CC V5.1.0 production release

[crane3]

Finally got the 5.1.05. Today's Google check showed the CC 5.x & an update button which I did. My luck, as such, a notification informed me that an update was available while I was downloading 5.1.05; anyway, installed on the Samsung. Also think that the release update sequence done by Google is based on the company's name as my Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 got the update 1st, then Nexus 7 (Google or Asus) then the LG G Pad; & now the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4.

The CC lib move took a bit less than 25 min for the epub which may have 500 books; no idea how many PDFs I had but it didn't take too long (didn't check as was surfing). The move was from the default external SD card folder to a high-level (root level) folder; the SD card is a 32 gb class 10 card. Using OS is the CM 13 20160325 nightly.

Will be checking on how fast the "send to device" will be for the LG's 128 gb SD for new added books; that load was strange since it took much longer than when I first installed CC.

[crane3]

Problem with the Samsung in CM 13 Marshmallow. Evidently the directory got created as root ownership & without write permissions for the "group" (me). After setting the developer's option for root to allow apps to have root access, I used Total Commander to change apply write to group; "successful" message BUT the change didn't get applied; tried a few times; rebooting, shutdown, nothing worked.

The LG G Pad 2 with lollipop had write permissions for the directory for the group! Don't know why Marshmallow won't do the same; had read some problem with marshmallow & permissions on the external SD & will try to find the "fix" even tho the user did say he was using "su" from a terminal program.

Will try changing the chmod from a terminal program but may not work as I got a msg saying "su" wasn't available for lollipop.

Has anyone been successful with changing external SD directory for CC?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by crane3

Problem with the Samsung in CM 13 Marshmallow. Evidently the directory got created as root ownership & without write permissions for the "group" (me). After setting the developer's option for root to allow apps to have root access, I used Total Commander to change apply write to group; "successful" message BUT the change didn't get applied; tried a few times; rebooting, shutdown, nothing worked.

The LG G Pad 2 with lollipop had write permissions for the directory for the group! Don't know why Marshmallow won't do the same; had read some problem with marshmallow & permissions on the external SD & will try to find the "fix" even tho the user did say he was using "su" from a terminal program.

Will try changing the chmod from a terminal program but may not work as I got a msg saying "su" wasn't available for lollipop.

Has anyone been successful with changing external SD directory for CC?

I am not sure what you are doing. It seems that you are manually creating folders on the SD card then expecting CC to use those folders. CC V5 does not allow direct external access (access by pathname) to the SD. It does not matter if your machine is rooted. If you are checking an option in CC then that option has an effect only on KitKat.

The procedure that works, and it works for lots and lots of people (52% of CC's users have Samsung devices), is to use CC's Formats and Folders setting to do the work. You will eventually see the Android Storage Access Framework dialog. That is where you create the folder, then select it.

If you are using CC to do the work and it is failing then I need to see a CC debug log. The process is described here.

[crane3]

Didn't know that CC had to create the folder; however, did delete my folder created by a file manager then used CC to create the folder & had the same results in that CC wouldn't connect to Calibre since the folder was marked as read-only just like the file manager created version. Hindsight say may be some confusion as both created folders had the same name (not at the same time).

hmmm, looks like when my file manager folder worked under lollipop on the G Pad; perhaps that is why it is now updated slower; will redo the CC on the G Pad with the 128 gb SD.

My Samsung crashed (bricked?) when I tried to go back to the previous CM 13 nightly which was able to write to the CC folder. Will check again later as sometimes, magically, my "bricked" tablets started to work again.

Looks like there should be a warning (FAQ) about the CC v5 folder creation as I had created the CC folder "in preparation" with a folder name of my choice; didn't realize that I could have done that with CC.

Will redo the CC on the G Pad as 1st priority, "just in case".

Thanks for the added info.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by crane3

My Samsung crashed (bricked?) when I tried to go back to the previous CM 13 nightly which was able to write to the CC folder. Will check again later as sometimes, magically, my "bricked" tablets started to work again.

There is no guarantee that CM "plays by the rules".

When using the SAF (Storage Access Framework), an app never sees a file or a folder. Instead it first asks the "Content Provider" (CP -- for SD cards, something in Android) for permission. When CC needs to read a file, it does not open the file in any traditional sense, instead asking the CP for the file data by giving the CP a "magic token" (a URI). The same thing is true when writing a file. CC gives the CP the URI and then the file data.

The CP is allowed to throw away all permissions on reboot. If an app doesn't want that to happen (and CC certainly does not) then the app must ask the CP to store the permissions. It may or may not do it correctly.

There are zillions of ways that this can go wrong. The CP must be able to read and write the *all* of SD card. The CP must correctly store the permissions and reload them after a boot. The SD card must not change if it is removed and reinserted. The device user must not change. And so on.

I don't know what CM13 is doing wrong, if indeed it is doing anything wrong. I might be able to provide pointers if you send me a debug log.

[crane3]

I've reloaded CC on the G Pad/lollipop as per the sensible method; only took 21 1/2 mins.

Was able to boot into recovery (forgot had to press the buttons for 20-30 sec); flashed the Samsung with the "latest" CM 13 3/30. Installed Cc.

Still not able to connect to Calibre with read-only msg with the CC lib folder at the root level; unmounted the SD & used the computer to change the permission. Remounted the SD & find the the CP you mentioned probably threw away new permissions. Total Commander still "cannot" change the permissions also & still blabs that the function (change permission) succeeded.

Gave up for now & changed the CC directory to be used to the original default of ../multpleicalibredroid/..... & have loaded the ebooks from Calibre successfully.

Believe that the CM 13 has broken the permissions settings again.

I did find that the prompts for the lollipop & marshmallow are different in CC when selecting folders. The folder selection prompts works nicely in lollipop; the folder has a "+" to prompt for creating a folder & marshmallow does not. After changing a folder for the type book extension, when changing for the next extension, the selected folder of the previous folder selection is seen at the bottom next to the word "selection" under lollipop; nothing appears with marshmallow so that I just go thru the procedure of selection the SD card first then selecting the folder listed & when the select dialogue appears, it is hoped that clicking on "select" the correct folder is done as there wasn't any feedback what folder was actually configured(?).

Kinda minor as it may happen only when using a non-private folder for CC.

Forgot to mention that on the install of CC, there were separate prompts for permission to write to the internal storage & the external SD; didn't see that with the update process. Thought that may have been the problem but it looks like the current CM 13's CP messed things up.

There is also a bug with the forums for time-outs. Had to re-login to post this.

[crane3]

How was the CC "default" folder, "com.multipie.calibreandroid" created? Was it done by the OS or CC?

I found that folder's properties say CC is the owner & so can read/write/x stuff under the folder even if the every folder path on the SD card is marked as read-only.

When I used CC to create a another folder for the books, the properties shows that the the owner is "root", same as done with a file manager.

Haven't found a way to change the ownership of a user created folder. However, CC is able to create a "non-default" folder with CC as the owner of the folder, it would bypass the read-only like the default folder/path.

At this point, just curious.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by crane3

How was the CC "default" folder, "com.multipie.calibreandroid" created? Was it done by the OS or CC?

...

At this point, just curious.

This is somewhat complicated. The answer depends on whether you are running pre-Kitkat, Kitkat, or post-Kitkat (Lollipop+).

In all versions of Android, an app like CC can ask for and receive rights to manipulate main memory (not an SD card) using "normal" (standard, classic) IO functions. CC asks for those rights. When it starts for the first time CC knows to put the default folder in main_memory/Calibre Companion. It creates that folder as a normal user using normal IO functions. This avoids CC needing "stuff" to deal with the Storage Access Framework (Lollipop+) and lots of hassles when upgrading.

The "private" data folders are created by Android. I am not sure when, but I think it is either when the app is installed or when the app asks for them. Android creates them as "standard" (non-SAF) folders so apps can read and write them using normal I/O functions. This avoids problems with SAF, and in particular problems with Kitkat.

When a user asks CC to move a folder, what happens depends on what version of Android is running. For pre-Kitkat, CC opens its own folder chooser. The user can create folders anywhere s/he wants, SD card or main memory. For Kitkat, which has broken SAF support, the choice is a folder chooser for main memory and the "special" folder on an SD card.

For Lollipop and later, CC always opens an Android SAF chooser dialog. The SAF is used no matter which memory is being used. Reasons: CC cannot know ahead of time where the user wants to store books, so must permit browsing the SD card. By the time the answer comes back, the folder has already been created "somewhere". It is rather difficult for CC to figure out which memory was used, and in any event permissions can make it impossible for CC to use the resulting folder without the SAF. Finally, I thought it better to use one user interface for folder choosing instead of two.

From what I have seen, the permissions assigned to SAF-created folders have nothing to do with the user. Instead, they use the permission of the "provider" (the daemon bit of Android that really reads & writes the files). The provider is responsible for verifying that the user has permission to access the files. I have seen providers that run as root and, apparently, something else.