Android environment programs cannot create any files on external storage (SD Card)

Bug Reports
#1

REPRODUCIBILITY: Always
OS VERSION: 4.5.0.18 (with Android App Support 11)
HARDWARE: X10 II
UI LANGUAGE: English
REGRESSION: Yes

DESCRIPTION:

After debugging for several hours why AntennaPod stopped being able to download any feed updates after the SFOS 4.5 / Android 11 update (also see their issue tracker), I realized that the underlying issue appears to be that all programs inside the Android LXC container (not just apps) are unable to create regular files on external storage – this issue only affects the regular file inode type and only if the files are newly created (opening existing files for writing is file, as is creating directories and named pipes at least).

PRECONDITIONS:

SailfishOS with up-to-date Android App Support on a device with an inserted microSD card.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

While it also affects Android apps the Android environment as a whole is affected, so these steps use the terminal:

  1. Make sure Android App support is installed and running
  2. Open terminal app
  3. Run devel-su appsupport-attach to enter the Android environment as root
  4. Use ls /storage to find the mount directory of the inserted microSD card
  5. Try to create a file there: touch /storage/<UUID>/somefile.txt

EXPECTED RESULT:

A file is created on the filesystem of the inserted microSD card.

ACTUAL RESULT:

The touch command (and any other system API for that matte) reports a misleading error message:

touch: ‘/storage/<UUID>/somefile.txt’: No such file or directory

MODIFICATIONS:

Some stuff, but none that affect the Android environment.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Note that doing the exact same thing on internal storage works just file:

touch /storage/emulated/0/somefile.txt

Also creating a directory works without issue:

mkdir /storage/<UUID>/somedir

9/10 it’s some dumb bug in the fuse driver providing the overlay for that mountpoint:

/dev/fuse on /storage/<UUID> type fuse (rw,lazytime,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)

5 Likes
Problem with OpenCamera
Android application (Mapy.cz) refuses to use SD card, reports memory card has 0 B and is full
Community meeting on IRC 27th April 2023
#2

Thanks a lot for writing this bug !!!
It explains (i think and i’m not a dev, just an user) why it is impossible to use OsmAnd and Magic Earth with files on the µSD card.

#3

Oooh, great timing. Is this why I discovered today Google Photos is unable to save any edited photos? :thinking:

#4

In hindsight I also remembered that OsmAnd~ complained about requiring a storage migration on every start, but otherwise appeared to work fine. In the context of this issue that would make total sense though, since it can still read all the existing map data but creating a test file to check if the storage is writable (I don’t if it actually does that, but it would be the most obvious way to test if the storage is indeed writable or not) would fail – albeit with the wrong error code (ENOENT instead of EROFS).

#5

Is this why some Android apps may not be configured to use the sd card as memory for maps or music (Here Wgo, Spotify) or fail to store new maps on sd card (Komoot)? If that is true, all these storage related issues in Android apps could be solved by one (hopefully not too complex) bugfix.
Any response from Jolla on this?

#6

Ok, before we all get too carried away by my wonderful bug report, could some of you perhaps reproduce this specific issue using the Steps to reproduce I’ve posted?

I just want to make sure we’re all talking about the same issue here. And yes, it could potentially explain all the other issues people have mentioned so far – if we’re all indeed affected by this issue and if that’s the only Android external storage related bug at play here. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
#7

I can confirm that while it is possible to create directories, it’s not possible to create files in the storage directory that represents the sd card within Andoid app support.
This is in line with the behaviour of Android apps I tested. All those apps fail to store files, such as maps or music, on the external sd card, but at least some of them are able to create directories. This is in contrast to former Sailfish OS versions where Android apps were able to store files on sd card.

#8

I can also confirm that. Are you still able to backup to your sd card?

#9

Is there any reaction from Jolla on this topic? Any internal bug filed, or at least some sign it is tracked at all?

#10

Hi everyone,

I also can confirm this behavior with ghost commander and here maps (herewego).

With ‘regular’ files you can do two steps. I.e. copy files from nas via ghost commander to android storage. Afterwards use sfos file manager to copy files from android storage to sd card. Pretty annoying but working out.

With map files (like here, osmand or magoc earth) as mentionend by @mips_tux and @ziellos you hardly can call it work around :wink:

I’d too really appreciate jolla presenting solution.

Thanks in advance!

#11

I was able to reproduce this on 4.5.0. However, I was not able to reproduce on our current development version. This leads me to believe that this has been fixed, even though I’m not able to find a corresponding bug in our internal tracker.

1 Like
[10 III] [App Support] App Support fails to start
#12

This is just to confirm that the issue is still present after updating to 4.6.0.11 Sauna. Android apps are able to see sd card storage, but are unable to create contents on sd card. Tested with Komoot (offline map storage) and Spotify (offline music storage).

#13

@ziellos: It had been fixed in Android 11 AppSupport for SailfishOS 4.5. If it’s broken again it’s a regression.

#14

On 4.6.0.13 while I am able to create files with the Steps to reproduce, two of my Android apps can’t create files on the SD card

  • DIE ZEIT E-Paper App (de.zeit.diezeit.epaper.android)

  • Schwäbische E-Paper App (de.schwaebische.epaper)

For both apps it is the same behavior: When switching from internal storage to SD, all files already downloaded are moved to SD, but when downloading new files directly to SD, only directories are created.

I forgot to mention: I switched from Xperia XA2 to Xperia 10 III, while Sailfish OS 4.5 was the actual version. The same versions of Sailfish and Android apps, that worked on the XA2, had that strange behaviour from the beginning in the 10 III.

#15

do you think this is the same bug?

Is there maybe any workaround?

#16

You can try my steps to reproduce: They aren’t broken again, so it isn’t the same bug, but a different one unfortunately.

#17

While the bug is said to be fixed, and the steps to reproduce do indeed work, the title of the thread is still true. I have found not a single Android app that is able to create a regular file on SD card.
Yes, I am able to create files using appsupport-attach (no wonder, I am root in this case). But no, Android apps cannot.
Can anyone download his Spotify music library to SD card? Can anyone store Komoot or Here Wego maps on SD card?

#18

I can download tracks from Spotify to sdcard. Just tested by changing Spotify’s storage location to sdcard (in Spotify’s settings), restarted the app and downloaded some tracks. Then I closed Spotify, turned off mobile data and wifi, restarted Spotify and played the downloaded tracks just fine. I’m running Sailfish OS 4.6.0.15 on Sony Xperia XA2.

#19

And you are really sure that SD card storage (as selected in Spotify) is your real SD card? In my case there are two SD cards shown in Spotify, but one of them is internal memory. You can identify them by used / free space.
If that generally works, I have to dig deeper into filesystem privileges and mount options, I guess.

#20

I too have two sdcards shown in the Spotify settings and I’m 100% sure that the selected one is the actual sdcard.