Files disappear: why?

Hi.

I am not sure whether it's a bug or I just miss something, that's why I'm posting my support request here before filing a bug on Launchpad.

I am using Whatsdesk to manage my Whatsapp account. Something weird happens when I try to save some PDF from a chat to my /tmp folder: the files are originally named Modello Time Sheet - Arianna Tramici .pdf and relazione finale - Arianna Tramici .pdf but it also happens if I save any of those as AAA.pdf leading me to think the name should not be the issue.
Those seem to be correctly saved, but I cannot find them there: either via Caja or via terminal. I suppose they are saved somehow because when I try to save them again in /tmp I am asked whether to overwrite the existing copies. On the other hand, I can see those files correctly both via Caja and terminal when I save them on my desktop folder (see screenshot, I just saved one of those for example on my desktop).
Via command line, it does not work either when I run sudo ls -la or ls -la after running su .
Also, I cannot find them if I open Caja via sudo or via su. This issue does not happen when I use Whatsapp Web via browser: I can see the files wherever I saved them.

The screenshot show what I see when I save the files via Whatsdesk and when I try to find them via Caja. One more detail: I see that Whatsdesk is run as normal user, just as any other application launched though the desktop menu, as well as the firefox browser used to run Whatsapp Web.

I think it also happened a similar thing sometime recently when I was using Linux Mint with Nemo. I only know it wasn't with Whatsdesk because I'm using it now for the first time, but cannot remember what application I was using when that similar issue happened: then I just thought I was too tired to realize where I saved my files...

Any clue?

Thanks,
Regards.

The tmp folder from Whatsdesk

Desktop folder from WhatsDesk

The tmp folder from WhatsDesk when trying to save the files again

The files are visible via Caja when I save them on the desktop folder

Looks like you are navigating to wrong location. Are you navigating to File / Tmp? not user / Tmp

Unfortunately, the location is correct. However, I removed that bookmark, tried to save one of the files again, but the problem persists. In detail, I saved one of those files as NEWTEST.pdf in the /tmp folder navigating it "manually", but I cannot see it via Caja/terminal. In fact, I have already tried to do it that way, but I did not describe it in the previous post, trying not to make it longer and longer.
What I see it that Whatsdesk shows just another content for the /tmp folder, showing different as well as fewer files than the /tmp folder shown via Caja/terminal. This does not happen with the desktop folder: the files shown via Whatsdesk are exactly the same I can see via Caja/terminal.

Do you know what location you told Whatsdesk to save to?
Is it actually set to Segnalibri/tmp?

@Ma_N0 make a folder under your username as temp and save them there.

You will find them in /home/username/temp/

The location I told Whatsdesk to save to is /tmp, at least that's what I supposed I was doing when browsing the file system though the Whatsdesk window, going from the / directory to its subfolder tmp. By the way, "Segnalibri" is the Italian name for "bookmarks" and yes, it was set to /tmp taking into account it did not work either when reaching /tmp without using the bookmark.

However, I think I have just found the issue. I don't know why, the Whatsdesk "save" window shows exactly the same content of the file system just as shown by the terminal or Caja, except for the /tmp folder which, in turn, corresponds to /tmp/snap.whatsdesk/tmp which is where I can find all the files I try to download to /tmp selected via Whatsdesk. I cannot access the /tmp/snap.whatsdesk/tmp folder as normal user while it is accessible via terminal after running the su command or via Caja after running sudo caja. I redrwxrwxrwt 4 root root 4096 lug 16 13:33 tmpmark that the strange thing is that the file system corresponds on all the other folders!
Just some further details:

  • drwx------ 3 root root 4096 lug 16 13:27 snap.whatsdesk [/tmp/snap.whatsdesk]

  • drwxrwxrwt 4 root root 4096 lug 16 13:33 tmp [/tmp/snap.whatsdesk/tmp]

  • Double clicking on the Whatsdesk application runs the following command
    env BAMF_DESKTOP_FILE_HINT=/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/whatsdesk_whatsdesk.desktop /snap/bin/whatsdesk %U

The issue persists when I run whatsdesk from terminal too, without all that stuff included in the above command.

Any clue?

How can this be related to the problem or solve it?

Saw snapd in your screenshot, I'm outa here, but would suggest if using a snap version search on snap file permissions may be blocking access? Have seen issues but had no interest in topics.
Also try suggestion by @pavlos_kairis and see if they save to your local files which I think is a better location. I myself send everything to Desktop and when finished put them where I want.

How can I search/check the snap file permissions?

Last but not the least, how the @pavlos_kairis suggestion can help me, considering that I do see the downloaded files easily when I save them everywhere but in /tmp ?

In browser type your ? in search box.

OK have the app send file (name it D) to your Desktop and file (name it t) to your /tmp.
Exit app.
Open Caja
navigate to /tmp.
Is file t there?
Now drag file D to /tmp
If this works it would seem like the snap can't write to that location.
Still don't see attraction to saving to /tmp and not /home you end up moving the file anyway.

Slim chance since you seem to indicate it is immediately not visible.
On my system there is a cron job that I think cleans the tmp.
In terminal type systemctl list-timers
Note: will not match your list as I have some items masked.

In your /home/user_name search for snap and see it your files might be there.

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Thanks again for your feedback. However, please let me clarify that my aim is NOT downloading to /tmp in order to move those files afterwards from /tmp to other folders. Normally, I download to /tmp everything I do not need to keep on my PC: I just use those files after downloading to /tmp then I let those files die there and be deleted automatically when I restart the PC, just not to leave garbage files around.
That said, as mentioned before, I cannot find any file in /tmp when I save them there via WhatsDesk. Let me explain shortly the issue again. When I download files to /tmp via WhatsDesk they are actually saved to /tmp/snap.whatsdesk/**tmp** and not in /tmp despite the save window makes me think they are going to be saved in /tmp.
In fact, as shown before, I cannot find those files in /tmp (as shown by the save window of WhatsDesk) but in /tmp/snap.whatsdesk/**tmp** (as shown by Teminal or Caja).
In conclusion, I specify that I mentioned the other folders just to show that when I save via WhatsDesk something elsewhere (not in /tmp) the files are saved correctly, I mean I can find them in that location as expected.
So, the question is: why those files are saved to /tmp/snap.whatsdesk/**tmp** via WhatsDesk and not in /tmp? In other words, how can I save those files in /tmp via WhatsDesk?
Hope it is clearer now.
Thanks.
Regards.

Hi, @Ma_N0,

You asked:

From what I've searched, that is the usual behavior of "snap" applications. In the page "Security policy and sandboxing | Snapcraft documentation" - https://snapcraft.io/docs/security-sandboxing - you may read, among various other useful pieces of information, the following:

(...)
4. Sets up a private /tmp directory using a per-snap private mount namespace and mounting a per-snap directory on /tmp.
(...)

The above paragraph explains why your "WhatsDesk" snap application "sees" the "/tmp/snap.whatsdesk/tmp" folder as if it was the proper "/tmp"

I believe this is set up like that due to the "restrictive security sandbox" philosophy that is presented in the first paragraph of that same web page:

Without custom flags at installation, or subsequent interface connections, snaps are confined to a restrictive security sandbox with no access to system resources outside of the snap. (...)

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