Android: vcxOpenMainPool path

[stephanhalbritter]

Hello,

using the Android libvcx wrapper, I ran into the following problem.

When running VcxApi.vcxOpenMainPool(poolConfig), it creates a folder $HOME/.indy_client/pool/. This is a problem on Android, as this location is world-accessible. It would also need special permissions given by the user to write there and would not be deleted when uninstalling the app.

In the walletConfig for VcxApi.vcxInitThreadpool(walletConfig) it's possible to set storage_config -> path to a path inside the app sandbox (e.g. with context.filesDir.absolutePath), skipping all the problems described above.

[Edit: to clarify, storage_config -> path does not skip the problem for vcxOpenMainPool. But without that parameter a similar problem would exist for vcxInitThreadpool]

I would be very glad if someone could give me a hint how to solve this.

[Patrik-Stas]

Hi @stephanhalbritter

I am a bit confused when you refer to vcxInitThreadpool - but given the overall context, I suppose that was a typo and you meant to write openMainWallet instead of vcxInitThreadpool ?

So if I understand it right, you are suggesting that config for vcxOpenMainPool would accept optional attribute to specify the location of pool directory it creates? Sounds good to me!

[stephanhalbritter]

Hi Patrik,

thanks for your answer! I used vcxInitThreadpool as an example for a method where it is already possible to specify the location of generated files. Otherwise vcxInitThreadpool would have the same problem as vcxOpenMainPool. Sorry for the confusion.

So yes, you understood it right. A config for vcxOpenMainPool to specify the location of the pool directory would be great. The current state really is a total blocker for us. In the end it would be nice to have such option for every method that is writing stuff to some directory/file to not have the same problem again.

Do you have plans to fix it?

[Patrik-Stas]

Hi Stephan, I believe you are bit mistaken here as you hold onto vcxInitThreadpool as example but that function does not create any files, nor it accepts path in its config argument.

Nevertheless I think we are on the same page. We have currently other higher priority areas we focus on, but this would be great first contribution. I believe it shouldn't be challenging to implement either. Would you guys give it a shot?

Before you start changing signatures and digging into code, I encourage you to investigate where are these files being actually created. It seem to be happening in libvdrtools/indy_utils/src/environment.rs - see methods

wallet_home_path
pool_home_path
pool_path

There's also some special handling for android - see method android_indy_client_dir_path ;-) Take a look, it seems like no extra functionality needs to be implemented to get your problem solved

[stephanhalbritter]

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it. I also found an issue on the same topic on indy-sdk: hyperledger-archives/indy-sdk#2382

[Patrik-Stas]

Since this seems to be solved, I am closing the issue. Feel free to reopen if needed