailedToOpenSocket` for a name that does not resolve. It also gives
+// `ConnectionRefused` for a TLS handshake that failed, after the TCP
+// connection exists, but the request is only sent once the handshake is done.
 //
 // The routing errnos — `EHOSTUNREACH`, `ENETUNREACH`, `ENETDOWN` — are
 // deliberately absent even though they look like connect-time failures. On
@@ -87,12 +101,13 @@ const TRANSPORT_CODES = new Set([
 // ambiguity this set exists to exclude. They stay in `TRANSPORT_CODES`, so
 // they remain retryable for idempotent calls; only replay eligibility is
 // narrowed. See `isSafeToReplay`.
-const CONNECT_CODES = new Set(["ENOTFOUND", "EAI_AGAIN", "ECONNREFUSED"]);
+const CONNECT_CODES = new Set([
-
+    "ENOTFOUND",
-// `cause` is an arbitrary user-settable property and nothing prevents it from
+    "EAI_AGAIN",
-// forming a cycle, so the walk is bounded. Hanging the process would be a
+    "ECONNREFUSED",
-// worse outcome than any misclassification.
+    "ConnectionRefused",
-const MAX_CAUSE_DEPTH = 8;
+    "FailedToOpenSocket",
+]);
 
 // Collect every `code` in an error's cause chain. undici does not put the
 // errno on the error it throws — it hangs the underlying socket error off
@@ -101,20 +116,21 @@ const MAX_CAUSE_DEPTH = 8;
 // connection permanent. `complete` is false when the walk stopped at the
 // depth limit with more of the chain still below it.
 const causeCodes = (err: unknown): { codes: string[]; complete: boolean } => {
+    const { chain, complete } = causeChain(err);
     const codes: string[] = [];
-    let current: unknown = err;
+    for (const link of chain) {
-    for (let depth = 0; depth < MAX_CAUSE_DEPTH; depth++) {
+        const { code } = link as { code?: unknown };
-        if (current === null || typeof current !== "object") {
-            return { codes, complete: true };
-        }
-        const { code, cause } = current as { code?: unknown; cause?: unknown };
         if (typeof code === "string") codes.push(code);
-        if (cause === current) return { codes, complete: true };
-        current = cause;
     }
-    return { codes, complete: current === null || typeof current !== "object" };
+    return { codes, complete };
 };
 
+// Does the error's cause chain hold the code of a transport failure, one of
+// `TRANSPORT_CODES`? `isRetryable` retries such an error, and `classify` in
+// `src/backup.ts` calls it transient.
+export const hasTransportCode = (err: unknown): boolean =>
+    causeCodes(err).codes.some((code) => TRANSPORT_CODES.has(code));
+
 const isAbort = (err: unknown): boolean => {
     if (err === null || typeof err !== "object") return false;
     const { name } = err as { name?: unknown };
@@ -156,9 +172,10 @@ export const isRetryable = (err: unknown): boolean => {
     // deliberately literal. Demanding a recognised `cause` instead would
     // classify real network failures as permanent and fail backups that should
     // have succeeded; the cost of the imprecision is bounded by the attempt
-    // count.
+    // count. Bun's fetch rejects with a plain `Error` instead, which is
+    // recognised by its code (see `TRANSPORT_CODES`).
     if (err instanceof TypeError) return true;
-    return causeCodes(err).codes.some((code) => TRANSPORT_CODES.has(code));
+    return hasTransportCode(err);
 };
 
 // Could the first attempt already have taken effect on the server?
@@ -167,18 +184,18 @@ export const isRetryable = (err: unknown): boolean => {
 // `postJSON` and `putJSON` use this for every `POST` and `PUT` listed in the
 // README under "Endpoints used"; verifying a second factor, for one, consumes
 // one of a small number of attempts. They are replayed only on the failures in
-// `CONNECT_CODES`, which establish that no TCP connection to the server ever
+// `CONNECT_CODES`, which establish that no request byte was ever transmitted:
-// existed: there was no address to connect to, or the peer refused the
+// there was no address to connect to, the peer refused the connection
-// connection outright. A request byte cannot have been transmitted, so the
+// outright, or, under bun, the TLS handshake failed. The server cannot have
-// server cannot have acted.
+// acted.
 //
 // Everything else is ambiguous. A 5xx proves the server did process the
 // request. A reset or a broken pipe can arrive after it was fully sent and
 // acted on. A routing errno can be delivered on an established socket. A
-// deadline says nothing at all about the server's state. So every errno in the
+// deadline says nothing at all about the server's state. So every code in the
-// cause chain must be a connect errno: one other errno anywhere in the chain
+// cause chain must be one of `CONNECT_CODES`: one other code anywhere in the
-// is doubt, and doubt is not replayed. A chain longer than the walk is doubt
+// chain is doubt, and doubt is not replayed. A chain longer than the walk is
-// too: the links below the limit were never read.
+// doubt too: the links below the limit were never read.
 export const isSafeToReplay = (err: unknown): boolean => {
     const { codes, complete } = causeCodes(err);
     return (

