Zotero can no longer access my folders

delius
Report ID: 363552491

I am using a symlink to forward ~/zotero/storage. This worked fine until today. Now I get "broken symlink" errors in the error log, even though the symlink works fine outside zotero.

I then tried to change the data directory via the zotero preferences. There I can browse for a folder to choose as my data directory, but surprisingly only a small number of the folders in my home directory are displayed.
  • dstillman
    [JavaScript Error: "Broken symlink at /home/[…]/Zotero/storage" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/file.js" line: 1003}]
    If you're getting this, the symlink is failing a file existence check. Generally that means it's a broken symlink, but that's really all we can tell you. We can't safely proceed within Zotero if exists() on the file returns false.

    Nothing in Zotero would've changed about this anytime recently, so this would have to be some sort of change on your system.
  • delius
    @dstillman, thank you for your prompt reply. Is there a way to find out for which file the existence check is failing?
  • delius
    @dstilman, a second question: Do you have an idea of why the window that zotero pops up when I choose a data directory does not show all my directories but only a small selection?
  • dstillman
    edited November 26, 2020
    Is there a way to find out for which file the existence check is failing?
    It's the 'storage' folder specifically.
    Do you have an idea of why the window that zotero pops up when I choose a data directory does not show all my directories but only a small selection?
    Are you running Zotero in a Snap package or something else that's sandboxed? That would probably also explain the symlink issue.
  • delius
    @dstillman , that reply was exceedingly helpful. Many thanks. I had indeed installed Zotero via the Software manager in Linux Mint which uses Flatpak. That had worked for a while, but that installation updates itself from time to time, and the latest update has apparently led to more extreme sandboxing. I have fixed it with a flatpak override.
  • felipehw
    Hi @delius.

    This as a request by users that seams reasonable: https://github.com/flathub/org.zotero.Zotero/issues/65

    If you have some doubt or request ... give a peek to https://github.com/flathub/org.zotero.Zotero/.

    It is an unofficial package ... but I would prefer that official Zotero developers mantain that package :(. By now ... we're maintaining it.
  • delius
    Hi @felipehw . Thank you for the additional information. It is great to be able to see on GitHub how this change arose. And thank you very much for your work on maintaining that flatpack package for zotero. What a great community spirit!
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