Android permissions checkSelfPermission doesn't work

Question

In the AndroidManifest.xml of my app I specified a target API to 26:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.javasrv"
android:minSdkVersion="23"
android:targetSdkVersion="26"
android:versionCode="6"
android:versionName="1.0.0">
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

But when I am running the app on Android x86 8.1 and disabling the permission for storage access through system menu it says that "This app was designed for an older version of Android. Denying permission may cause it to no longer function as intended."

How can it be?

Also I am having a problem with runtime permissions check: it always deems that the access is granted even though I disabled it in the system settings:

if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(LoaderActivity.this, permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
    Toast.makeText(LoaderActivity.this, "PERMISSION_DENIED", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    Log.d("*** Loader::onCreate ***", "PERMISSION_DENIED");
    if (ActivityCompat.shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(this, permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)) {
    } else {
    }
    ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this, new String[]{permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE}, 0);
} else {
    Toast.makeText(LoaderActivity.this, "PERMISSION_GRANTED", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    Log.d("*** Loader::onCreate ***", "PERMISSION_GRANTED");
}

Again, it is unclear how can it be. Any ideas?

Edit: I am using android api v26 and android support library v23.

The compilation script:

file=javasrv.apk

# export CLASSPATH=/opt/android-sdk/platforms/android-26/android.jar:/opt/android-sdk/extras/android/support-library/23.2.1/android-support-v4.jar
#
rm -f com/javasrv/*.class
javac -cp $CLASSPATH -source 1.8 -target 1.8 com/javasrv/*.java
#dx --dex --output classes.dex com/javasrv/*.class
dx --dex --output classes.dex com/javasrv/*.class android/support/v4/app/*.class android/support/v4/content/*.class

#aapt package -f -m -F "$file" -M AndroidManifest.xml -S res -I "$CLASSPATH"
#aapt add "$file" classes.dex
rm -rf build && mkdir build
find ./res -type f  | grep -vE '\.sw.$' | xargs -I{} aapt2 compile -o build "{}" --no-crunch
aapt2 link -R build/* --manifest AndroidManifest.xml $(echo "$CLASSPATH" | tr -d '\n' | xargs -d':' -L1 -I{} echo " -I {} ") -o "$file" --auto-add-overlay
zip -uj "$file" classes.dex

zipalign -f 4 "$file" "$file.aligned"
mv -f "$file.aligned" "$file"
apksigner sign --ks-pass pass:pwd --ks javasrv.keystore "$file"

Edit2: Here is another may be related to this one problem concerning aapt2. If I specify compileSdkVersion in AndroidManifest.xml it throws an error:

AndroidManifest.xml:2: error: attribute android:compileSdkVersion not found.
error: failed processing manifest.

I simply ignored it by removing compileSdkVersion from the manifest. I wonder now if I should not...

Edit3: As related to logcat of that permission check. I only have access to /data/log.txt. But it should be enough. No?

08-16 19:24:39.236 18965 18965 E /system/bin/webview_zygote32: Failed to make and chown /acct/uid_99182: Permission denied
08-16 19:24:39.236 18965 18965 E Zygote  : createProcessGroup(99182, 0) failed: Permission denied
08-16 19:24:39.239  2219  2900 I am_proc_start: [0,18965,99182,com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process0,webview_service,com.javasrv/org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService0]
08-16 19:24:39.239  2219  2900 I ActivityManager: Start proc 18965:com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process0/u0i182 for webview_service com.javasrv/org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService0
08-16 19:24:39.255 18965 18965 W /system/bin/webview_zygote32: Unexpected CPU variant for X86 using defaults: x86_64
08-16 19:24:39.256 18931 18931 I auditd  : type=1400 audit(0.0:3392): avc: denied { read } for comm="com.javasrv" name="vmstat" dev="proc" ino=4026531858 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app_25:s0:c512,c768 tcontext=u:object_r:proc:s0 tclass=file permissive=1
08-16 19:24:39.256 18931 18931 I com.javasrv: type=1400 audit(0.0:3392): avc: denied { read } for name="vmstat" dev="proc" ino=4026531858 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app_25:s0:c512,c768 tcontext=u:object_r:proc:s0 tclass=file permissive=1
08-16 19:24:39.256 18931 18931 I auditd  : type=1400 audit(0.0:3393): avc: denied { open } for comm="com.javasrv" path="/proc/vmstat" dev="proc" ino=4026531858 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app_25:s0:c512,c768 tcontext=u:object_r:proc:s0 tclass=file permissive=1
08-16 19:24:39.256 18931 18931 I com.javasrv: type=1400 audit(0.0:3393): avc: denied { open } for path="/proc/vmstat" dev="proc" ino=4026531858 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app_25:s0:c512,c768 tcontext=u:object_r:proc:s0 tclass=file permissive=1
08-16 19:24:39.263 18959 18959 W zygote  : Unexpected CPU variant for X86 using defaults: x86_64
08-16 19:24:39.281  1022  1022 I auditd  : type=1400 audit(0.0:3395): avc: denied { read } for comm="loop0" path="/mnt/android-8.1-r2/system.img" dev="vda2" ino=1422631 scontext=u:r:kernel:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:unlabeled:s0 tclass=file permissive=1
08-16 19:24:39.281  1022  1022 I loop0   : type=1400 audit(0.0:3395): avc: denied { read } for path="/mnt/android-8.1-r2/system.img" dev="vda2" ino=1422631 scontext=u:r:kernel:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:unlabeled:s0 tclass=file permissive=1
08-16 19:24:39.289  2671  2691 D SubscriptionController: [getPhoneId] asked for default subId=-1
08-16 19:24:39.290  2671  2691 D SubscriptionController: [getSubId]- invalid slotIndex=-1
08-16 19:24:39.336 18931 18931 D *** Loader::onCreate ***: PERMISSION_GRANTED
08-16 19:24:39.336 18931 18931 D *** getListFiles ***: [W]/sdcard/Download/FDroid.apk
08-16 19:24:39.336 18931 18931 D *** getListFiles ***: [W]/sdcard/Download/javasrv.apk

