Linux Flatpak: Accessing files outside home folder

[QuesterLEJ]

Hello everyone,,

I realize this question has more to do with my operating system than with SCUMMVM itself, but...

I'm a "high beginner level" Linux user making the switch from Windows. I know my way around but come up short on some of the finer points. I'm running Pop OS 21.04 (Debian/Ubuntu-based), with the Flatpak version of 2.5 installed.

It appears to be a safety measure of the Flatpak standard, but SCUMMVM's file browser won't let me access anything outside of my home folder, including a directory inside it which I use as a mount point for a secondary hard drive on which I store my games. Aside from installing the regular .deb version instead of the Flatpak, is there a way I can coax my current installation into letting me add games on my secondary drive? Space is at a premium on my boot drive and I don't want to have to copy games to that directory, but I'd still like to use the Flatpak if at all possible.

Thanks,
Luke

[QuesterLEJ]

Some Googling seems to have shown me the way to do it but I can't get ScummVM to "see" the appropriate path.

My secondary drive is mounted at the directory /HDD/ under my home folder /luke/. Therefore, I should be able to enter:

sudo flatpak override org.scummvm.ScummVM --filesystem=/home/luke/HDD/

I enter my password and the terminal accepts the command, but nothing happens. The only directory ScummVM lets me see in my home folder is the Documents directory, and I don't want to put my games there.

Any guidance or ideas appreciated.

[Praetorian]

Some Googling seems to have shown me the way to do it but I can't get ScummVM to "see" the appropriate path.

My secondary drive is mounted at the directory /HDD/ under my home folder /luke/. Therefore, I should be able to enter:

sudo flatpak override org.scummvm.ScummVM --filesystem=/home/luke/HDD/

I enter my password and the terminal accepts the command, but nothing happens. The only directory ScummVM lets me see in my home folder is the Documents directory, and I don't want to put my games there.

Any guidance or ideas appreciated.

Going by this Google result here:
https://davejansen.com/give-full-filesy ... lications/

I'd first try the more permissive option for "host"

Code: Select all

sudo flatpak override org.scummvm.ScummVM --filesystem=host

I'm not much familiar with flatpak though. Maybe your path has some case sensitive character error, or does not need the slash "/" at the end? Or maybe it's a symbolic link and does not work?


For the record, the Snap ScummVM package is also is restrictive by default, but you can set the permissions to browse mounting info and have read/write access to other drives via the GUI for the "Software Center" application (or whatever they call it now).

[QuesterLEJ]

Thanks for the advice.

I may try what you suggested at some point, but for now, to make things easier on myself, I just downloaded the regular .deb package from the website. It allows unrestricted access to the whole filesystem, so I've been able to configure my games quickly and with no problems.

I prefer flatpak in general, but results and ease of use matter more to me for the moment. I'll report back here once I get it working.

[corpse]

Hi QuesterLEJ,

I suggest taking a look at flatseal:

https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.gi ... 4.Flatseal

I've found this to be easiest way to manage flatpak's access to the rest of my install.

Thanks Tom.

[QuesterLEJ]

Thanks! Flatseal does the job perfectly.