Using Ubuntu 22.04, I installed firefox from the mozillateam ppa (current installed version is 118.0.1). I have data stored on /dev/sda1, mounted as /data, and Ubuntu 22.04 installed on /dev/nvme0n1p2. The data on sda1 is accessed via symlinks. When I use Firefox to save to, or read from, a directory symlinked from /dev/sda1, I get these errors:
- saving:
The file could not be saved because you do not have the proper permissions. Choose another save directory. - reading:
The following files couldn't be attached: foo.zip. Please try again later.
I have not found any other application (including Chrome and Edge) that has this limitation. I'm trying to figure out if there is a security setting in firefox responsible for this or if there is something in my configuration to take a look at.
Firefox works fine with directories symlinked within the install partition.
Update: Responding to @vanadium I confirmed that the deb version of Firefox is running --- System monitor shows the process is /usr/lib/firefox/firefox. However I notice that Security Context is firefox (enforce). For both Emacs and Chrome, Security Context is unconfined. I'm guessing this is the issue? If so, exactly what does this mean and how can it be changed?
The issue was apparmor. I've never used apparmor before, but I have to assume that the mozillateam ppa package creates a security profile for firefox. I can't imagine how else it got there. This caused my problem. I solved it with
Thank you chatGPT :-) This apparently logs "errors" rather than enforcing the security controls.
For anyone else having this problem, you need to install
apparmor-utilsin order to obtainaa-complain.