Edit4: This is how the activity from which I am requesting permissions gets started:

Intent intent = new Intent(this, LoaderActivity.class);
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
// If set in an Intent passed to Context.startActivity(), this flag will cause any existing task that would be associated with the activity to be cleared before the activity is started. That is, the activity becomes the new root of an otherwise empty task, and any old activities are finished. This can only be used in conjunction with FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK.
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK);
startActivity(intent);

Edit 5: Holy cow! I just decompiled the resulted apk and noticed that somehow my android:versionCode and android:versionName became platformbuildversioncode and platformbuildversionname respectively. This is nuts! I wonder how the hell it happened. Added: Uh oh. It is somehow related to the version of aapt2. I used from build-tools 28.0.3. In changed it to 26.0.2 and it behaved without that insanity.

Edit 6: Due to the bugs with aapt2, I reverted back to aapt. At least it doesn't messing up the manifest too much:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:minSdkVersion="23" android:targetSdkVersion="26" package="com.javasrv" platformBuildVersionCode="26" platformBuildVersionName="8.0.0">

For some reason it excised my app custom version number and version code though. But at least that should not affect the work of an app. What I am still struggling with though is that I cannot specify compileSdkVersion due to the same error that compileSdkVersion was not found in the package android.

Edit 7: Alright. Here is the head of the manifest that I decompiled from the final apk(which I built with aapt2 v26):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?><manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:minSdkVersion="23" android:targetSdkVersion="26" package="com.javasrv">
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

So the only thing is missing is compileSdkVersion. I still can't figure out how to make aapt2 put that value into the manifest. But I tested that apk and the bug with runtime permissions still persist. Very strange.

Edit 8: Installed the latest aapt2 version. From here: https://dl.google.com/dl/android/maven2/com/android/tools/build/aapt2/3.6.0-alpha11-5720371/aapt2-3.6.0-alpha11-5720371-linux.jar Still the same thing - it would not insert compileSdkVersion.

Edit 9: Actually it is pretty clear that compiledSdkVersion isn't present in the namespace I am using. I also cannot find it anywhere in the docs: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element It appears to me that I should not use it at all - and actually I don't see any purpose in it. Who the hell cares with what version I compiled my app, if I can just specify the minimum and target versions? So the bug should be somewhere else.

Edit 10: Updated up to 24.1.1 version of Android Support Library. Stilll no luck with the check of runtime permissions.

Edit 11: Tried to call requestPermissions even though it falsily detects it as GRANTED and got a runtime error: that classs android.support.v4.app.ActivityCompatApi23 was not found. Interesting... Hm. Apparently I should've used Android Support Library the same version as my SDK. But it is unclear for me how to get a jar of the latest version of a support library (see Install latest android support library CLI ) So yeah. Probably it was a bad idea just to extract the jar file from 24.1.1's aar - apparently it wasn't the whole library but just a patch. So I decided to use jar 23.2.1 which some guy compiled: https://github.com/pbakondy/cordova-plugin-android-support-v4-jar

Edit 12: With v23.2.1 android support library back in place I decided to call requestPermissions right after I called Log.d with PERMISSION_GRANTED message. Here is the output:

