cannot open file after download into /tmp

[Andrew D S Jones]

Binary package hint: firefox-3.0

I get this error when clicking on a hyperlink from a web page. Whan I click the link gDb Install manager starts as expected but when click "Open" the message below results. I am using ubuntu 8.04 LTS (hardy heron).

/tmp/conceal_0.0.5-0ubuntu1_all.deb could not be saved, because you cannot change the contents of that folder.

Change the folder properties and try again, or try saving in a different location.

The prevous version of Firefox worked wihout problems
regards Andrew

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sat Jul 5 17:57:23 2008
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
Package: firefox-3.0 3.0+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox-3.0
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-19-generic i686

[Thomas Kluyver (takluyver)]

It sounds like you do not have write access to the /tmp directory, for some reason...

Does this still happen after a reboot? If so, can you go to a command line, then do: "cd /" (change to the root directory), "ls -ltrh" (make a detailed list of what's in that directory), and post the result here as an attachment?

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Are there any other users on the system? If another user already has that file name under /tmp, then you'd probably get a similar error due to the sticky bit on /tmp.

Or have you set up Apparmor for Firefox by any chance? I couldn't think of any other reason why you'd get the error. If you had no write permissions on /tmp, you wouldn't even be able to log in

[Andrew D S Jones (adsjones)]

I have full access to the /tmp directory.
No other users on the system

My solution was to uninstall Firefox 3 and install Firefox 2
My Problem resolved

Computers are like air-conditioners ...
They don't work properly when you open windows :)

thanks Andrew

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Andrew D S Jones wrote:
> I have full access to the /tmp directory. No other users on the
> system
>
> My solution was to uninstall Firefox 3 and install Firefox 2 My
> Problem resolved
>
> Computers are like air-conditioners ... They don't work properly
> when you open windows :)
>
> thanks Andrew
>
This sounds liek a change in firefox can someone please look upstream
to see if there is a bug on it or please report a bug on this issue
upstream.
The upstream tracker is https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/query.cgi

- --
Sincerely Yours,
    John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246
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[Thomas Kluyver (takluyver)]

>My solution was to uninstall Firefox 3 and install Firefox 2

That's not really a solution, though.

I've done a few searches on bugzilla, and I can't see anything that looks
the same. Running some google searches shows that this has been seen on
Ubuntu before, but there seemed to be no clear conclusion:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=827430

Could the file have been already in the /tmp directory, perhaps having been
downloaded with firefox run as root?

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Thomas K - After looking at your link, I seem to recall seeing this issue once before when trying to download a PDF. I can't reproduce it though, but I found this link, which suggests deleting download history using Tools -> Clear Private Data when you experience problems downloading files:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_save_or_download_files

And already having an existing file with the same but owned by a different user in /tmp doesn't stop Firefox from downloading a file. I just tried it, and it just appends a '-1' on the end of the filename.

[Anton Gyllenberg (antong)]

I have got this a couple of times with PDF files. The file is downloaded, it can be found intact in the tmp directory, but it will not open with the default Document viewer. IIRC, explicitly selecting a viewer (/usr/bin/xpdf of /usr/bin/evince) opened the document fine.

Right now I cannot reproduce the problem exactly, but can get similar results:
1. Create a new firefox profile for testing and use that.
2. Browse to a pdf document that is served using an unknown, wrong content-type, e.g., 'application/x-foobar'.
3. Select "Open with Document Viewer (default)
-> Gives error message "/tmp/test.pdf could not be opened, because the associated helper application does not exist. Change the association in your preferences."
4. Doubleclick (or select retry) for the entry in the download manager
-> Gives the error message: "/tmp/test.pdf could not be saved, because you cannot change the contents of that folder."

FF3 is giving the wrong error message here. Probably the same applies to the original problem. There is of course nothing that ties this to some specific file type like pdfs or debs.

I am attaching a simple python script to easily serve files in the current directory using whatever content-type. Use it like:
MIMETYPE=application/x-foobar python mthttpserver.py
and then browse to http://localhost:8000/

On a side note, why does FF3 offer the default viewer when it knows there is no associated helper?

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

We were wondering if this is still an issue for you. Can you try with the latest firefox version? Thanks in advance.

[dirk (dirk-kuijsten)]

This bug still occurs for Firefox 3.5, so I expect this to be the same for 3.0.
I get the exact same errors as Anton reported (nr. 3 and 4).

[inversus (inversus)]

I also have this bug. No only with pdf, but also with compressed files.

I'm using Ubuntu Karmic Koala and this is the Output (translated from the Portuguese version):

"/tmp/PyRL.zip couldn't be saved because you don't have permission change the contents of the folder.
Change the folder's properties or try to save it in another location"

But when I searched the folder, the file was there. I opened and it was fine. The problem is when firefox save files to "/tmp/" I can't open them directly from Firefox.

[Thomas Kluyver (takluyver)]

Is the relevant PyRL.zip file the one from here?
http://sites.google.com/site/pyrlfiles/

I've just tried opening that file directly from Firefox, and I don't have the issue (Firefox 3.5, Kubuntu Karmic opening it in Ark).

[Anton Gyllenberg (antong)]

The recipe in my comment #8 still reproduces the issue in Lucid (10.04 LTS) firefox version 3.6.6.

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

Definitely enough people to confirm this bug. However, I think there's a duplicate triaged bug in one of the 3 firefox source packages (firefox, firefox-3.0, firefox-3.5). If someone could find it, I believe this might actually be fixed in Firefox 4.0.

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

This was solved ages ago.