Aarddict can't find dictionaries on Blackberry 10
lipoff opened this issue · 11 comments
Android applications can be sideloaded onto new Blackberrry devices, such the Q10 and Z10, which run the new Blackberry OS 10. Most Android applications function properly, and Aarddict appears to function, but can't seem to find loaded dictionaries. I think this is due to the way in which Aarddict recursively searches the device but doesn't follow symbolic links. I'm still confused by the Blackberry 10 OS filesystem, but the typical storage locations are /mnt/sdcard/ for internal storage, and /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/ for the microSD card (where, of course, one would prefer to put the .aar files). Perhaps it is worth hard coding in a line to begin a recursive search from the /mnt/sdcard/ directory if it exists.
I use Aard 2, but I can't access the external memory when choosing a dictionary manually. The path doesn't show up. Maybe there's the same restriction concerning symbolic links as in lipoff's issue. I use other Android apps that access the microSD card so I think it has nothing to do with BB10 not being native Android and using some kind of runtime environment.
has nothing to do with BB10
It appears that it does have something to do with Blackberry being a special flower because it works just fine on great many Android devices, including ones that run heavily modified Android, such as Amazon's phone and tablets.
I use other Android apps that access the microSD card
Can you give specific examples? Maybe I can take a look and see what permissions do they request or what api do they use (if these apps are open source) Also, is /mnt where these apps show sd card content?
Can you please try this version: https://github.com/itkach/aard2-android/releases/tag/0.22 ? I added another permission which I think may fix it for Blackberry, but I have no way to check. Let me know if it works.
Thanks for your reply and the new version. Unfortunately V0.22 shows the same result. A working example is FBReaderJ:
The sources are on GitHub as well: https://github.com/geometer/FBReaderJ
How about this one: https://github.com/itkach/aard2-android/releases/tag/0.23 ?
Yes this one works! Unlike previous versions which showed no subdirectories under /mnt this version shows both /mnt/sd_card (where BlackBerry 10 keeps internal memory) and /mnt/sd_card/externalsd (where BlackBerry 10 keeps the SD card).
On the previous version that you sent earlier today I was able to point it manually to /tmp or /var and using GhostCommander (a not-normal tool on BlackBerry 10) move the dictionary from /mnt/sd_card to /tmp --- obviously this is a less than ideal solution because it prohibits me from using the external micro SD card
From: itkach
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 20:47
To: aarddict/android
Reply To: aarddict/android
Cc: Samuel Harris Lipoff
Subject: Re: [android] Aarddict can't find dictionaries on Blackberry 10 (#107)
How about this one: https://github.com/itkach/aard2-android/releases/tag/0.23 ?
—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/107#issuecomment-104257784.
Perfect, that did it! I noticed a new permission I had to confirm and now all works fine. Thanks so much!
@lipoff: I had some dictionary files in /tmp but they vanished after some time, so this solution didn't work well, either.
Thanks so much for taking the time to address this.
I have been using Kiwix on my BlackBerry 10, but am excited that I can now use Aarddict since Kiwix has a number of (minor) limitations.
I should mention for completeness that the automatic search for dictionaries function doesn't work. But that is a very small matter as I can manually choose the dictionary location much faster. Now that one can choose the dictionary file location manually, it might be appropriate (and not just for BlackBerry 10 users) to have a cancel button on the automatic dictionary search, since that can trundle along for a while.
Thank you again for fixing this issue!
From: Samuel Harris Lipoff
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 20:54
To: itkach; aarddict/android
Subject: Re: [android] Aarddict can't find dictionaries on Blackberry 10 (#107)
Yes this one works! Unlike previous versions which showed no subdirectories under /mnt this version shows both /mnt/sd_card (where BlackBerry 10 keeps internal memory) and /mnt/sd_card/externalsd (where BlackBerry 10 keeps the SD card).
On the previous version that you sent earlier today I was able to point it manually to /tmp or /var and using GhostCommander (a not-normal tool on BlackBerry 10) move the dictionary from /mnt/sd_card to /tmp --- obviously this is a less than ideal solution because it prohibits me from using the external micro SD card
From: itkach
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 20:47
To: aarddict/android
Reply To: aarddict/android
Cc: Samuel Harris Lipoff
Subject: Re: [android] Aarddict can't find dictionaries on Blackberry 10 (#107)
How about this one: https://github.com/itkach/aard2-android/releases/tag/0.23 ?
—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/107#issuecomment-104257784.
Awesome :)
The new permission 0.23 uses is android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE. I think Blackberry is in the wrong here, it doesn't make any sense to require write permission in addition to read permission to be able to browse file system or read files. Still, it's great that it works for you now.
have a cancel button on the automatic dictionary search, since that can trundle along for a while.
back button cancels dictionary search