AppImage/AppImageKit

--appimage-extract-and-run: mkdir_p error: Permission denied on FreeBSD

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#1,073 opened on Sep 3, 2020

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Description

Trying to --appimage-extract-and-run a x86_64 Linux AppImage on FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE-p8 with the Linux compatibility layer:

user@FreeBSD$  /home/user/Downloads/Akira-26-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run
mkdir_p error: Permission denied
Failed to extract AppImage

but

user@FreeBSD$  /home/user/Downloads/Akira-26-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract

user@FreeBSD$ truss /home/user/Downloads/Akira-26-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run 2>&1 | grep tmp
linux_access("/tmp/appimage_extracted_11b387e8ae9d3b2f6c030e4cfa7e8cc2/",F_OK) ERR#-2 'No such file or directory'
linux_mkdir("/tmp",493)                          ERR#-13 'Permission denied'

Doing manually:

user@FreeBSD$ mkdir -p /tmp/appimage_extracted_11b387e8ae9d3b2f6c030e4cfa7e8cc2/

works though, so why are we failing then?

Contributor guide

Tech stack
cshell
Domain
desktoptooling
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
basic C knowledgeLinux compatibility layer on FreeBSD
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
30
Research direction
The issue is that mkdir p fails with permission denied on /tmp when running appimage extract and run, but manual mkdir works. Look at the source code for mkdir p in AppImageKit (likely in src/), especially how it constructs the path. Compare with the truss output showing linux mkdir failing; the issue might be related to the Linux compatibility layer's handling of permissions on /tmp. Check if the AppImage runtime is attempting to create the /tmp directory itself instead of just the subdirectory, or if there's a difference in how the mkdir system call is invoked.