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Comment by detaro | Hacker News Reader

A file chooser outside the application is safer if the sandbox enforces that only selected files are opened. Of course I want the app to be able to read files I told it to open, but it shouldn't be able to access files I haven't selected.

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How about the sub files with the same name of the video file you selected? Some players open them automatically and it's very convenient. I'm sure there are other cases like that.

Just because it can't cover every single case and application doesn't mean it isn't worth using it for those where it fits. It's an interesting question how far one would want to go to support these special cases, because doing so adds complexity to both code and the things the user has to understand, but the nice thing with an open system is: we don't have to use it for applications that don't fit the model very well or can allow exceptions where needed.

You don't need a different file chooser widget for that. You can use AppArmor or other MAC systems.

Can you really? With the external file chooser, the app has no access to user files before a file is picked, then has access to only this one particular file, and after it is closed returns to no access again.

How would you do this with a generic MAC system without using additional software that dynamically changes the MAC policy and/or relabels files and without bothering the user?

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