Confinement Issues

1

I use a custom folder for my main files (mounted at /main/Rem, and symlinked through to /home/<my user>/Rem.) However, I am unable to access any of the files located on this mount because of confinement. I am mainly interested in this for Chromium and Github Desktop, both of which need access to my files. I have tried installing Github Desktop with both devmode confinement and classic confinement but neither allows me to access it, and it seems to not follow symlinks. I cannot change the mount point because it would break the programs I have, and use regularily, which depend on consistency of the point. Its annoying because in order to commit anything to github, I have to copy (many, many files), into an accessible path then upload. Additionally, repointing every project in my workspace would take more time than I have.

The obvious fix is to make the directories which can be accessed and mount points can be located in configurable. Another fix is to make it unconditionally follow symlinks to there directory.

2

Just switch from a symlink to a bind mount and it will just work …

3

Unfortunately this is not as easy as we’d like. From the perspective of the application the directory /main does not exist. The symlink in your home directory exists but is broken. Even if /main existed from the application point of view, the confinement system knows nothing about /main so it doesn’t grant access to it.

As ogra said above, the best solution is to use a bind mount. Then it is simply a part of your home and it shows up where applications expect it to be. The confinement system treats it as a part of home as well.