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An empty folder created in Ubuntu

SamG
Listener

I am a zoom user and my computer runs Ubuntu.  From version 5.10 (5.10.3.2778) through the current version (5.11.3.3382), I've been having one problem (which is serious to me).

 

When zoom starts, my home folder gets an empty folder called "Downloads" created.

My home folder is custom-managed and I do not want an extra empty folder in it.

So, this is preventing me from using versions 5.10 through 5.11.  Instead I am using 5.9, which does not have this problem.

 

As technical info, please note that I use customized XDG user directories so that I don't have folders such as "Documents" or "Downloads" scattered in my home folder.    (And I use a custom local Zoom recordings folder as well.)   To the point of this discussion, my XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR is not set to $HOME/Downloads (the default value).

 

To illustrate this issue further, the same problem ("Downloads" folder created in the home folder) occurs even if I run zoom using the following command.

 

$ XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR=/tmp zoom

 

In short, I do not want an extra folder "Downloads" created in my folder.   If this is a "bug" introduced since version 5.10, please make it go away.

3 REPLIES 3

ChrisTechsup
Listener | Zoom Employee
Listener | Zoom Employee

Hi, This is an issue with CEF and not Zoom. You can take a look at the bug here:

https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/issues/2841/cef-creates-a-spurious-downloads-directory

Until CEF changes it behavior it won't be possible for Zoom to do anything to change it. 

I'm sorry there isn't a better solution. 

Hey, thanks for your tip.  Your reply and link helped.   I think this is what happened: it turns out that my XDG user directory was being read by chrome code (which cef relies on), but only through the settings defined in file (not through an envar setting).  But, chrome happened to deem my XDG user download folder as unsafe and so it was then insisting on changing it to a safe folder by creating a new one.  I did this inference by reading a bit of chrome code as well as changing my XDG user directory setting to a "safer" one, and everything seems to be working cleanly now (no extra folder created).

pmzoom
Listener

https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/issues/2841/cef-creates-a-spurious-downloads-directory indicates that the issue was fixed three years ago but, as of today, Zoom continues to create a Downloads directory. Any thoughts on what might be happening?