improve testping, remove rpc delay from pings

Author: daywalker90

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,12 +7,16 @@
 - new boolean option to leak the reason in the reject message: ``clnrod-leakreason``, defaults to `false`
 - method usage returned by ``lightning-cli help``
 - defaults for options returned by ``lightning-cli listconfigs``
+- ``clnrod-testping`` also returns the median ping
 
 ### Changed
 - empty ``clnrod-denymessage`` no longer allowed, please let your peer know it's not a lightning bug
+- ``clnrod-testping`` now connects automatically to the peer
+- ``clnrod-testping`` length argument now defaults to ``clnrod-pinglength``
+- all ping measurements were subtracted by a rpc delay amount but after pings started working properly in 25.09 it turns out this would lead to unrealistically low pings, so i removed that and as a result pings might be slightly higher now
 
 ### Fixed
-- cache invalidation bug: multiple quick opening attempts with different opening specific data like ``their_funding_sat`` would use the first value from cache
+- cache invalidation bug: multiple quick (within 1 hour) opening attempts with different opening specific data like ``their_funding_sat`` would use the first value from cache
 
 ## [0.4.3] - 2025-10-16
 

README.md

@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ New rpc methods with this plugin:
 * **clnrod-testmail**
     * send a test mail to check your email config
 * **clnrod-testping** *pubkey* [*count*] [*length*]
-    * measure the time it takes in ms to send a *length* (Default: 256) bytes message to the node with *pubkey* and back. Pings *count* (Default: 3) times. You must connect to the node first!
+    * measure the time it takes in ms to send a *length* (Defaults to ``clnrod-pinglength``) bytes message to the node with *pubkey* and back. Pings *count* (Default: 3) times.
 
 
 ## Blockmode: allow

src/collect.rs

@@ -8,10 +8,7 @@ use anyhow::{anyhow, Error};
 use cln_plugin::Plugin;
 use cln_rpc::{
     model::{
-        requests::{
-            GetinfoRequest, ListchannelsRequest, ListnodesRequest, ListpeerchannelsRequest,
-            PingRequest,
-        },
+        requests::{ListchannelsRequest, ListnodesRequest, ListpeerchannelsRequest, PingRequest},
         responses::ListnodesNodesAddressesType,
     },
     primitives::{Amount, ChannelState, PublicKey},
@@ -461,13 +458,6 @@ pub async fn ln_ping(
     let rpc_path =
         Path::new(&plugin.configuration().lightning_dir).join(plugin.configuration().rpc_file);
     let mut rpc = ClnRpc::new(rpc_path).await?;
-    let now_delay = Instant::now();
-    let _dummy_rpc = rpc.call_typed(&GetinfoRequest {}).await;
-    let rpc_delay = now_delay.elapsed().as_millis() as u16;
-    log::info!(
-        "Rpc delay that will be subtracted from ping: {}ms",
-        rpc_delay
-    );
     let mut results = Vec::new();
     let mut c = 0;
     while c < count {
@@ -514,7 +504,7 @@ pub async fn ln_ping(
         if ping_response.totlen < ping_length {
             log::info!("Did not receive the full length ping back");
         }
-        let ping = (now.elapsed().as_millis() as u16).saturating_sub(rpc_delay);
+        let ping = now.elapsed().as_millis() as u16;
         log::info!(
             "Pinged {} {}/{} times with {} bytes in {}ms",
             pubkey,
@@ -527,5 +517,6 @@ pub async fn ln_ping(
         time::sleep(Duration::from_millis(250)).await;
     }
 
+    results.sort();
     Ok(results)
 }

src/rpc.rs

@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@ use std::{path::Path, str::FromStr};
 
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Context, Error};
 use cln_plugin::Plugin;
-use cln_rpc::primitives::{Amount, PublicKey};
+use cln_rpc::{
+    model::requests::ConnectRequest,
+    primitives::{Amount, PublicKey},
+    ClnRpc,
+};
 use serde_json::json;
 
 use crate::{
@@ -152,7 +156,7 @@ pub async fn clnrod_testping(
             let length = if let Some(pk) = o.get("length") {
                 u16::try_from(pk.as_u64().ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("bad length number"))?)?
             } else {
-                256
+                plugin.state().config.lock().ping_length
             };
             (pubkey_str, count, length)
         }
@@ -178,7 +182,7 @@ pub async fn clnrod_testping(
                     u16::try_from(c.as_u64().ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("bad length number"))?)
                         .context("length out of valid range")?
                 } else {
-                    256
+                    plugin.state().config.lock().ping_length
                 };
                 (pubkey_str, count, length)
             }
@@ -199,9 +203,22 @@ pub async fn clnrod_testping(
     }
     let pubkey = PublicKey::from_str(pubkey_str).context("invalid pubkey")?;
 
+    let rpc_path =
+        Path::new(&plugin.configuration().lightning_dir).join(plugin.configuration().rpc_file);
+    let mut rpc = ClnRpc::new(rpc_path).await?;
+
+    rpc.call_typed(&ConnectRequest {
+        host: None,
+        port: None,
+        id: pubkey.to_string(),
+    })
+    .await?;
+
     let pings = ln_ping(plugin, pubkey, count, length).await?;
     let sum_pings = pings.iter().map(|y| *y as u64).sum::<u64>();
+    let median = pings.iter().nth(pings.len() / 2).unwrap_or(&0);
     Ok(json!({"min":pings.iter().min(),
         "avg":sum_pings/(pings.len() as u64),
+        "median":median,
         "max":pings.iter().max()}))
 }