test/cli/backup-end-to-end.test.ts

@@ -329,6 +329,41 @@ const downloadOf = (input: RequestInfo | URL): number | undefined => {
         : undefined;
 };
 
+// The error Node gives for a connection to `address` that was refused.
+const refusedAt = (address: string): Error =>
+    Object.assign(new Error(`connect ECONNREFUSED ${address}`), {
+        code: "ECONNREFUSED",
+    });
+
+// What Node's `fetch` rejects with when the server refuses the connection, as
+// for every failure below HTTP: a TypeError that says only "fetch failed",
+// with the reason, and its errno, as its cause. When the server has several
+// addresses and each one refuses, the cause is an AggregateError with an empty
+// message, one error per address and the errno of the first. `reason` is the
+// error as quak prints it and records it in `failures.json`.
+const REFUSED = [
+    {
+        addresses: "its one address",
+        error: (): TypeError =>
+            new TypeError("fetch failed", { cause: refusedAt("1.2.3.4:443") }),
+        reason: "fetch failed: connect ECONNREFUSED 1.2.3.4:443",
+    },
+    {
+        addresses: "each of its two addresses",
+        error: (): TypeError =>
+            new TypeError("fetch failed", {
+                cause: Object.assign(
+                    new AggregateError([
+                        refusedAt("2001:db8::1:443"),
+                        refusedAt("1.2.3.4:443"),
+                    ]),
+                    { code: "ECONNREFUSED" },
+                ),
+            }),
+        reason: "fetch failed: connect ECONNREFUSED 2001:db8::1:443, connect ECONNREFUSED 1.2.3.4:443",
+    },
+];
+
 // The fake server, pushing onto `downloads` the ID of each file whose original
 // is downloaded.
 const recordingDownloads =
@@ -619,6 +654,159 @@ describe("quak backup", () => {
         expect(readdirSync(dir)).toEqual([]);
     });
 
+    // The server refuses every connection, at its one address or at each of
+    // several. quak tries each request again, here without waiting, and then
+    // the run stops at the refresh it starts with. The line it prints gives
+    // the reason Node's `fetch` put on the error's cause, so a cron log tells
+    // a refused connection from a name that did not resolve, and the exit
+    // code is 1.
+    it.each(REFUSED)(
+        "prints why the refresh could not reach the server at $addresses, and exits 1",
+        async ({ error, reason }) => {
+            const dir = mkdtempSync(join(root, "backup-"));
+            const fetch: typeof globalThis.fetch = async () => {
+                throw error();
+            };
+
+            const { code, stderr } = await backup(dir, {}, fetch);
+
+            expect(code).toBe(1);
+            expect(stderr).toBe(
+                "Starting backup...\n" +
+                    "Refreshing library...\n" +
+                    `quak: ${reason}\n`,
+            );
+        },
+    );
+
+    // The files CDN refuses every connection for toast.mp4, at its one
+    // address or at each of several. Once its retries are spent, the file
+    // goes into `failures.json` with the reason, as a transient failure,
+    // since a later run may well reach the CDN, and the lines the backup
+    // prints for it give the same reason. The rest of the account is backed
+    // up, and the exit code is 1.
+    it.each(REFUSED)(
+        "records why a download could not reach the server at $addresses in failures.json, as transient, and exits 1",
+        async ({ error, reason }) => {
+            let attempts = 0;
+            const fetch: typeof globalThis.fetch = async (input, init) => {
+                if (downloadOf(input) === 200) {
+                    attempts++;
+                    throw error();
+                }
+                return server(input, init);
+            };
+            const dir = mkdtempSync(join(root, "backup-"));
+
+            const { code, stderr } = await backup(dir, {}, fetch);
+
+            expect(code).toBe(1);
+            expect(attempts).toBe(UNATTENDED_RETRY_OPTIONS.attempts);
+            const failures = readJSON(join(dir, "failures.json"));
+            expect(Object.keys(failures.files)).toEqual(["200"]);
+            expect(failures.files["200"]).toMatchObject({
+                fileID: 200,
+                title: "toast.mp4",
+                classification: "transient",
+                attempts: 1,
+                error: reason,
+            });
+            expect(stderr).toContain(`FAILED original toast.mp4: ${reason}\n`);
+            expect(stderr).toContain(
+                `[Friend's Wedding] toast.mp4 (id 200): ${reason}\n`,
+            );
+            expect(readFileSync(join(dir, DAY, "2024-03-01.100.jpg"))).toEqual(
+                Buffer.from(JPEG_WITH_EXIF),
+            );
+            expect(existsSync(join(dir, DAY, "2024-03-01.200.mp4"))).toBe(
+                false,
+            );
+        },
+    );
+
+    // The download of toast.mp4 fails as bun's `fetch` reports a failure, in
+    // the binary `make install` builds: a plain `Error` with bun's own code
+    // and message, and no cause. These are what bun gave for a refused
+    // connection, a name that did not resolve and a reset connection. The
+    // file is tried as often as under Node, and goes into `failures.json`
+    // with that message, as a transient failure.
+    it.each([
+        [
+            "ConnectionRefused",
+            "Unable to connect. Is the computer able to access the url?",
+        ],
+        ["FailedToOpenSocket", "Was there a typo in the url or port?"],
+        [
+            "ECONNRESET",
+            "The socket connection was closed unexpectedly. For more information, pass `verbose: true` in the second argument to fetch()",
+        ],
+    ])(
+        "records a download that failed with bun's %s in failures.json, as transient",
+        async (bunCode, message) => {
+            let attempts = 0;
+            const fetch: typeof globalThis.fetch = async (input, init) => {
+                if (downloadOf(input) === 200) {
+                    attempts++;
+                    throw Object.assign(new Error(message), {
+                        code: bunCode,
+                        errno: 0,
+                    });
+                }
+                return server(input, init);
+            };
+            const dir = mkdtempSync(join(root, "backup-"));
+
+            const { code } = await backup(dir, {}, fetch);
+
+            expect(code).toBe(1);
+            expect(attempts).toBe(UNATTENDED_RETRY_OPTIONS.attempts);
+            const failures = readJSON(join(dir, "failures.json"));
+            expect(failures.files["200"]).toMatchObject({
+                classification: "transient",
+                error: message,
+            });
+        },
+    );
+
+    // The name of Ente's API server does not resolve when quak fetches the ML
+    // data, after every original has been backed up. No file has ML data
+    // cached yet, so each goes into `failures.json` with the reason, as a
+    // transient failure, as a download that could not reach the server does,
+    // and the exit code is 1.
+    it("records why the ML data fetch could not reach the server in failures.json, as transient, and exits 1", async () => {
+        const fetch: typeof globalThis.fetch = async (input, init) => {
+            if (new URL(String(input)).pathname === "/files/data/fetch") {
+                throw new TypeError("fetch failed", {
+                    cause: Object.assign(
+                        new Error("getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND api.ente.io"),
+                        { code: "ENOTFOUND" },
+                    ),
+                });
+            }
+            return server(input, init);
+        };
+        const dir = mkdtempSync(join(root, "backup-"));
+
+        const { code, stderr } = await backup(dir, {}, fetch);
+
+        expect(code).toBe(1);
+        const error =
+            "ML data: fetch failed: getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND api.ente.io";
+        expect(stderr).toContain(`FAILED ${error}\n`);
+        const failures = readJSON(join(dir, "failures.json"));
+        expect(
+            Object.values(failures.files).map((f) => [
+                f.fileID,
+                f.classification,
+                f.error,
+            ]),
+        ).toEqual([
+            [100, "transient", error],
+            [200, "transient", error],
+            [300, "transient", error],
+        ]);
+    });
+
     // Something changed beach.jpg on disk after it was backed up. A run with
     // --verify hashes every stored original, finds that one no longer matches
     // the hash Ente recorded, says so, and downloads it again; it put back the

test/cli/run.test.ts

@@ -48,6 +48,78 @@ describe("run", () => {
         );
     });
 
+    // Node's `fetch` rejects every failure below HTTP with a TypeError that
+    // says only "fetch failed", and hangs the reason, with its errno, off
+    // `cause`. The printed line carries the reason, so a cron log tells a
+    // refused connection from a name that did not resolve.
+    it("prints the reason a fetch failed, from the error's cause", async () => {
+        const refused = new TypeError("fetch failed", {
+            cause: Object.assign(
+                new Error("connect ECONNREFUSED 1.2.3.4:443"),
+                { code: "ECONNREFUSED" },
+            ),
+        });
+        const result = await runToExit(Promise.reject(refused));
+        expect(result).toEqual({
+            code: 1,
+            stdout: "",
+            stderr: "quak: fetch failed: connect ECONNREFUSED 1.2.3.4:443\n",
+        });
+    });
+
+    // When the host has several addresses and every one refuses, Node's
+    // `fetch` gives as the cause an AggregateError with an empty message and
+    // one error per address. The printed line gives each address's reason.
+    it("prints the reason for each address a fetch could not reach", async () => {
+        const refusedAt = (address: string): Error =>
+            Object.assign(new Error(`connect ECONNREFUSED ${address}`), {
+                code: "ECONNREFUSED",
+            });
+        const refused = new TypeError("fetch failed", {
+            cause: Object.assign(
+                new AggregateError([
+                    refusedAt("2001:db8::1:443"),
+                    refusedAt("1.2.3.4:443"),
+                ]),
+                { code: "ECONNREFUSED" },
+            ),
+        });
+        const result = await runToExit(Promise.reject(refused));
+        expect(result).toEqual({
+            code: 1,
+            stdout: "",
+            stderr: "quak: fetch failed: connect ECONNREFUSED 2001:db8::1:443, connect ECONNREFUSED 1.2.3.4:443\n",
+        });
+    });
+
+    // An error that already quotes its cause's message is printed as it is.
+    it("does not print a cause's message twice", async () => {
+        const reset = new Error("read ECONNRESET");
+        const wrapped = new Error(`download: file 7: ${reset.message}`, {
+            cause: reset,
+        });
+        const result = await runToExit(Promise.reject(wrapped));
+        expect(result.stderr).toBe("quak: download: file 7: read ECONNRESET\n");
+    });
+
+    // OpenSSL ends its message for a failed TLS connection, such as one to a
+    // server that answers in plain HTTP, with a newline. The printed line is
+    // still one line.
+    it("prints a cause's message without the white space around it", async () => {
+        const wrongVersion = new TypeError("fetch failed", {
+            cause: Object.assign(
+                new Error(
+                    "C0B73A55A47F0000:error:0A00010B:SSL routines:ssl3_get_record:wrong version number:../deps/openssl/openssl/ssl/record/ssl3_record.c:354:\n",
+                ),
+                { code: "ERR_SSL_WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER" },
+            ),
+        });
+        const result = await runToExit(Promise.reject(wrongVersion));
+        expect(result.stderr).toBe(
+            "quak: fetch failed: C0B73A55A47F0000:error:0A00010B:SSL routines:ssl3_get_record:wrong version number:../deps/openssl/openssl/ssl/record/ssl3_record.c:354:\n",
+        );
+    });
+
     it("prints a thrown value that is not an Error", async () => {
         const result = await runToExit(Promise.reject("offline"));
         expect(result).toEqual({
@@ -57,6 +129,14 @@ describe("run", () => {
         });
     });
 
+    // A cause that is not an Error, such as a thrown string, is printed as a
+    // thrown value that is not an Error is.
+    it("prints a cause that is not an Error", async () => {
+        const wrapped = new Error("ML data", { cause: "offline" });
+        const result = await runToExit(Promise.reject(wrapped));
+        expect(result.stderr).toBe("quak: ML data: offline\n");
+    });
+
     it("on a 401 from the server says to run quak login, on one line, and exits 3", async () => {
         const result = await runToExit(
             Promise.reject(new ApiError("unauthorized", 401)),

