Changing Flatpak permissions resets browser

[dsaghliani]

I installed Zen via Flatpak. As a result, since its access to the file system is limited, when opening local HTML files, Zen fails to load any CSS and JavaScript files and presents an unstyled page.

I tried to fix this by going into Flatseal (a GUI for managing Flatpak permissions) and giving Zen access to either the home directory or the entire file system (via setting filesystem=home or filesystem=host, respectively). However, any change made to it "factory reset" the browser—when I reopen it, I'm greeted with the welcome screen, and all my open tabs and settings are gone. It even asks me to set it as my default browser, even though it already is.

Undoing the changes fixes the problem. Zen goes back to normal, as if nothing happened.

Is this supposed to happen?

Zen browser is at version 1.10.3b. It's installed via Flatpak and uses the org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/24.08 runtime.

System Information

Firmware Version: 1.L1
OS Name: Fedora Linux 41 (Workstation Edition)
OS Type: 64-bit
GNOME Version: 47
Windowing System: Wayland
Kernel Version: Linux 6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64

[LinuxJava7]

What I found out a few days ago is that when you give it access to your home file system it uses ~/.zen instead of ~/.var/app/.../.zen

[dsaghliani]

You're right—copying the .zen directory to my home directory fixed the issue! It also fixed the root problem of broken local pages, though, as expected, that only works when the CSS & JS files are located in the home directory. Some pages, like the Fish shell's help page that can be opened using the help command, are stored elsewhere, such as at /run/user/....

Do you reckon it's dangerous to let Zen access the whole file system?

[LinuxJava7]

giving zen access to ~ should have fixed it, I gave it access to my project folder through flatseal instead of my whole ~ directory and the file opens directly instead of through what i assume is a flatpak portal (which doesn't have access to the rest of the files)

[dsaghliani]

Yes, you're right. I updated my comment before I saw your reply.

I first tested this by using the Fish shell's help command, which opens /run/user/1000/doc/6849e2e5/index.html, and that was broken. That's why I thought the root problem remained. Next, I tested cargo doc --open on a project stored inside the home directory, and that worked flawlessly.

To echo my question in my previous, updated comment, do you think it's OK to grant Zen access to the whole file system?

[LinuxJava7]

it's probably fine but it's always better to be on the safer side in my opinion unless you specifically need it, you can always add certain directories as an exception

also what you might want to do is symlink ~/.var/.../.zen to .zen or vice versa, so both the flatpak .zen and the home .zen will have the same config