[General Topics] GalaxyA325G:
Thanks for mentioning LineageOS, where my Samsung is impossible to root, but where I do have an older J7 which is possible to root - so someday I'm going to learn about "lineageOS" and install it there as I specifically don't use any Google apps already anyway (I use Aurora, Newpipe, Ungoogled Chromium, FairMail, NetGuard, etc., instead).

Even as I disable the Google services and I don't even log into anything, I would like to try LineageOS on that J7.

However, back to why I saw the anomolies with the suggested FOSS text editor is there is one thing I have NEVER understood is....

What makes an app show up in the "Open with" dialog selection?

For example, look at the screenshot below where the Aurora Store isn't one of the "Open with" selections but sometimes it is, where I can't figure out what "magic" is there that puts an app into the "Open with" selection list.

As an aside, if you know what "magic" makes an app like this simple text editor show up in the "Open with" selection, THAT would be immensely useful to me!

I think it's a specific issue with my device since I moved the sd card from one Android phone to another so maybe the file is locked in some way that only shows up with some editors and not others.

I'm not making it up though - it happened - but I assume it's "user error" on my part for now as I go with Occam's Razor when it makes sense.

BTW, I started scratching the surface to figure out what makes a file writeable to some apps but not to others, where I found by looking the following...

Apparently a text editor must support something called "all files" mode, which is briefly described here.

<https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/storage#all-files-access>

To see what the text editor has as all files permissions, I first looked in my FOSS app manager to see if I could find that mode.

<https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager>

This is some of the detailed information for MaxiStar Simple Text Editor.

Data Directory: /data/user/0/com.maxistar.textpad

Device-protected: /data/user_de/0/com.maxistar.textpad

Flags: FLAG_HARDWARE_ACCELERATED

Editor: soft input mode, no permission required

Search suggestions: path permissions null, patterns allowed null

android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE = dangerous, granted

android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE = dangerous, granted

By way of comparison, the WriterP program <co.easy4u.writer> shows a horrid number of additional permissions granted to it.

Data Directory: /data/user/0/co.easy4u.writer

Device-protected: /data/user_de/0/co.easy4u.writer

Flags: FLAG_HARDWARE_ACCELERATED

Editor: soft input mode, no permission required

Search suggestions: path permissions null, patterns allowed null

android.permission.ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION = dangerous, granted

android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE = normal,instant,granted

android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE = normal,instant,granted

android.permission.INTERNET = normal,instant,granted

android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE = dangerous, granted

android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE = dangerous, granted

android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE = dangerous, granted

android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE = dangerous, granted

com.android.vending.BILLING = normal,instant,granted

While it's clear which of those two text editors has too many permissions, is the write "all files" permission shown in the above screenshots?

I don't know.

It's hard to tell what exactly to look for from the definition:

<https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/manage-all-files>

But I think the fact both writers above have this permission is maybe it?

android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE = dangerous, granted

In summary, I think all that is needed for a text editor to write to a file anywhere I have write permission is "all files" permission for

storage is needed, where the only thing I need to figure out is how to tell if that "all files" permission has been granted to any given app.

<https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10467955>

"Google Play restricts the use of high risk or sensitive permissions, including a special app access called All files access. This is only applicable to apps that target Android 11 (API level 30 and declare the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, which is added in Android 11. Also, this policy does not impact the usage of the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission."