watchcat: error if only one address is specified in pinghosts

[st7105]

Package Name

watchcat

Maintainer

Roger D rogerdammit@gmail.com

OpenWrt Version

SNAPSHOT

OpenWrt Target/Subtarget

mediatek/filogic

Steps to Reproduce

1. Add configuration in /etc/config/watchcat:

config watchcat
option period '60s'
option mode 'run_script'
option script '/etc/custom_user_script.sh'
option addressfamily 'ipv4'
option pingperiod '10s'
option pingcount '3'
option pingsize 'standard'
option interface 'wg0'
list pinghosts '10.11.1.1'

2. /etc/init.d/watchcat start

Actual Behaviour

In the error logs:

Wed Dec 17 08:18:01 2025 daemon.info watchcat[20977]: Could not reach "10.11.1.1" via "wg0" for "20" seconds. Running script after reaching "60" seconds

I checked the result of executing the ping command inside the script and saw an error:
ping: bad address '"10.11.1.1"'

I believe the ping team does not appreciate unnecessary double quotes. Most likely, this commit broke:
5dc1390

Confirmation Checklist

• The package is maintained in this repository.
• I understand that issues related to the base OpenWrt repository or LuCI repository will be closed.
• I am reporting an issue for OpenWrt, not an unsupported fork.

[ivanddiaz]

Hi @st7105 @danielfdickinson and @vooon,

At this point, I still can’t confirm this as a bug on current code.

I’ve tested the reported configs (single and multiple pinghosts) on the latest OpenWrt SNAPSHOT, with the latest watchcat and luci-app-watchcat, and I’m unable to reproduce the quoted-IP issue. My sh -x tests show ping being executed without extra quotes, and behavior is correct in both cases.

This makes me think the issue could be:

• version-specific
• related to an upgrade / config migration
• LUCI state or older package versions
• or already fixed by later changes

To understand what’s really going on, I need more evidence from a system where the problem is still happening.

Please provide:

1. Exact package versions (apk list --installed | grep watchcat)

2. Full /etc/config/watchcat

3. Output of:

   ps | grep watchcat
   

4. Output of running the same command manually with:

   /bin/sh -x /usr/bin/watchcat.sh [ARGS]
   

Without this, I can’t see where the quoting or argument shifting is happening on current snapshots.

I’m not dismissing the reports. I just need a reproducible case to understand what I’m missing and fix it properly.

Thanks for the help and patience.

[ivanddiaz]

Now I was able to reproduce the problem, thanks @st7105 and @vooon.

So you’re right. I was only thinking about how /usr/bin/watchcat.sh handles argument expansion and forgot about /etc/init.d/watchcat.

I’m looking for a quick fix for this. Both commands should behave exactly the same, and that isn’t happening right now. I’ll keep working on a proposal to fix this while still supporting multiple hosts; otherwise, I’ll revert these changes.

[ivanddiaz]

Hi @st7105,

I’ve opened PR #28154 to revert the bugs introduced.
It would be great if you could test it.

[ivanddiaz]

Hi @st7105,

I’ve also opened PR openwrt/luci#8171 to revert the bugs introduced.
Again, It would be great if you could test it.

I’m closing LUCI PR based on the discussion here:
#28116 (comment)