Handle /backfill returning no events (#10133)

Fixes #10123

changelog.d/10133.bugfix

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix bug when using workers where pagination requests failed if a remote server returned zero events from `/backfill`. Introduced in 1.35.0.

synapse/handlers/federation.py

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from collections.abc import Container
 from http import HTTPStatus
 from typing import (
     TYPE_CHECKING,
+    Collection,
     Dict,
     Iterable,
     List,
@@ -1364,6 +1365,7 @@ class FederationHandler(BaseHandler):
 
             event_infos.append(_NewEventInfo(event, None, auth))
 
+        if event_infos:
             await self._auth_and_persist_events(
                 destination,
                 room_id,
@@ -2077,7 +2079,7 @@ class FederationHandler(BaseHandler):
         self,
         origin: str,
         room_id: str,
-        event_infos: Iterable[_NewEventInfo],
+        event_infos: Collection[_NewEventInfo],
         backfilled: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         """Creates the appropriate contexts and persists events. The events
@@ -2088,6 +2090,9 @@ class FederationHandler(BaseHandler):
         Notifies about the events where appropriate.
         """
 
+        if not event_infos:
+            return
+
         async def prep(ev_info: _NewEventInfo):
             event = ev_info.event
             with nested_logging_context(suffix=event.event_id):
@@ -2216,6 +2221,7 @@ class FederationHandler(BaseHandler):
                     raise
                 events_to_context[e.event_id].rejected = RejectedReason.AUTH_ERROR
 
+        if auth_events or state:
             await self.persist_events_and_notify(
                 room_id,
                 [
@@ -3061,7 +3067,13 @@ class FederationHandler(BaseHandler):
                 the same room.
             backfilled: Whether these events are a result of
                 backfilling or not
+
+        Returns:
+            The stream ID after which all events have been persisted.
         """
+        if not event_and_contexts:
+            return self.store.get_current_events_token()
+
         instance = self.config.worker.events_shard_config.get_instance(room_id)
         if instance != self._instance_name:
             # Limit the number of events sent over replication. We choose 200