[Bug]: (Android) Invalid character in filename

[FlipH19Switch]

Description

I connected my GitLab account and can see my repos. When I try to clone a repo, it nearly finishes and then gives me this error:

could not open 'phone path of random file in repo' for writing: Operation not permitted; class=Os (2)

The app has full file access. It's a Pixel 9A, stock Android, with multiple users. For the repo location, I'm trying different folders that are accessible by other apps on the user profile, but I get the same error each time.

Minimal Reproduction

Clone a repo from GitLab

Exception or Error

No response

[ViscousPot]

Hi, can I get an idea of where you're trying to clone the repository to? Android tends to have undocumented restrictions for file access in places. Could you try whatever your equivalent of /storage/emulated/0/Documents/TestFolder and let me know if that works at all?

Also would be useful to know the Android version you are on :) 🙏🏾

[FlipH19Switch]

Now I get the error "too many redirects or authentication replays; class=Http (34)". I guess I will have to try again later?

I'm on Android version 16

[ViscousPot]

Ah damn, that means you have to reauth.

This is a known issue with GitLab! The workaround is to just reauthenticate everytime it gives you that error, but I understand that that's not ideal so I'm actively looking for the fix
#468

[FlipH19Switch]

Okay, not a big deal to reauthenticate. I did that and tried to clone my repo to /storage/emulated/10/Documents/TestFolder and got the original error:

could not open '/storage/emulated/10/Documents/TestFolder/cloned file: Operation not permitted; class=Os (2)

[ViscousPot]

Ah! Thanks for sharing that with me. Could you tell me the exact name of the file it's failing on? I just need the one as an example to get an idea.

I suspect this might be due to invalid filename characters that android is complaining about

[FlipH19Switch]

Sure - here is the full file name and it's path in the repo: Research/Blog Posts/When is PRP not PRP? It All Depends on Your Age.md

[ViscousPot]

Yeah! It's the question mark in there. Can you try getting rid of it on another device and recloning?

I understand the filename issue is frustrating. I'm currently looking into adding, at minimum, improved error messages, but I'm also looking into the ideal case of automatically handling them. No progress on the latter just yet though

[FlipH19Switch]

Thanks for clarifying. Are there other characters I should remove from my filenames? I removed the question marks but this time the error was triggered by "" characters.

[ViscousPot]

This should be a decent reference for Android (", *, /, :, <, >, ?, , |)
https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/master:frameworks/base/core/java/android/os/FileUtils.java;l=997?q=isValidFatFilenameChar

but I would suggest even using this to be more thorough
https://www.mtu.edu/umc/services/websites/writing/characters-avoid/

[FlipH19Switch]

Thanks. I removed the symbols from my files and it cloned the repo.

Awesome job with the app. This is a great alternative to the git plugin for Obsidian for syncing my vault to my phone.