Let the app load despite exisiting sub-directories without permissions

Use case or problem

I would like to be able to open a vault even if one of its subfolders doesn’t have read/write permissions.

Proposed solution

The solution could look excatly like the app now behaves if the permissions of a sub-directory change while the app is open. Then the files in the subdirectory are inaccessible and a pop-up window announces the error but otherwise the app works.

The problem with the current state is that a permission-denied subdirectory prevents the app from loading altogether. (It throws EPERM error.)

Comment

This request is based on an attempt to use Obsidian in an “multiplayer” mode - which I know is not supported yet. Alternative solution would be having files+folders permissions control within the app.

Thanks

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Just hit this issue today. Obsidian can no longer open my Vault which contains files that are owned and protected by root. They’re build artifacts, which I don’t need or want Obsidian to watch.

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The way Obsidian handles this is blockheaded, and a spanner in the works for new users.

I launched Obsidian as a new user for the first time today, and this error has caused me to stumble at the first hurdle.

Upon launching, Obsidian offers two ways to startup: create a new vault or use an existing folder as a vault. It seems to me most sensible to open an existing folder, in which I have been making my own notesfiles for years, as my Obsidian vault. But on that directory tree tree is at least one folder with restricted permissions. Obsidian doesn’t only choke on that folder, it gets completely stuck so you can’t even close the error window. You have to kill the process to get rid of it.

If I create a new vault, I expect I would have the same problem, because I would want to symlink my existing notes folder tree into it (assuming it will follow symlinks). It would still contain the restricted folder.

Obsidian should know that if there is a folder it does not have permission to read then it should simply ignore the folder. Instead it just throws its toys out of the pram. It should accept the fact that there are some folders it does not have permission to read. That is why their permissions are restricted in the first place. It should simply ignore such files and folders that it has not been given permission to view.

When it gives the error, the error window gets stuck open with the option only to ‘open another vault’ or ‘reload the app’. There’s no option to close the window (to abort startup), or to ignore the file, both of which would be the most sensible courses of action. Both of the options it offers instead offer a perpetual loop back to the same error window that cannot be closed.

Now I assume that somewhere in the documentation there is some sort of config file in which I can exclude or ignore files. If there is not, I am stuffed, because there is no gui option to ignore the restricted dir, and I can’t load the app to look for a gui config to ignore certain files, because I could only do that if I created a new vault in a different location. There would be no point ignoring the files there.

So that’s a big spanner in the works for a new user who already has a library of research notes.