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zse

Member

Registered: 2024-05-28

Posts: 46

[SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

Among the created files is ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.firefox/plasma-browser-integration-host which says "Automatically generated by plasma-browser-integration-flatpak-integrator".

But I'm not using flatpaks here, everything is installed regularly via pacman. Is this a packaging issues of firefox or plasma-browser-integration? Can this be disabled?  Deleting the ~/.var dir will just make it recreate it again.

EDIT Solution: Disabling the KDE background service "Plasma Browser Integration Flatpak Integration" seems to fix this issue for me.

Last edited by zse (2025-02-18 15:56:14)

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,565

Re: [SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … tegration/

Is plasma-meta installed ?

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zse

Member

Registered: 2024-05-28

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

Yes, plasma-meta and thus plasma-browser-integration is installed.

I'm guessing plasma-browser-integration somehow makes firefox create these files, even though no flatpak is involved (nor is flatpak even installed here).

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,565

Re: [SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

The best solution is probably to look closely at plasma-meta to determine which parts of it you need and remove the rest.

f.e xorg-desktop-portal is only needed for flatpak/snap .

Next time you install kde start with plasma-desktop instead of plasma-meta and add only things you do need.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

zse

Member

Registered: 2024-05-28

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

I'm not quite following what you mean.

I've installed plasma-meta / plasma-browser-integration since forever, only just very recently something there started to create files in my home directory that seem only needed for when firefox is installed as a flatpak.

So my suspicion is that during packaging of either firefox or plasma-browser-integration there may be a mistake to not disable all the stuff that is only useful for when firefox is built as a flatpak.

And afaik xdg-desktop-portal is used by firefox even when you don't use any flatpak, for things like wayland desktop sharing or native file dialogs, so I still want to have this installed.

zse

Member

Registered: 2024-05-28

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

Hm, I see that the plasma-browser-integration package contains browserintegrationflatpakintegrator.so which is likely the culprit. So maybe this is rather an upstream issue, that it simply creates those files without checking whether firefox is actually installed as a flatpak... although it also might make sense to split the browser integration for flatpak browsers out into a separate package.

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,565

Re: [SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

plasma-meta has xdg-desktop-portal-kde .

$ pactree --sync --reverse xdg-desktop-portal-kde
xdg-desktop-portal-kde
├─lutris
├─niri
├─plasma-integration
│ └─plasma-workspace
│   ├─kdeplasma-addons
│   │ └─plasma-meta
│   ├─plasma-applet-window-buttons
│   ├─plasma-browser-integration
│   │ └─plasma-meta
│   ├─plasma-desktop
│   │ └─plasma-meta
│   ├─plasma-nm
│   │ ├─plasma-meta
│   │ └─plasma-welcome
│   │   └─plasma-meta
│   ├─plasma-pa
│   │ └─plasma-meta
│   ├─plasma-pass
│   ├─plasma-vault
│   │ └─plasma-meta
│   ├─powerdevil
│   │ ├─plasma-desktop
│   │ └─plasma-meta
│   └─xdg-desktop-portal-kde
└─plasma-meta
$ 

The list for xdg-desktop-portal is longer , but also doesn't include firefox .
Desktop sharing under wayland is mostly done through pipewire .

xdg-desktop-portal was only an example.

You can try filing a feature request for archlinux plasma-browser-integration to remove or make optional the stuff that creates ~/.var .

Another approach is to remove plasma-browser-integration completely .
That requires removing plasma-meta .

There are parts of plasma-meta you do need/want, but which parts is different for everyone.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

Anarconda

Member

Registered: 2002-12-23

Posts: 102

Re: [SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

IMHO, it has to do with 'Plasma Integration' extension in Firefox wich requires some permissions:

Required permissions for core functionality:

    Access your data for all websites
    Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox
    Download files and read and modify the browser’s download history
    Display notifications to you
    Access browser tabs
 

and reading the file '/home/amarcord/.var/app/org.mozilla.firefox/.mozilla/native-messaging-hosts/org.kde.plasma.browser_integration.json'

{
    "allowed_extensions": [
        "plasma-browser-integration@kde.org"
    ],
    "description": "Native connector for KDE Plasma",
    "name": "org.kde.plasma.browser_integration",
    "path": "/home/amarcord/.var/app/org.mozilla.firefox/plasma-browser-integration-host",
    "type": "stdio"
}

Regards.

---

Scientia et sapientia patrimonium humanitatis sunt.

zse

Member

Registered: 2024-05-28

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] plasma-browser-integration creates ~/.var files

Right, and thanks for trying to help btw.

I'm not too concerned about having a few too many packages installed, so I'd rather like to stick to using plasma-meta instead of managing all the bits that I really need by myself. It is a bit annoying that the plasma-browser-integration just blindly creates those files, even though I'd think most arch users are not using a flatpak version of firefox and for those these are just useless. Maybe I'll try to ask upstream if there could be a configuration option to disable that.

EDIT: Also, just fyi:

$ pactree -r -o xdg-desktop-portal
xdg-desktop-portal
├─xdg-desktop-portal-kde
│ ├─plasma-integration
│ │ └─plasma-workspace
│ │   ├─kdeplasma-addons
│ │   │ └─plasma-meta
│ │   ├─plasma-browser-integration
│ │   │ └─plasma-meta
│ │   ├─plasma-desktop
│ │   │ └─plasma-meta
│ │   ├─plasma-nm
│ │   │ ├─plasma-meta
│ │   │ └─plasma-welcome
│ │   │   └─plasma-meta
│ │   ├─plasma-pa
│ │   │ └─plasma-meta
│ │   ├─plasma-vault
│ │   │ └─plasma-meta
│ │   ├─powerdevil
│ │   │ ├─plasma-desktop
│ │   │ └─plasma-meta
│ │   └─xdg-desktop-portal-kde
│ └─plasma-meta
└─firefox (optional)

Last edited by zse (2025-02-18 13:54:26)