How to remove some permissions from an app?

General
1

I have an app with WAY too many permissions.
How can I remove some of them?
Now that I think about it, I might have read somewhere on the forums that it is all-or-nothing when it comes to permissions on Sailfish OS.
If so, how can I remove all the permissions from the app without uninstalling the app?

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2

they probably did not add permissions section and use the fallback strategy of giving it ALL of the permissions

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3

Check the desktop file of your app in /usr/share/applications/.

Example from my phone for for an app (e.g. Fotokopierer):
At the end in the [X-Sailjail] section there are the permissions defined.

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
X-Nemo-Application-Type=silica-qt5
Icon=harbour-fotokopierer
Exec=harbour-fotokopierer
Name=Fotokopierer
# translation example:
# your app name in German locale (de)
#
# Remember to comment out the following line, if you do not want to use
# a different app name in German locale (de).
#Name[de]=fotokopierer

X-Desktop-File-Install-Version=0.23

[X-Sailjail]
Permissions=Camera;Documents;MediaIndexing;Pictures
OrganizationName=harbour-fotokopierer
ApplicationName=harbour-fotokopierer

If the [X-Sailjail] section isn’t present for your app, then the app gets all permissions.

2 Likes
4

@Mister_Magister is correct.
Please search before posting - this has been asked many times before.

5

This doesn’t even make sense. All permissions or no permissions?

6

and if the [X-Sailjail] section IS present for an app, then the app gets the permissions that are given there. See example above.

7

I’m pretty sure it gets default permissions in that case: user dirs, mostly.

Getting all permissions essentially means unjailing, and that has to be specified explicitely.

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8

The “default”, and “all defined” are basically the same thing - so quite a bit more than user dirs. However, that is still quite a bit more restricted than unjailed, though not in a way that should matter to 90+% of apps.

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9

Ok, but does Sailfish OS not give the user the possibility to individually deny permissions for an app?

10

Thanks for the gory details, but I’m interested in how a regular user would take permissions away from an app.
Is there a way to do that?

12

nope.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,..,..,

13

He’s always like that.

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14

Goddammit…
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

15

You can edit it by downloading the File Browser Root app from openrepos.net, go to the directory mentioned by seven.of.nine and add the permissions [X-sailjail], and the other permissions will be removed. I just did it with the QuasarMx app, which also had all the permissions, but it was easier for me to copy the permissions from Jolla Media Player and then edit the names, and it turned out very well.

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16

So you are suggesting I should install random apps from random places on the internet to hack the guts of the app using random information from random people on the internet in order to do something basic that the Sailfish OS user interface should allow me to do in the first place?
That’s not user friendly at all.

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17

If you would have read the other threads and not started a new one, you could see that there have been no apps actively asking for too many permissions. Taking away random permissions and thereby breaking apps is for the shitshow that is Android. Here it is instead reasonable to expect developers behave, and to call them out if they don’t.

For SFOS it will only be old unmaintained apps that passively get default permissions. So then go maintain them if this bothers you. Often it will take a little bit more than just adding a sailjail section.

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19

If you want the mess that is Android, then just go there and don’t bother us with this crap.
Jolla has plenty of bigger fish to fry than introducing comfort controls for people that got too used to Android.

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21

Ah, i see you ran out of actual arguments. I hope the personal attack gets you banned. That would be fun.

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22

Personal attacks against the very people who took the time to answer in details to the question asked.

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23

Honestly the forum shall have a FAQ not just technical and code of conduct one as we have now, but one that gathers the frequently asked questions.