Noob question: Errors during execution - channel_not_found and invalid link

[rhodessteve]

I have downloaded the latest executable for MacOS (2.3.4) to a folder, and connected to my Slack instance. After trying more complex dumps and exports using files with a channel list in and dumping with a date range, all that failed, so I tried a more basic slackdump.

Using ./slackdump without any parameters, i've found that the only channels it can access is #general and #random. If i try any other channel i get a "channel_not_found" error, and if there are any special characters in the channel title (- or _ or ') then I get an invalid link error. If i'm not in the channel and there are no special characters in the channel title, I also get invalid link.

It appears to be trying to read the folder in which slackdump sits and trying to process them, so for example I get 2023/05/02 17:12:56 invalid link: "README.rst". I moved this and the LICENSE file to a folder called docs and tried again. The next run I excluded random and general (./slackdump ^random ^general) and received this, as if its trying to process the docs folder and the slackdump app itself, while not finding any other channels.

2023/05/02 17:14:03 > checking user cache...
2023/05/02 17:14:03 error processing: "docs" (conversation will be skipped): callback error: failed to dump channel docs: channel_not_found
2023/05/02 17:14:03 error processing: "slackdump" (conversation will be skipped): callback error: failed to dump channel slackdump: channel_not_found
2023/05/02 17:14:03 dumped 0 item(s)
2023/05/02 17:14:03 completed, time taken: 563.013248ms

I figure I must be missing something pretty obvious but I can't see what that is.

[rusq]

Hey @rhodessteve, you need to use the channelIDs or URLs, not the channel names.

Running "dump"

Run the ./slackdump -list-channels to see all available channels

$ ./slackdump -list-channels
Slackdump dev (commit: placeholder) built on: 2077
2023/05/04 16:15:49 > checking user cache...
2023/05/04 16:15:49   cache expired: it will be recreated.
2023/05/04 16:15:50 retrieving data...
2023/05/04 16:15:50 channels request #    1, fetched:   13, total:       13 (speed:  48.04/sec, avg:  48.04/sec)
2023/05/04 16:15:50 channels fetch complete, total: 13 channels
ID           Arch  Saved  What
CHM82GF99    -     saved  #everything
CHY5HUESG    -     -      #everyone
CHYLGDP0D    -     -      #random
C011D885FP0  -     -      #wakatime
C045TUGSSTW  -     -      #adapt_w_3dﾋﾞｭｰｱ
C04BJATRQRL  -     -      #slackdump
D03MW5QR8R3  -     -      @outlook_calendar
D034LJA178B  -     -      @vn-data-messenger
D015RNCFNRG  -     -      @observer
DNC8P5L69    arch  -      @jirabot
DHMAB25DY    -     -      @slackbot

For example, I'm interested in "random" channel, its ID is CHYLGDP0D.

Run the dump:

$ ./slackdump CHYLGDP0D     
Slackdump dev (commit: placeholder) built on: 2077
2023/05/04 16:18:41 > checking user cache...
2023/05/04 16:18:41   thread request #    1, fetched:    4, total:        4, process results:  (speed:  14.89/sec, avg:  14.89/sec)
2023/05/04 16:18:41   thread fetch complete, total: 4
2023/05/04 16:18:42   thread request #    1, fetched:    5, total:        5, process results:  (speed:  11.24/sec, avg:  11.24/sec)
2023/05/04 16:18:42   thread fetch complete, total: 5
2023/05/04 16:18:42 messages request #    1, fetched:    3 (threads: 2), total:        3 (speed:   2.75/sec, avg:   2.75/sec)
2023/05/04 16:18:42 messages fetch complete, total: 3
2023/05/04 16:18:42 dumped 1 item(s)
2023/05/04 16:18:42 completed, time taken: 1.70337219s

Running "export"

To run the export, do this:

$  ./slackdump -export my_export.zip 
Slackdump dev (commit: placeholder) built on: 2077
2023/05/04 16:19:27 > checking user cache...
2023/05/04 16:19:27 Export:  staring export to: <zip archive: my_export.zip>
2023/05/04 16:19:28 messages request #    1, fetched:    1 (threads: 0, : 0), total:        1 (speed:   3.58/sec, avg:   3.58/sec)
2023/05/04 16:19:28 messages fetch complete, total: 1
2023/05/04 16:19:28 messages request #    1, fetched:    0 (threads: 0, : 0), total:        0 (speed:   0.00/sec, avg:   0.00/sec)
2023/05/04 16:19:28 messages fetch complete, total: 0
2023/05/04 16:19:29   thread request #    1, fetched:    4, total:        4, process results:  (speed:  15.25/sec, avg:  15.25/sec)
2023/05/04 16:19:29   thread fetch complete, total: 4
2023/05/04 16:19:30   thread request #    1, fetched:    5, total:        5, process results:  (speed:  13.82/sec, avg:  13.82/sec)
<...>
2023/05/04 16:19:36 channels fetch complete, total: 13 channels
2023/05/04 16:19:36   out of which exported:  13
2023/05/04 16:19:36 completed, time taken: 9.470089418s