[Bug 1897460] [NEW] VLC Snap Incompatible With Thunderbird

[Andrew Piziali]

Public bug reported:

When I changed my default video player from Totem to VLC, Thunderbird
was no longer able to play an email message video attachment. By
default, Ubuntu Software installs the VLC snap package, whose permission
scheme prohibits it from accessing the directory where Thunderbird saves
the video file to be played (/tmp/mozilla_andy0). VLC reports:

Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'file:///tmp/mozilla_andy0/[VIDEO FILENAME]'. Check the log for details.

To reproduce the bug:
1. Open a Thunderbird message.

2. Single left click on an attached video file handled by VLC.

3. VLC starts and then opens an error dialog with the above "Your input
can't be opened" message.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: thunderbird 1:68.10.0+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-1097.107-oem 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-1097-oem x86_64
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.17
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC2:  andy       3256 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1:  andy       3256 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  andy       3256 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20200629235513
Channel: Unavailable
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sun Sep 27 07:25:42 2020
DistributionChannelDescriptor:
 # This is the distribution channel descriptor for the OEM CDs
 # For more information see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DistributionChannelDescriptor
 canonical-oem-somerville-bionic-amd64-20180608-47+beaver-turtlebay+X59
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 # interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
IncompatibleExtensions:
 English (GB) Language Pack - langpack-en-GB at thunderbird.mozilla.org
 Thunderbird (default) - {972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-10-28 (334 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04 "Bionic" - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20180608-09:38
IpRoute:
 default via 10.3.2.1 dev eno1 proto dhcp metric 100 
 10.3.2.0/24 dev eno1 proto kernel scope link src 10.3.2.3 metric 100 
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eno1 scope link metric 1000
MostRecentCrashID: bp-9a0bd632-9768-4302-9c91-9f4f60200616
PrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/thunderbird/omni.ja:greprefs.js:1141
PrefSources: prefs.js
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=68.10.0/20200629235513 (In use)
RunningIncompatibleAddons: True
SourcePackage: thunderbird
SubmittedCrashIDs:
 bp-9a0bd632-9768-4302-9c91-9f4f60200616
 bp-914925c7-43d8-44c0-a57a-4af430200101
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 02/05/2020
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 2.5.0
dmi.board.name: 0Y2K8N
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A01
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr2.5.0:bd02/05/2020:svnDellInc.:pnPrecision3630Tower:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0Y2K8N:rvrA01:cvnDellInc.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.family: Precision
dmi.product.name: Precision 3630 Tower
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

** Affects: thunderbird (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug bionic

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1897460

Title:
  VLC Snap Incompatible With Thunderbird

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