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> However, the new “more secure” Universal Windows Platform (UWP) sandboxes the file picker in a separate process, allowing neat features like capability-based

by cesarb 4y ago

> However, the new “more secure” Universal Windows Platform (UWP) sandboxes the file picker in a separate process, allowing neat features like capability-based access control. It returns a file handle which, if the selected file exists, will not overwrite the existing content! That got me a bit worried, since desktop Linux is going somewhat in the same direction with sandboxed applications. So I did a quick search for the file chooser portal API, and if I understood what I found correctly (https://flatpak.github.io/xdg-desktop-portal/#gdbus-org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser https://flatpak.github.io/xdg-desktop-portal/#gdbus-org.free... and https://flatpak.github.io/xdg-desktop-portal/#gdbus-org.freedesktop.portal.Documents https://flatpak.github.io/xdg-desktop-portal/#gdbus-org.free...), it does not return an already opened file handle; instead, the file is made available in a FUSE mountpoint within the sandbox (/run/user/$UID/doc/), and the call returns a URI pointing to that file. So, if I understood it correctly, developers can keep using the same traditional POSIX APIs they're already used to, with the same semantics they always had outside the sandbox.

kirbyfan64sos 4y ago
Indeed, and the document portal seems to have built-in support for atomic writes by first writing to a temporary file and then renaming it (https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/blob/main/document-portal/document-portal-fuse.c#L2636 https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/blob/main/docu...), so it should be possible to avoid this scenario altogether.
asveikau 4y ago
Basically what Microsoft has been doing since Windows 8 in 2012 is the equivalent of deprecating open(2). The people writing the new APIs have no idea how to design them, they think something like having a flag to overwrite the existing file is useless, confusing, legacy cruft. I doubt people working in the Linux space would be so brazen.
- bacchusracine 4y ago
  >I doubt people working in the Linux space would be so brazen. Have you heard about this little project called Gnome yet?
  - asveikau 4y ago
    I haven't used gnome on my own machines since the late 90s, or on machines that aren't mine since the mid 2000s, so I dunno. I really doubt they'd try to literally destroy open(2). Sandboxing is different from this.
hawski 4y ago
Would receiving an fd via Unix socket be better or worse idea? Then the returned path could be /dev/fd/XXX
- zokier 4y ago
  Conceptually fd would be more elegant and better overall, but passing a path is probably easier to interoperate with all the libraries etc that are out there
nwah1 4y ago
UWP is deprecated. WinUI version 3 is now recommended. At least with the .NET API, file saving now works like a normal Win32 app from a programmer's perspective. Not sure if it is different under the hood.
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  >UWP is deprecated. Win32: "Once more, yet another challenger falls before me. Who's next?"
  - Arrath 4y ago
    Sounds like a ripe opportunity to do a parody cover of Tenacious D's The Metal.
  - meepmorp 4y ago
    Win32 evolved fill a certain ecological niche millions of years ago, and it's only going away if that niche does or if something manages to fill it better.
    - hulitu 4y ago
      Have you seen the "save screen" in win 10 ? It makes insects look beautiful in comparison.
- therein 4y ago
  > UWP is deprecated That new shiny thing that Microsoft always pushed on me back when I was using .NET Framework 2.0 with C# is now deprecated before I gave it a try.

by cesarb 4y ago

kirbyfan64sos 4y ago

Indeed, and the document portal seems to have built-in support for atomic writes by first writing to a temporary file and then renaming it (https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/blob/main/document-portal/document-portal-fuse.c#L2636 https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/blob/main/docu...), so it should be possible to avoid this scenario altogether.

asveikau 4y ago

Basically what Microsoft has been doing since Windows 8 in 2012 is the equivalent of deprecating open(2). The people writing the new APIs have no idea how to design them, they think something like having a flag to overwrite the existing file is useless, confusing, legacy cruft. I doubt people working in the Linux space would be so brazen.

bacchusracine 4y ago
>I doubt people working in the Linux space would be so brazen. Have you heard about this little project called Gnome yet?
- asveikau 4y ago
  I haven't used gnome on my own machines since the late 90s, or on machines that aren't mine since the mid 2000s, so I dunno. I really doubt they'd try to literally destroy open(2). Sandboxing is different from this.

hawski 4y ago

Would receiving an fd via Unix socket be better or worse idea? Then the returned path could be /dev/fd/XXX

zokier 4y ago
Conceptually fd would be more elegant and better overall, but passing a path is probably easier to interoperate with all the libraries etc that are out there

nwah1 4y ago

UWP is deprecated. WinUI version 3 is now recommended. At least with the .NET API, file saving now works like a normal Win32 app from a programmer's perspective. Not sure if it is different under the hood.

Dalewyn 4y ago
>UWP is deprecated. Win32: "Once more, yet another challenger falls before me. Who's next?"
- Arrath 4y ago
  Sounds like a ripe opportunity to do a parody cover of Tenacious D's The Metal.
- meepmorp 4y ago
  Win32 evolved fill a certain ecological niche millions of years ago, and it's only going away if that niche does or if something manages to fill it better.
  - hulitu 4y ago
    Have you seen the "save screen" in win 10 ? It makes insects look beautiful in comparison.
therein 4y ago
> UWP is deprecated That new shiny thing that Microsoft always pushed on me back when I was using .NET Framework 2.0 with C# is now deprecated before I gave it a try.