Error starting zim in multi user environment

[Aniruddha]

I share a Zim notebook with two users on one pc with Fedora 19. When a user logs out and the other user logs in Zim can't start. Zim-deamon must be manually removed by root first.

$ zim
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/zim", line 74, in <module>
    zim.main(argv)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/zim/__init__.py", line 294, in main
    zim.ipc.handle_argv()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/zim/ipc.py", line 121, in handle_argv
    servermain()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/zim/ipc.py", line 314, in servermain
    err_stream = open(os.path.join(dir, "zim-deamon.log"), "w")
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/tmp/zim-deamon.log'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/zim", line 74, in <module>
    zim.main(argv)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/zim/__init__.py", line 443, in main
    start_server_if_not_running()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/zim/ipc.py", line 277, in start_server_if_not_running
    raise AssertionError, 'Failed to start server (spawning)'
AssertionError: Failed to start server (spawning)

[Aniruddha (mailing-list)]

This also happens when the ' Shared Notebook" option is enabled.

[Marek Nožka (marek-c)]

I have same problem. "Shared Notebook" option is NOT enabled.
First user run Zim. Zim create /tmp/zim-deamon.log file.
Second user can't run Zim:
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/tmp/zim-deamon.log'
Both instance of Zim requires access for same file.

[Jaap Karssenberg (jaap.karssenberg)]

The error is due to using the top-level tmp folder instead of a per-user tmp folder -- my bad.

To work around you can try setting the TMPDIR environment parameter to a user specific location.

[Christian Boltz (cboltz)]

Note that the fixed filename is not "just" annoying - it can probably be abused to damage user's files (hint: symlink attack).

Please always use a random filename (hint: use mktemp or python's tempfile module, which also create the tempfile in a secure way) for files in world-writeable directories like /tmp - or use a directory that is only writeable by the user (like somewhere in the homedir).

[Jaap Karssenberg (jaap.karssenberg)]

Will commit fix in rev708 in branch pyzim-refactor

@christian: zim puts all its tmp files in $TMP/zim-$USER and ensures that that folder is created with mode 700. More paranoid users should modify $TMP to point to a secure location.

[NiklasW (post-y)]

While waiting for rev708, how exactly do I fix this? I'm not a python programmer, just a user. Which file(s) do I open, and which line(s) do I edit, and how?

Greatly looking forward to resolving this, silly bug for an otherwise excellent software!

[Anand Vaidya (anand-vaidya)]

Hi NiklasW

for the time being, you can:

Open a terminal

mkdir /tmp/$USERNAME
export TMPDIR=/tmp/$USERNAME

zim

It should work now. (The upper 2 lines can be placed in login scripts too)

[NiklasW (post-y)]

Cheers Anand, it worked! :)
But must be used in same script or terminal that then runs zim, so it isn't "session-wide", but works for now.

[Jaap Karssenberg (jaap.karssenberg)]

Fixed in release 0.61