Can't access/use existing non-Flatpak user profile

[MartinPC]

Skill Level: I'm still a relative beginner at Linux and almost a complete noob at Flatpaks.

Problem:

I have a customized LibreOffice 4 user profile developed over several years in Windows. I've copied and pasted that Windows profile into various Linux distros and have never had a problem using it with repo or PPA installs of LibreOffice 4+. (For that matter, I've never had a problem using a single "shared" Windows profile for both my registered LibreOffice install and multiple different "parallel-installed" versions of LibreOffice, from LibreOffice 4.x through 6.x.)

This is the first time I've tried a Flatpak in lieu of a PPA to get a Fresh release, and I can't figure out how to stop the Flatpak from redirecting LibreOffice from its standard user-profile directory (\~/.config/libreoffice/4) to a separate, Flatpak-specific directory (\~/.var/app/org.libreoffice/LibreOffice/config/libreoffice/4). On its face, the user profile ("UserInstallation") setting in the Flatpak's bootstraprc file is pointing to the right place ($SYSUSERCONFIG/libreoffice/4), so something else in Flatpak or the Flatpak app is clearly redirecting the variable $SYSUSERCONFIG to \~/.var/app/org.libreoffice/LibreOffice/config. Changing the UserInstallation path in bootstraprc to \~/.config/libreoffice/4/user had no effect, so clearly the redirection applies to \~/.config as well (or maybe simply to all of \~, with exceptions for document, picture, and video subdirectories).

I understand why Flatpaks would generally default to maintaining separate user profiles. Many apps' profiles are incompatible across app versions, and loading the wrong profile version into the wrong app version can result in a one-way conversion or a borked profile. (Firefox is a good example of this.) But LibreOffice is not one of those apps. Its profiles have been entirely back- and forward-compatible with every version of LibreOffice released since 4.0 (right through 6.x, so far).

Any tips on how to durably stop this unwanted and (where LibreOffice is concerned) unnecessary redirection? I've already allowed the LibreOffice Flatpak app to read/write/create to the standard profile folder by running:

sudo flatpak override --system --filesystem=~/.config/libreoffice/4/user:create org.libreoffice.LibreOffice

but that just about exhausted my Linux/Flatpak noob research skills and patience, and it hasn't done the trick. Is Flatpak, or the Flatpak app, doing something with xdg directories that I haven't been able to suss out?

Any help or insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

[LinuxOnTheDesktop]

Another user here. Not new to Linux. I have, I think, the same problem: LibreOffice can't see my file Manager (Nemo) bookmarks and that really hampers productivity.

sudo flatpak override --system --filesystem=~/.config/libreoffice/4/user:create org.libreoffice.LibreOffice did not help me.

My system

• org.libreoffice.LibreOffice/x86_64/stable system,current
• Mint 19.2 Cinnamon x64.

[stbergmann]

Another user here. Not new to Linux. I have, I think, the same problem: LibreOffice can't see my file Manager (Nemo) bookmarks and that really hampers productivity.

No idea what "Nemo bookmarks" are, or how LO is meant to see them, or how this would relate to LO's user profile.

sudo flatpak override --system --filesystem=~/.config/libreoffice/4/user:create org.libreoffice.LibreOffice did not help me.

The flatpak'ed LO has the XDG_CONFIG_HOME env var set to ~/.var/app/org.libreoffice.LibreOffice/data, so that's where it creates its libreoffice/4/... user profile tree.

[LinuxOnTheDesktop]

It seems I was insufficiently clear. I apologise.

Nemo bookmarks are (a form of?) GTK bookmark. Those bookmarks are stored within one's user profile and more specifically within a subfolder of /home/<username>/.config.

Now I am afraid that also I am having trouble understanding you. Am I to set the environmental variable that you mention? Would so doing allow LO to see GTK bookmarks that other programs can see? If so, is there somewhere special that I must set that variable?

[stbergmann]

Nemo bookmarks are (a form of?) GTK bookmark. Those bookmarks are stored within one's user profile and more specifically within a subfolder of /home/<username>/.config.

...and would be intended to appear in LO's "File - Open..." and "File - Save As..." etc. dialogs? Do they appear for a non-flatpak'ed LO? Anyway, this is apparently unrelated to the original issue, so please open a new issue.

[LinuxOnTheDesktop]

I have moved my comments to a new issue: #111.

EDITED.