Add option to move the application from internal memory to sdcard

[ataliba]

Or we have an option for this on the app ?

Another possibility is move the files from git (repository) to sdcard.

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[TheLastGimbus]

I can try to do that. I'll PR if I succeed :)

[vHanda]

Hey Mateusz

I would love the help. Let me rough out approximately what needs to be done for it -

1. Currently the path is saved in the SharedPreferences from appstate.dart. That state will need to be changed and saved(). The next time the app starts, it will be use that path instead.
2. Some settings UI for the user to choose where to save it instead.
3. Someway for this change to affect the currently running app. Either by just restarting the app or some other mechanism.
4. Move the current git dir to that path.

(3) can be challenging, so maybe you want to tackle it last, and deal with the more straightforwards tasks first. And I can make (3) more of a priority for me, and if I haven't gotten it by the time you have the others done, then you can try to do it (if you want to).

Also, I would need you to assign the copyright to me. I'll figure out a simple way for you to do that. I am not sure if Apple allows or does not allow AGPL apps and therefore would like to error on the side of releasing it as a proprietary app in iOS's app store.

[TheLastGimbus]

I can't compile app out of the box :/

Compiler message:
lib/error_reporting.dart:12:8: Error: Error when reading 'lib/.env.dart': No such file or directory
import 'package:gitjournal/.env.dart';
       ^
lib/screens/purchase_screen.dart:5:8: Error: Error when reading 'lib/.env.dart': No such file or directory
import 'package:gitjournal/.env.dart';
       ^
lib/iap.dart:5:8: Error: Error when reading 'lib/.env.dart': No such file or directory
import 'package:gitjournal/.env.dart';
       ^
lib/error_reporting.dart:17:10: Error: Getter not found: 'environment'.
    dsn: environment['sentry'],
         ^^^^^^^^^^^
lib/screens/purchase_screen.dart:27:27: Error: The getter 'environment' isn't defined for the class '_PurchaseScreenState'.
 - '_PurchaseScreenState' is from 'package:gitjournal/screens/purchase_screen.dart' ('lib/screens/purchase_screen.dart').
Try correcting the name to the name of an existing getter, or defining a getter or field named 'environment'.
    await Purchases.setup(environment['revenueCat']);
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^
lib/iap.dart:16:27: Error: Getter not found: 'environment'.
    await Purchases.setup(environment['revenueCat']);
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^
Target kernel_snapshot failed: Exception: Errors during snapshot creation: null
build failed.

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* Where:
Script '/home/mateusz/dev/flutter/packages/flutter_tools/gradle/flutter.gradle' line: 780

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:compileFlutterBuildDevDebug'.
> Process 'command '/home/mateusz/dev/flutter/bin/flutter'' finished with non-zero exit value 1

* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. Run with --scan to get full insights.

* Get more help at https://help.gradle.org

BUILD FAILED in 20s
Finished with error: Gradle task assembleDebug failed with exit code 1

[vHanda]

I won't be able to provide a fix till tomorrow. Going to bed right now. If you want to fix it yourself, generate that missing file by looking at how the CI does it (since the CI, is green). What I can do tomorrow is try to add a way so that the file doesn't need to be generated.

…

On Mon, Apr 13, 2020, 1:51 AM Mateusz Soszyński ***@***.***> wrote: I can't compile app out of the box :/ Compiler message: lib/error_reporting.dart:12:8: Error: Error when reading 'lib/.env.dart': No such file or directory import 'package:gitjournal/.env.dart'; ^ lib/screens/purchase_screen.dart:5:8: Error: Error when reading 'lib/.env.dart': No such file or directory import 'package:gitjournal/.env.dart'; ^ lib/iap.dart:5:8: Error: Error when reading 'lib/.env.dart': No such file or directory import 'package:gitjournal/.env.dart'; ^ lib/error_reporting.dart:17:10: Error: Getter not found: 'environment'. dsn: environment['sentry'], ^^^^^^^^^^^ lib/screens/purchase_screen.dart:27:27: Error: The getter 'environment' isn't defined for the class '_PurchaseScreenState'. - '_PurchaseScreenState' is from 'package:gitjournal/screens/purchase_screen.dart' ('lib/screens/purchase_screen.dart'). Try correcting the name to the name of an existing getter, or defining a getter or field named 'environment'. await Purchases.setup(environment['revenueCat']); ^^^^^^^^^^^ lib/iap.dart:16:27: Error: Getter not found: 'environment'. await Purchases.setup(environment['revenueCat']); ^^^^^^^^^^^ Target kernel_snapshot failed: Exception: Errors during snapshot creation: null build failed. FAILURE: Build failed with an exception. * Where: Script '/home/mateusz/dev/flutter/packages/flutter_tools/gradle/flutter.gradle' line: 780 * What went wrong: Execution failed for task ':app:compileFlutterBuildDevDebug'. > Process 'command '/home/mateusz/dev/flutter/bin/flutter'' finished with non-zero exit value 1 * Try: Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. Run with --scan to get full insights. * Get more help at https://help.gradle.org BUILD FAILED in 20s Finished with error: Gradle task assembleDebug failed with exit code 1 — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#99 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AADIDY6MK5LPQF5BYFESPPTRMJHYZANCNFSM4MEIHHBA> .

