I’m trying ownCloud 10.2, in this version a directory is created for external apps within the root directory. I’m creating ISO of ownCloud to install them on VMs, they are read only so I’m sure no one is changing the ownCloud core, it also takes less RAM etc … For apps I use the apps_paths feature which is quite practical, I use it to store apps in different directories if they are themes, from my company etc … So, now that I gave the main background, there goes my problem.
Since ownCloud 10.2 creates directly a directory for external apps and that my ownCloud is read only it doesn’t work, it’s normal. So I set the directory within my ISO, but once again I stumble upon the error Can’t create or write into the apps-external directory /var/owncloud/apps-external. So I did a hotfix by creating a tmpfs of the directory and this time it works.
So my question is, why forcing the creation of this directory when there is already a feature for that which is apps_paths ? Since I have set paths for apps, when will the apps-external be used ? Is it possible to disable that new feature ?
it seems to me that the 10.2.0 release notes which have found in Server 10.2.0 Release are a little bit sparse on this topic:
By default, the “apps-external” directory is included in config.php during installation. For new installations, there will be two apps directories so that the bundled apps are distinguishable from the apps that were installed or updated by the administrator. Existing installations will not change but, generally, this separation is recommended in all scenarios, as it makes upgrading easier and less error-prone.
If you dislike this functionality or it doesn’t match your deployment i think its probably the best to request more information / documentation from the development and/or documentation team.
Maybe you can create a new issue in either one or both of the following issue trackers to contact the development and/or documentation team:
thanks for your answer, I’m guessing that this new feature is mostly to avoid failing upgrades, it’s a good thing. By the way, ownCloud seems to take the first writable app directory you have configured in config.php, so what happens for market apps and none market apps is that they go to the first writable apps configuration. What mostly bugs me is that I installed from scratch ownCloud 10.2 and it needs an apps-external directory and therefore creates the directory but doesn’t add it to the config.php which leaves it in an uncertain configuration. If not defined where would the app go ? I also tried the upgrade from 10.1 to 10.2, it goes very well and it doesn’t require the apps-external directory. So if you have several ownCloud instances, the ones you have ugpraded will not have the directory and the ones from scratch will, it could become a bit messy when you deal with many ownCloud, mostly with automation.
Anyway, thanks for your time and your advices, I guess I will follow your advice.
thanks for your answer, I guess I understand what goes wrong.
Here’s my process for creating ownCloud instances.
Copy a config.php, it set apps directories, redis, smtp, etc …
Start creation of the instance with occ maintenance:install (that part updates the config.php with MySQL credentials for example)
I shortened the whole process, but I think that what happens is that ownCloud 10.2 requires by default the directory apps-external even though you set other directories within your config.php (apps_path). So it requires creating the directory and does not update config.php in this case since it finds other apps. My idea of the process is that it shouldn’t force you to create the apps-external directory when you already have set other directories for apps. I’ll move that to the issue tracker.
i wouldn’t expect much updates in this topic. From what i know / have read in the past the ownCloud development team is mainly working at github so i would expect any updates there.
Still it’s great that you have linked back the issue directly so other users could find your bugreport more easily.
