Discussion, talk and tips
https://forum.puppylinux.com/
I normally run Pale Moon by .sfs in spot. Bionic will let me run as root, but as spot Pale Moon forces me to create a profile while not allowing access to folders for creation (including spot).
Tahr and Xenial do not have this problem with the same .sfs.
The PaleMoon configuration files for root are in '/root/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
If you run PaleMoon as user spot,
the PaleMoon configuration files for spot are in '/root/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
the PaleMoon configuration files for spot are in '/home/spot/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
The point of running as spot, is to limit access to dirs and files.
You should not try to save to /root/Downloads/ or /root/Desktop/
You should not make use of /root/spot/
(because if the permissions are set properly, spot should should not be able
to access /root/)
You can copy the configuration dir in /root/ to /home/spot/
but the dirs and files need to be owned by spot
chown -Rc spot:spot /home/spot
And the permissions should be set to not allow group and world to write to the files
something like:
chmod -Rc 755 /home/spot (makes all files executable by spot)
or chmod -Rc 644 /home/spot (makes all file not executable)
Typo? I always use /root/spot for spot configuration. Sometimes a root user command line switch specifies a different directory. Tor is another example (e.g., Tor as spot puts the configuration in the Tor subdirectory).
You should not make use of /root/spot/
Current Xenial Pale Moon config dir:
'/root/spot/.moonchild productions/pale moon'
Bionic by profile creation tries to put the config directory in /home/spot.
Heretofore I have not paid attention to /home as unnecessary.
You can copy the configuration dir in /root/ to /home/spot/
but the dirs and files need to be owned by spot
chown -Rc spot:spot /home/spotAnd the permissions should be set to not allow group and world to write to the files
something like:
chmod -Rc 755 /home/spot(makes all files executable by spot)
orchmod -Rc 644 /home/spot(makes all file not executable)
I will try this later in Bionic and/or Hirsute, but I do not understand why they are different. This problem is only in later pups. I wrote this thread in Bionic. I have similar permission problems in Hirsute Hippo, I assumed brought by Debian structure.
mysterious os functional discrepancy
The premise still holds that Bionic functions differently from Tahr and Xenial.
Forcing a user profile as spot is contingent upon a pre-existing config.
In other words, if I do not place my static config in /root/spot/.moonchild productions/pale moon, Pale Moon runs with a new/default config. With the config in place and no adjustments, Pale Moon does not run at all.
I might be able to capture a new static spot config for future use, as Pale Moon Bionic just doesn't like my Tahr/Xenial config.
The same static config works in Bionic as root. It's only rejected by Bionic spot.
Tahr/Xenial spot - ok
Tahr/Xenial root - ok
Bionic root - ok
Bionic spot - reject
The second preliminary event is I created a Pale Moon .sfs from standalone to run in the spot directory (Xenial).
It ran as root. 
The only way I could make it run as spot is to put run-as-spot in the launcher. I thought putting the application in /root/spot is sufficient for running as spot.
I should still test the Bionic permission changes.
The PaleMoon configuration files for root are in '/root/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
I'm sorry, this is wrong:
the PaleMoon configuration files for spot are in '/root/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
The PaleMoon config files for spot are in '/home/spot/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
Not sure why I pasted in the wrong dir, I think because I copy pasted '/root/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
intending to change /root/ to /home/spot/ and forget to fix it.
williams2 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 27, 2021 11:05 pmThe PaleMoon configuration files for root are in '/root/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
I'm sorry, this is wrong:
the PaleMoon configuration files for spot are in '/root/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
The PaleMoon config files for spot are in '/home/spot/.moonchild productions/pale moon/'
No sweat.
Back in the Xenial Comfort Zone I'm in Pale Moon and there is no /home directory.
Perhaps this is newer pups adapting to Debian or Ubuntu and the source of the problem I am experiencing.