test/download/download.test.ts

@@ -74,7 +74,11 @@ import {
 } from "vitest";
 import { init, toBase64, STREAM_CHUNK_SIZE } from "../../src/crypto/index.js";
 import { ApiClient } from "../../src/api/client.js";
-import { ApiError, TruncatedStreamError } from "../../src/errors.js";
+import {
+    ApiError,
+    describeError,
+    TruncatedStreamError,
+} from "../../src/errors.js";
 import type { RetryOptions } from "../../src/retry.js";
 import {
     downloadFile,
@@ -834,6 +838,11 @@ describe.each(entryPoints)(
             expect(((err as Error).cause as Error).message).toMatch(
                 /authentication failed/i,
             );
+            // As quak prints it and records it in `failures.json`, the error
+            // states the authentication failure once, from its cause.
+            expect(describeError(err)).toMatch(
+                /^download: stream truncated: response body ended with \d+ trailing bytes \(transfer stopped mid-chunk, or the data is corrupt\): secretstream chunk authentication failed$/,
+            );
 
             // And, as with every other failure, the destination is untouched
             // and no staged temp file survives.

test/retry/retry.test.ts

@@ -77,6 +77,14 @@ const recordingSleep = (): {
 const errnoError = (code: string, message = code): Error =>
     Object.assign(new Error(message), { code });
 
+/**
+ * An error shaped like what bun's `fetch` rejects with for a failure below
+ * HTTP: a plain `Error` with bun's own message, a `code`, an `errno` of 0, and
+ * no `cause`.
+ */
+const bunError = (code: string, message: string): Error =>
+    Object.assign(new Error(message), { code, errno: 0 });
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Classification
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -244,6 +252,80 @@ describe("isRetryable: transport failures", () => {
     });
 });
 
+describe("isRetryable and isSafeToReplay: bun's fetch errors", () => {
+    // The binary `make install` builds runs quak under bun, whose `fetch`
+    // does not reject as Node's does. Each shape here was found by running
+    // that binary, built with bun 1.3.13, against listeners on 127.0.0.1 and
+    // a name under `.invalid`.
+
+    it("retries and replays a refused connection", () => {
+        // Bun gives the same error when the TLS handshake fails. The TCP
+        // connection existed then, but the request is only sent once the
+        // handshake is done, so replaying it is as safe.
+        const refused = bunError(
+            "ConnectionRefused",
+            "Unable to connect. Is the computer able to access the url?",
+        );
+        expect(isRetryable(refused)).toBe(true);
+        expect(isSafeToReplay(refused)).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it("retries and replays a name that does not resolve, with either code bun gives", () => {
+        // For the same name bun gave `ConnectionRefused` on some requests and
+        // `FailedToOpenSocket` on others.
+        for (const unresolved of [
+            bunError(
+                "ConnectionRefused",
+                "Unable to connect. Is the computer able to access the url?",
+            ),
+            bunError(
+                "FailedToOpenSocket",
+                "Was there a typo in the url or port?",
+            ),
+        ]) {
+            expect(isRetryable(unresolved)).toBe(true);
+            expect(isSafeToReplay(unresolved)).toBe(true);
+        }
+    });
+
+    it("retries a connection closed before the response ended, and does not replay it", () => {
+        // Bun gives Node's errno, `ECONNRESET`, for a reset and for a close,
+        // before the response or part-way through the body. The request may
+        // already have reached the server.
+        const reset = bunError(
+            "ECONNRESET",
+            "The socket connection was closed unexpectedly. For more information, pass `verbose: true` in the second argument to fetch()",
+        );
+        expect(isRetryable(reset)).toBe(true);
+        expect(isSafeToReplay(reset)).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it("retries a request that ran out of time, and does not replay it", () => {
+        // What bun's fetch rejects with when `AbortSignal.timeout()`, which
+        // bounds each JSON request, fires.
+        const timedOut = new DOMException(
+            "The operation timed out.",
+            "TimeoutError",
+        );
+        expect(isRetryable(timedOut)).toBe(true);
+        expect(isSafeToReplay(timedOut)).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it("does not retry a certificate bun rejects", () => {
+        // A certificate that fails verification fails the same way however
+        // often it is asked. Under Node it is retried only because every
+        // `TypeError` is.
+        expect(
+            isRetryable(
+                bunError(
+                    "DEPTH_ZERO_SELF_SIGNED_CERT",
+                    "self signed certificate",
+                ),
+            ),
+        ).toBe(false);
+    });
+});
+
 describe("isRetryable: stream truncation versus corruption", () => {
     it("retries a truncated stream", () => {
         // Truncation is a transfer that stopped early. The bytes that did