Bug 147277 - Warning about saving to /tmp
Summary: Warning about saving to /tmp
Status: RESOLVED NOTOURBUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.2.5.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug...
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2022-02-08 06:12 UTC by john
Modified: 2024-01-28 03:26 UTC (History)
0 users

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Description john 2022-02-08 06:12:09 UTC
Description:
When opening files sent by email (thunderbird), LibreOffice silently allows saving of changes in /tmp. This is dangerous, as one can think that a file has been safely saved, but then it can be automatically deleted later when /tmp is cleaned out.

Instead, when saving changes to a file in /tmp, LibreOffice should place a warning banner at the top of the document, or perhaps show users a dialog box that forces them to acknowledge that the file is not being saved in a 'safe' location.

My experience is with Linux, but perhaps it is similar on Windows also. This was with Thunderbird 91.5.0 on Ubuntu 18.04, and LO 7.2.5.2.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. open email in Thunderbird
2. click to open .docx attachment (in my case)
3. type something into the doc, then type ctrl-S to save

Actual Results:
No warning. File is silently saved (after confirming Microsoft file format in my case).

Expected Results:
I would expect some visual alert to mention that I am saving my file in a temporary folder, which is likely to be periodically emptied. Changes by end users should normally be savings in a non-temp folder.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
This new warning should have a configuration setting to allow it to be disabled, for users who have some clear need to save files in /tmp. Alternately, the warning could be disabled on a per-file basis via a command-line switch when first opening the file in question...?
Comment 1 Mike Kaganski 2022-02-08 06:46:55 UTC
That is a problem with Thunderbird. It is reported that lately they broke something, and started to not set read-only bit on their temporary files; and thus it is possible to open them in editors, and save back without problems (bug 146642). That should not be fixed on LibreOffice side - it should not try to outsmart users by nag warnings.
Comment 2 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2022-12-08 14:08:54 UTC
No repro with Ubuntu 20.04, Thunderbird 102.4.2 and:

Version: 7.2.7.2 / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 8d71d29d553c0f7dcbfa38fbfda25ee34cce99a2
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

Version: 7.4.3.2 / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 1048a8393ae2eeec98dff31b5c133c5f1d08b890
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: de-DE (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

or

Version: 7.5.0.0.alpha1+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: ad085990b8073a122ac5222e5220f8f1d6826dcf
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

I get the "read only" banner, confirm I want to edit, change the document and when saving, it prompts me to chose a location (by default the Documents directory).

John, could you please confirm with a recent version of Thunderbird?
But as Mike said, looks like it is (was) an issue on Thunderbird's side.

Cheers