3

In Ubuntu 21.10, Firefox 93.0 can't open a file in a hidden directory like /home/alba/.toto/0000000d.html.

(Whatever the name and content of the HTML file, you can use an empty file.)

Nor does Chromium 95.0.4638.54 snap but Dillo version 3.0.5 and Google Chrome 90.0.4430.93 can do it.

In 21.04, Firefox 93.0, Dillo 3.0.5 and Google Chrome 90.0.4430.93 can do it, only Chromium 94.0.446.71 snap cannot, so this is a regression.

Can you confirm? Is it worth reporting a bug? Is it Firefox or Ubuntu bug?

I found this by using Claws Mails that stores HTML mail files in ~/.claws-mail/.

More simply

Checked with Ubuntu 22.04.

Take any HTML file named index.html that Firefox or Chromium can open. Rename it with a leading dot .index.html, then Firefox or Chromium cannot open it. Firefox error message (in window) :

Access to the file was denied

The file at /home/me/.index.html is not readable.


It may have been removed, moved, or file permissions may be preventing access.

With or without dot, the Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module" error also occurs in Terminal so it is probably not the cause.

% snap list
chromium                 101.0.4951.41
firefox                  99.0.1-1

dillo has no problem.

Pierre ALBARÈDE
  • 536
  • How are you opening the file? I am able to open an empty file ~/.toto/0000000d.html using the *.deb version of Firefox 93.0 in Ubuntu 21.10. I can drag the file from Nautilus onto Firefox, and it opens. Also, I can right-click on the file and select to open the file in Firefox, and it opens. – Enterprise Oct 27 '21 at 20:46
  • I open the file by right clicking on it in Nautilus. – Pierre ALBARÈDE Oct 27 '21 at 21:10
  • I have also tried to open in the command line firefox /home/alba/.toto/0000000d.html, same result. But I see this Gtk-Message: 22:11:44.197: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module. – Pierre ALBARÈDE Oct 27 '21 at 21:12
  • I don't have this message in 21.04. Found this https://askubuntu.com/questions/342202/failed-to-load-module-canberra-gtk-module-but-already-installed but sudo apt install libcanberra-gtk-module libcanberra-gtk3-module does not remove the message. – Pierre ALBARÈDE Oct 27 '21 at 21:26
  • 1
    firefox ~/.toto/0000000d.html just opens the (blank) file in Firefox for me, without errors. Try the *.deb version. May be the snap sand-boxing is causing this? By the way, I have libcanberra-gtk, libcanberra-gtk0, libcanberra-gtk3-0, and libcanberra-gtk3-module installed. – Enterprise Oct 27 '21 at 21:37
  • I have tried a third method to open the file. First I had to reinstall the menu bar in Firefox, second File > Open file or more simply control-o. This methods works. However, it does not solve the Claws Mail issue, which relies basically on the command line. Maybe some option in the command line may solve the problem, – Pierre ALBARÈDE Oct 27 '21 at 21:41
  • I have removed Firefox snap 93.0-1 rev 631 with sudo snap remove --purge firefox then reinstalled sudo apt install firefox and the problem with Firefox has vanished. Thanks. I suppose that the problem is that snap does not connect well to the libacanberra installed with apt. – Pierre ALBARÈDE Oct 27 '21 at 21:56
  • My Chromium is also a snap and on the contrary Dillo and Google Chrome are deb. Obviously a problem with snap, – Pierre ALBARÈDE Oct 27 '21 at 21:59
  • I think that may be the case. I know that the Firefox snap allows special access to the user's home directory (outside of the sand-box). Therefore, all subdirectories in the user's home directory should also be accessible (even if they are hidden). I would open a bug report about this issue. – Enterprise Oct 27 '21 at 22:02
  • I rediscover the problem after upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04, coming with snap Firefox. – Pierre ALBARÈDE May 01 '22 at 10:46
  • I do not know where to report a bug. – Pierre ALBARÈDE May 01 '22 at 10:54
  • Good to know. I conclude that it is a snap design (or flaw depending on the point of view) since the .deb version of Firefox can open "hidden" file. A consequence is that HTML mail attachments in ~/.claws-mail cannot be opened. – Pierre ALBARÈDE May 01 '22 at 11:24
  • Related https://askubuntu.com/questions/1238211/how-to-make-snaps-access-hidden-files-and-folders-in-home https://superuser.com/questions/1546550/chromium-81-wont-display-dotfiles-anymore – Pierre ALBARÈDE May 01 '22 at 11:40
  • Existing bug report https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd/+bug/1607067 – Pierre ALBARÈDE May 01 '22 at 11:45

2 Answers2

0

For Claws-Mail, you can just create a "tmp" directory in your home directory and move the "mimetmp" directory used by Claws-Mail inside:

  1. Close Claws-Mail.

  2. Move the "mimetmp" directory to a non-hidden "tmp" directory:

    mkdir ~/tmp
cd ~/.claws-mail
mv mimetmp ../tmp
ln -sf ../tmp/mimetmp

You can now restart Claws-Mail and open attachments with Firefox or Chromium.

Jean-Philippe Guérard
  • 101
0

I begged advice from the Claws-mail mailing list.

This should work:

mv .claws-mail claws-mail ; claws-mail --alternate-config-dir claws-mail

Deb Ubuntu can still be installed in Ubuntu 22.04.

If the above link dies:

sudo snap remove firefox

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa


echo '
Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam
Pin-Priority: 1001
' | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla-firefox


echo 'Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins:: "LP-PPA-mozillateam:${distro_codename}";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/51unattended-upgrades-firefox


sudo apt install firefox

Other ways :

  1. Compile Firefox from source.
  2. Switch to another Linux distribution that does not force to use Snap.
Pierre ALBARÈDE
  • 536