android apps can't access nemo home directory [answered]

asked 2019-09-10 14:03:46 +0200

jabgoe
286 ●6 ●14 ●20

Hi everybody,

I don't know if it's a bug or a feature I'm running into here. I noticed a strange behaviour of android apps on my Xperia XA2 Ultra: None of the android apps can access files within the nemo user home directory.

I checked it with Android apps of FBReader, KOReader, WhatsApp, Telegram, Riot.im and a cloud app called HiDrive. They can't access files outside their emulated android_storage and they even can't be tricked to see files that are linked into that file system from the outside. With the HiDrive app it might be the missing google stuff that prevents up- and downloading so that might be ok. But the rest is bad.

Messenger apps that can't acces local files are unuseable for me.

Is this an expected behaviour of android apps with Sailfish OS 3.1 on a Xperia XA2 Ultra device? If yes, does anybody know how to circumvent it, how to make these apps see the files inside the nemo home directory for up- and download?

If it's a bug, am I the only one to experience it?

I'm realtively at loss here and I have to admit I'm near to losing my patience with all the Sailfish stuff ...

Any answers greatly apprecieated!

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The question has been closed for the following reason "the question is answered, an answer was accepted" by jabgoe
close date 2019-09-17 00:20:17.165861

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answered 2019-09-17 00:19:00 +0200

jabgoe
286 ●6 ●14 ●20

ok, ashes on my head. fiddling around with the config file @olf has pointed to showed me the reason of some of the problems:

my problems with whatsapp and telegram came from my backups. i made backups on my xperia x with tar, copied that to the xperia xa2 ultra and untared the backups there. unluckily on the xperia x these files belong to nemo.nemo, on the ultra they need to belong to media_rw.media_rw. i corrected the ownerships and all of a sudden these chat apps worked.
the lxc config for aliendalvik showed me, that the nemo-directory is already mounted into the aliendalvik lxc container. /home/nemo is first bind mounted into /home/.nemo_bind and this is then mounted into the lxc container aliendalvik's file system under /storage/emulated/0/nemo.. how could i have missed this? so now that i know where to look i can find my ebook files with the android-fbreader. nice.

i'm sorry for the fuss and grateful for the hints.

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answered 2019-09-10 16:58:58 +0200

olf
10393 ●104 ●201 ●158

They can't access files outside their emulated android_storage [...]

There you already provided the reason for this security feature: The Android subsystem is properly separated.

What is your issue, as everything is accessible with native apps?

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I do not quite understand that. WhatsApp for example has access to the photos and consequently to /nemo/pictures on the device memory. Unfortunately, there is a problem accessing the SD card (Xa2 / 3.1.0.11). So there is access outside the emulated Android memory. Where is my thought mistake?

sailaway ( 2019-09-10 19:05:30 +0200 )edit

1

It's easy and no bug. The directory "/nemo/pictures" may be seen and there is no access to other directories. It was never different with Sailfish. The Aliendalvik is locked in the sandbox and that's good. Use a native filemanager to move files from "/nemo/Downloads" to "/nemo/android_storage/Download".

4carlos ( 2019-09-11 06:55:44 +0200 )edit

@4carlos : Thanks for your comment. I know this. But it does not explain why I can access the photos from WhatsApp. /nemo /pictures can not only be seen. I have access from WhatsApp. And I would like to have access to the photos on the SD card too. Of course it is good and right that Aliendalvik is locked in the sandbox. But if so, why can I access the photos in WhatsApp? They are not saved in the emulated Android storage.

sailaway ( 2019-09-11 10:00:43 +0200 )edit

2

https://together.jolla.com/question/203539/guide-externalising-android_storage-and-other-directories-files-to-sd-card/?answer=206350#post-id-206350

olf ( 2019-09-11 23:43:08 +0200 )edit

@olf: Thanks for the link. I will work through it.

sailaway ( 2019-09-12 08:04:40 +0200 )edit

android apps can't access nemo home directory [answered]

The question has been closed for the following reason "the question is answered, an answer was accepted" by jabgoe
close date 2019-09-17 00:20:17.165861

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android apps can't access nemo home directory [answered]

The question has been closed for the following reason "the question is answered, an answer was accepted" by jabgoe close date 2019-09-17 00:20:17.165861

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The question has been closed for the following reason "the question is answered, an answer was accepted" by jabgoe
close date 2019-09-17 00:20:17.165861