Linux (Fedora KDE/BTRFS) - Flatpak & AppImage bypass system trash and permanently delete files

Bugs which are supposed to be fixed in the next test version (not available yet)

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~gammaemitter
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Linux (Fedora KDE/BTRFS) - Flatpak & AppImage bypass system trash and permanently delete files

Post by ~gammaemitter »

DISCLAIMER: Being a newbie in tech in general and in Linux as well, after exploring some forums and/or Reddit searching for easy answers, I turned to Gemini for quicker research. This bug report was written with the help of AI, and I have only a general idea of what it was telling me to do, so beware.

Environment
OS: Fedora 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Spin)
Desktop Environment: KDE Plasma 6
File System: BTRFS (Default Fedora configuration)
Application Formats Tested: Flatpak (Flathub) and official AppImage
XnView MP Version: 1.11.2 [10050] 64-bit (Apr 30 2026) - Libformat 7.239 (Linux)

Description
When attempting to delete an image within XnView MP (via the Delete key, right-click menu, or toolbar), the application bypasses the system recycle bin entirely and permanently deletes the files from the disk. There is no warning indicating that a permanent deletion is occurring instead of a move-to-trash operation.

This behavior occurs out-of-the-box on both the Flatpak and AppImage packages under a KDE/BTRFS framework. It appears to be a breakdown in the Qt framework's QFile::moveToTrash() implementation or a confinement barrier failing silently and falling back to direct removal.

Steps to Reproduce
Open XnView MP (Flatpak or AppImage) on a Linux distribution running KDE Plasma on a BTRFS partition.

Ensure "Use Recycle Bin" is checked under Tools > Settings > File Operations.

Select an image file located anywhere in the User home directory.

Press the Delete key (or select delete from the context menu).

Open the system file manager (Dolphin) and check the Trash bin.

Result: The Trash bin is empty. The file has been permanently purged from the file system. :bug:

Expected Behavior
The file should be securely sent to the FreeDesktop system trash specification (trash:/ via KIO on KDE) so that it can be recovered by the user if necessary. If a move-to-trash operation fails due to system constraints, the application should throw a warning dialog rather than silently executing a permanent deletion.

Attempted Troubleshooting & Technical Insights
Flatpak Sandbox Overrides: Granting explicit filesystem permissions to the user trash path via sudo flatpak override --filesystem=xdg-data/Trash com.xnview.XnViewMP does not fix the issue.

AppImage Environment Pollution: Attempting a workaround via "Open With" to pass the file path to KDE's native trash utility (kioclient6 move "%1" trash:/) fails because the AppImage environment wrapper pollutes LD_LIBRARY_PATH and QT_PLUGIN_PATH, causing the host system's binaries to crash on invocation unless stripped with env -u.

Hardcoded Interception: Attempting to assign custom bash scripts to the standard Delete key fails because XnView MP's internal file deletion logic tightly intercepts the hotkey before external tool hooks can run.
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xnview
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Re: Linux (Fedora KDE/BTRFS) - Flatpak & AppImage bypass system trash and permanently delete files

Post by xnview »

:bugconfirmed: Thanks to your detailed description I can reproduce the problem.
Pierre.
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xnview
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Re: Linux (Fedora KDE/BTRFS) - Flatpak & AppImage bypass system trash and permanently delete files

Post by xnview »

This problem is supposed to be fixed in XnView MP 1.11.4. Please check and confirm the bug fix here.
Pierre.
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xnview
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Re: Linux (Fedora KDE/BTRFS) - Flatpak & AppImage bypass system trash and permanently delete files

Post by xnview »

reopened
Pierre.