[TheLastGimbus]

Okay, just needed to run
flutter/bin/cache/dart-sdk/bin/dart ./scripts/setup_env.dart
Didn't really touch CI before :P

[TheLastGimbus]

Okay, after some coding, I have some proposition:

1. Create new option in settings to select storage location: internal/external. May add more options in future - for example, external but app-specific "Android/data/app.com" that doesn't require storage.
   I see that this app is also on iPhone - i have no idea how to deal with storage on iPhone, never had one :/

2. Decide some high-level modifications, in for example NotesFolderFS - on how to read/write notes, select folder etc.
   Everything will be pretty hard to do cross platform with Android and iOS.
   And, you need to remember that Android 11 is coming - and Scoped Storage with it -_-

Honestly, your project is more complicated than I expected, and I'm just starting with Flutter. Gonna make PR that adds storage selection option, but I don't think I can do anything more for now - maybe with some more directions.

[vHanda]

This is a great start! GitJournal's code has gotten a bit messy. So don't be too hard on yourself. It's not easy jumping into a project.

1. About iPhone - I do have one I use for testing, but I have very limited knowledge about the storage capabilities over there. I'll do some research. This can always just be an Android only option as well.

2. I'm a bit confused why NotesFolderFS would need to be changed. I assumed that in both internal/external storage, it's just a standard file system. So it's just a matter of telling NotesFolderFS which folder to read, and - of course - making sure we have the permissions to read them.

I didn't know about the ScopedStorage in Android 11. I'll read up.

Thanks for the PR!

[ataliba]

Hey thanks for this change @TheLastGimbus :-)
And thanks @vHanda :-)

[TheLastGimbus]

both internal/external storage, it's just a standard file system

That's just about to change with Android 11. Scoped Storage will make it that you can't read/write outside of what user specified through a file picker. And it will provide some "documents" objects - not standard files :(
And I also had in mind that iOS can have something similar, that's why it would be nice to have some high-lever note interface - like NotesFolderFS - to easly change it later.

[itsfarseen]

@TheLastGimbus it is not possible to use the result of ACTION_OPEN_DIRECTORY_TREE directly from Flutter right? Because they return Uri's instead of paths?

[TheLastGimbus]

I didn't respond to this for long, but I don't really know

Although Google said that it listened to community, and offered a "file interfere" between "documents API" - meaning that you can get native file object from their cool shiny document object, and use that to read/write

[vHanda]

So, minor update -

• GitJournal's code base easily supports storing the repo in the directory of your choice.

• However with the underlying framework (Flutter), I haven't found a way to get the SD-Card's location. The Flutter team is aware of the bug - Add support for external storage(Sd Card, USB Storage etc) in flutter. flutter/flutter#40504 - but I don't see any progress being made.

• I've tried other packages - https://github.com/aakashkondhalkar/external_path - but they all only give me the internal storage path. (This is on the emulator)

• At this point I need to learn more about Android Internals and figure out why I can't get the sd card path. Any help would be appreciated.

[TheLastGimbus]

Can't you use native folder picker? It should allow user to select wherever they want...

[vHanda]

Honestly, I have no idea how to do that with Flutter. I spent some 20 minutes trying to fix this and I thought I should just write down my findings, for the next time I decide to investigate it. I'm sure it's not impossible.

…

On Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 17:39 Mateusz Soszyński ***@***.***> wrote: Can't you use native folder picker? It should allow user to select wherever they want... — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#99 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AADIDY47D4WT34XB6ZQ7OX3UTSDMRANCNFSM4MEIHHBA> . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub>. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[itsfarseen]

Since Android 10, apps can't request write access to a folder in SD Card.
Instead they will have to ask Storage Access Framework (SAF) to ask user for a directory.
SAF will show a folder picker and return a path. And our app will be able to do any read/write under that path.

Currently Flutter standard library doesn't provide a way to access SAF. And as far as I know, there are no 3rd party libraries that do either.

Here's a snippet of code that someone used to invoke SAF folder picker:
miguelpruivo/flutter_file_picker#721 (comment)

They use some kind of channel to pass data to Java/Kotlin part of the app, which has access to SAF.
The Java/Kotlin code invokes the SAF, gets result and pass it back to flutter.

The above issue is on flutter_file_picker library, which still doesn't support SAF.
I think it uses the standard library functions to list stuff in a folder that we already have access to.

Ignore any of the comments in that issue mentioning WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE. It is a no-op since Android 10.

[vHanda]

@itsfarseen : Thank you for all the info.

Minor correction - This is from Android 11, not 10, right?

GitJournal currently uses libgit2 (c code) to perform git operations and doing this via the SAF would be challenging, and it's not something I'm willing to invest the time

I requested the new "manage external storage" permission in Oct, Google denied it, and also kept blocking updates in Gitjournal for 2 months after that for "mysterious" reasons.

I'm planning on improving the settings screen in Android, and tell the user what can and cannot be done. Additionally, all future builds via FDroid will have the extra permission which will allow Gitjournal users to store the git repo wherever they want.

In parallel, I'm also planning on adding "compatibility with other apps" as a core feature and advertise it everywhere, AND monitor the files for changes. With both these changes, maybe Google will grant me the "MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" permission, as monitoring files for changes isn't something technically possible via the SAF. (I could be mistaken).

[itsfarseen]

Minor correction - This is from Android 11, not 10, right?

Yes. My bad :)

GitJournal currently uses libgit2 (c code) to perform git operations and doing this via the SAF would be challenging.

I have no idea whether this would work, but I would try throwing whatever path that SAF returns, to the C code and see if it works. It might work because after all it's a path that SAF returns. If its readable by dart code, it should be readable by the C code as well. Not sure though.

Additionally, all future builds via FDroid will have the extra permission which will allow Gitjournal users to store the git repo wherever they want.

This is a very good option. Just show it somewhere in the Play Store build, something like "Get the app via FDroid to let you store stuff in arbitrary folders".

This makes sense, because the reason Google limiting MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission is because it's difficult for them to verify that the app doesn't do malicious stuff like ftp all the user's private files to a remote server.
Since we are open source, and FDroid guarantees that an APK corresponds to a particular source version, we can be sure that the APK doesn't do such stuff by simply reading the code.

as monitoring files for changes isn't something technically possible via the SAF

Yeah I think so too.

maybe Google will grant me the "MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" permission

I'm not very hopeful about this though.

[TheLastGimbus]

Guys, guys

Google made a big poo poo, but TL;DR:

• on Android <= 10 - use android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" flag, and use native file paths
• on Android >= 11, you need to use SAF, but it can give you access to native path. It will fully work with all C++-etc libraries 🌈 You can watch this talk, aspecially 15:02: https://youtu.be/UnJ3amzJM94?t=902

There probably already should be some SAF plugin somewhere... yes, you need to access it with Java (plugin), but once you get stuff from the user, you can get normal /storage/emulated/0/something path and be happy 👍

[lucidBrot]

Not sure if I will get anywhere with this, but as a potentially useful fyi, I seem to successfully get persistable permission for a user-selected folder in shared storage (i.e. external sd card, non app-specific folder, not one of the public media folders like "Pictures".) using https://github.com/alexrintt/shared-storage/ .. though it should be noted that they clearly state it is incomplete, in beta, and will get heavy api changes.

Link to my very hacky not-yet-cleaned-up fork if you'd like to get inspiration.

I'm hoping to fully fix this up and PR, but I've already spent a few days on this and am still stuck at getting a usable filesystem path out of the content-URI. If I don't progress for too long, I might give up and revert to my current setup which is definitely not useful for everyone (I just use the app-specific directory and access it from other apps using root access.)
Also, I haven't managed yet to create any files in subfolders... they just appear in the original tree's root.

[lucidBrot]

i am rapidly losing faith in the possibility of writing a file on secondary shared storage... It seems to me that direct paths only work on media files (source)