I’m having a problem with my F41 SB Box. I can’t upload any file from any Flatpak app, whether it’s Microsoft Edge, Chromium or Ungoogled Chromium.
If I try to upload a file to VirusTotal, it says that I’ll upload an empty file. If I try to upload an image to Google Image Search, the “upload circle” just keeps spinning forever. I also tried removing an app with user data and reinstalling it afterwards, but that didn’t work either.
I couldn’t reproduce this in a VM, so it’s a bit frustrating. When I launch the app from the terminal, there are no errors showing when I try to upload a file, so I’m a bit stuck.
I’m on Silverblue F41 and have no such issues (tested with Chromium installed from flathub).
Is it reproducible with non-Chromium based browsers installed as Flatpaks as well? I’m wondering if it is only specific to Chromium, or is it rather a flatpak-permissions related issue.
It looks like this issue is only on my computer, and the same goes for the Flatpak version of Firefox.
I’ve had a bit more luck, though – uploading an image works if I put the file in the root of my home folder. For example, ~/image.jpg works, but ~/Downloads/image.jpg doesn’t.
Another test: I can browse the Download Directory by opening file:/// in the browser and navigating to /var/home/$user/Downloads and also can open the Image successfully, so it’s not likely that this is a permission issue.
Another step forward: It only happens when I use ‘Favourite links’ on the left in the portal picker. If I open the root of my home folder and navigate to the desired folder, it works.
So something’s wrong with my “Favourites” on the left.
After doing a bit more digging, I found that all the entries in the bookmark file from Nautilus (stored in $HOME/.config/gtk-3.0/bookmarks) were in the old format for Fedora Workstation (/home/user/) instead of Atomic Desktops (/var/home/user/).
I replaced all the lines with the correct values, and now uploading files are working fine.
What kernel version are you on? If it’s 6.13.4 (the latest release), this causes a number of problems with Flatpaks, especially when picking and uploading files.
I am on 6.13.4-200.fc41.x86_64. Although I was able to fix the upload issue atleast by giving home directory permission to Firefox using Flatseal… Not sure if later once the kernel issue is fixed, do I still need to give the home directory permission?
I am having this same issue in Kinoite. It has something to do with images that updated after 2/24. The 2/26 image causes the system to lock up whenever I try to upload in the Google Chrome Flatpak.
It’s definitely something having to do with the 6.13 kernel.
For now I pinned the 2/24 deployment, and I’m hoping for a fix once the Cloudfront issue that is keeping me from getting image updates is fixed.
Instructions on how to pin a deployment in Atomic Fedora (Silverblue, Kinoite, etc.):
Not sure if later once the kernel issue is fixed, do I still need to give the home directory permission?
In my understanding, no. The directory permissions govern what the app can access without getting your specific one-off approval. When you choose a file in your file picker, you’re giving the app that one-off approval to that specific file, so it doesn’t additionally need the directory permission.
Dont use the flatpak, it is insecure. It has no filesystem sandboxing between tabs, because Firefox and flatpak dont work together here. Chromium-based flatpak browsers have a workaround.
To use the xdg-desktop-portal in firefox, enable it in about:config searching for “portal”. This allows to upload files without filesystem access
