Android storage on SD card after 3.2.0.12 update?

asked 2019-11-11 02:47:03 +0200

svistak gravatar image

updated 2019-11-11 02:54:06 +0200

Hello,

This question might be a bit similar to this one, but I (1) am not using mount-sdcard; (2) would like a more general answer regarding changes in SD card support in 3.2.0.12.

So... I have my android_storage folder offloaded to ext4-formatted SD card (done more or less by following this thread). I initially did that on my Aqua Fish (running SFOS 2) to gain some space for multimedia (images and videos received on WhatsApp, Spotify offline cache, OSM maps etc.). Then I switched to XA2 with SFOS 3 and was able to make it work almost seamlessly (with only a bit of fiddling with permissions).

Until the recent update, everything worked almost fine (there was some kind of conflict between Android and Sailfish apps regarding camera access, and sometimes I had to stop Alien Dalvik to be able to use the camera), but now it's a complete mess. Several Android apps won't start - most notably WhatsApp, which is crucial for me. I have tried reinstalling, installing different versions, and so on... it just doesn't start.

I have read the release notes for 3.2.0.12, and see that access to SD card was dropped for Android apps, but that's a bit too vague of a statement for me. I get that they might not be able to access SD-card-located media, but why are they not starting, if android_storage folder is (transparently for them) bind-mounted from SD? Surprisingly, a whole lot of other Android apps work just fine (or even better than before the update!), e.g. Spotify, which has its offline cache in the same android_storage.

I would be really grateful, if someone (possibly a Jolla developer?) could explain, what changes exactly were made to the system regarding SD card support, so maybe I could make this work again.

I'd like to point out, that I'm not a developer - just a user, and this is my only phone, so I'm always cautious and conservative when it comes to messing with the system. I probably wouldn't be posting this question, if the update didn't strip me of contact with several people I need to be in contact with - for which I need WhatsApp working.

Thank you in advance.

EDIT: I now see that @olf created this thread while I was writing this post. Before I start messing with these symlinks, can anyone confirm, that it should solve the problem?

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Comments

1

android_storage on SD-card does not work stable with Jolla's mounting mechanisms:

  • It is matter of luck, if AlienDalvik starts after mounting the SD-card (working) or before (not working). The outcome may be different on every boot.
  • You are risking data loss, as Jolla's mounting mechanisms do not cleanly unmount the SD-card.
  • Furthermore, even if the dirty unmounting is resolved, AlienDalvik is not neccessarily shut down before unmounting, constituting another possible cause of data loss.

crypto-scdard and mount-sdcard are made for handling these points fine.

olf ( 2019-11-11 16:36:26 +0200 )edit

@olf my concern here is not with mounting, as it works fine and I've never had any issues with it. AFAIR, there is a dependency added somewhere, that ensures SD card is mounted, and android_storage bind-mounted before aliendalvik starts. I am probably going to try your mount-sdcard utility somewhere in the future, but please notice that your comment doesn't shed any light on my current situation, which is as follows: android_storage is bind-mounted from SD card. Some Android apps run just fine using it; Whatsapp and several others won't start at all.

Are you claiming, that switching from current mounting script to mount-sdcard will solve my problem? I am sceptical, but willing to give it a try, if you are sure it'll help resolve this particular issue.

svistak ( 2019-11-12 03:02:47 +0200 )edit

Not sure, as no XA2 (rsp. its AOSP8 based AlienDalvik).

olf ( 2019-11-12 03:17:12 +0200 )edit

This may also be related to "SD-Card not automatically mounted after reboot" (which is already "Tracked by Jolla").

olf ( 2019-11-14 00:47:19 +0200 )edit

Did in the meantime one of you or anybody else come nearer to a solution or to new ideas with this problem?

UweLabs ( 2019-11-28 19:50:23 +0200 )edit