Firefox saves files opened via an external viewer as editable in /tmp

[zeitkunst]

Binary package hint: firefox

This occurs in an up-to-date release of Ubuntu 8.04.1.

Firefox saves opened files as editable in /tmp, meaning that any edits to the file are lost on reboot.

To reproduce:

1. Open a file (such as *.doc or *.odt) from a link in Firefox, launching an external viewer.
2. Make some edits to the file.
3. Save the file.
4. Logout and reboot.
5. Find that your file is not there anymore because /tmp was erased.

_This is data loss, pure and simple._

The desired behavior should be one or more of the following:

 * Files opened via an external viewer should still be saved in the "downloads folder" (wherever the user has set it)
 * Files opened via an external viewer should be saved in /tmp with read-only bits set, so that the user has to rename/move the file when saving.

Firefox should not allow the user to open and edit a file in a location that is known to be erased. Any behavior like this is reckless with the user's data. The user should not be assumed to know that /tmp is erased on reboot, nor be assumed to know that opened files get saved somewhere different than saved files; if Ubuntu were Slackware or Gentoo, then perhaps. But Ubuntu prides itself on user-friendliness, and I have to say that this bug has caused myself and others much data loss on a number of occasions. I cannot in good conscience recommend Ubuntu to others if bugs like this--that cause data loss, remember--are allowed to exist.

[Felipe Figueiredo (philsf)]

WORKSFORME. All files opened from my firefox 3.0.5, in an up to date Ubuntu 8.04.1 are read-only in /tmp, and has always been this way, AFAICT.

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

 Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue for you. Can you try with the latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

[zeitkunst (zeitkunst)]

Martin Mai wrote:
> Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make
> Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been
> any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue
> for you. Can you try with the latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.
>
>
As far as I can tell, the files are not set as editable anymore, so I
would say it's been fixed.

nick

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you. Therefore closing the bug.