08-17 12:50:15.132 28837 28837 D *** Loader::onCreate ***: PERMISSION_GRANTED
08-17 12:50:15.136 28837 28891 I com.javasrv: android::hardware::configstore::V1_0::ISurfaceFlingerConfigs::hasWideColorDisplay retrieved: 0
08-17 12:50:15.139  2219  2600 I ActivityManager: START u0 {act=android.content.pm.action.REQUEST_PERMISSIONS pkg=com.google.android.packageinstaller cmp=com.google.android.packageinstaller/com.android.packageinstaller.permission.ui.GrantPermissionsActivity (has extras)} from uid 10081
08-17 12:50:15.141  2219  2600 I wm_task_moved: [179,1,6]
08-17 12:50:15.142  2219  2600 I am_create_activity: [0,28890900,179,com.google.android.packageinstaller/com.android.packageinstaller.permission.ui.GrantPermissionsActivity,android.content.pm.action.REQUEST_PERMISSIONS,NULL,NULL,8388608]
08-17 12:50:15.147  2219  2600 I am_pause_activity: [0,43511476,com.javasrv/.LoaderActivity]
08-17 12:50:15.182  2446  2446 V StatusBar: setLightsOn(true)
08-17 12:50:15.183 28837 28837 I am_on_resume_called: [0,com.javasrv.LoaderActivity,LAUNCH_ACTIVITY]
08-17 12:50:15.254 28837 28873 W cr_media: Requires BLUETOOTH permission
08-17 12:50:15.273 28837 28837 I am_on_paused_called: [0,com.javasrv.LoaderActivity,handlePauseActivity]
08-17 12:50:15.284  2219  2259 I am_restart_activity: [0,28890900,179,com.google.android.packageinstaller/com.android.packageinstaller.permission.ui.GrantPermissionsActivity]
08-17 12:50:15.285  2219  2259 I am_set_resumed_activity: [0,com.google.android.packageinstaller/com.android.packageinstaller.permission.ui.GrantPermissionsActivity,minimalResumeActivityLocked]
08-17 12:50:15.291  2219  2298 I sysui_count: [window_time_0,3]
08-17 12:50:15.291  2219  2298 I sysui_multi_action: [757,803,799,window_time_0,802,3]
08-17 12:50:15.297  2446  2446 V StatusBar: setLightsOn(true)
08-17 12:50:15.304  2219  5022 I am_finish_activity: [0,28890900,179,com.google.android.packageinstaller/com.android.packageinstaller.permission.ui.GrantPermissionsActivity,app-request]
08-17 12:50:15.305  2219  5022 I am_pause_activity: [0,28890900,com.google.android.packageinstaller/com.android.packageinstaller.permission.ui.GrantPermissionsActivity]
08-17 12:50:15.308  2219  2298 I sysui_count: [window_time_0,0]
08-17 12:50:15.308  2219  2298 I sysui_multi_action: [757,803,799,window_time_0,802,0]
08-17 12:50:15.439  2219  2259 I am_set_resumed_activity: [0,com.javasrv/.LoaderActivity,resumeTopActivityInnerLocked]
08-17 12:50:15.446  2219  2259 I am_resume_activity: [0,43511476,179,com.javasrv/.LoaderActivity]
08-17 12:50:15.457  2219  2298 I sysui_count: [window_time_0,0]
08-17 12:50:15.457  2219  2298 I sysui_multi_action: [757,803,799,window_time_0,802,0]
08-17 12:50:15.557  2446  2446 I chatty  : uid=10030(com.android.systemui) identical 5 lines
08-17 12:50:15.594  2446  2446 V StatusBar: setLightsOn(true)

No dialog appeared. It looks like the system makes the app think that the permission was granted.

I wonder why ... there must be something wrong with the manifest, but what?

I will output the whole manifest via apkanalyzer:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:minSdkVersion="23"
    android:versionCode="6"
    android:versionName="1.0.0"
    android:targetSdkVersion="26"
    package="com.javasrv">

    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED" />

    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

    <application
        android:label="@ref/0x7f060000"
        android:icon="@ref/0x7f020000">

        <activity
            android:theme="@ref/0x010300f0"
            android:label="@ref/0x7f060000"
            android:name="com.javasrv.MainActivity">

            <intent-filter>

                <action
                    android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category
                    android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

        <activity
            android:theme="@ref/0x010300f0"
            android:label="@ref/0x7f060000"
            android:name="com.javasrv.LoaderActivity">

            <intent-filter>

                <action
                    android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category
                    android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

        <activity
            android:theme="@ref/0x01030011"
            android:label="@string/0xb"
            android:icon="@ref/0x7f010000"
            android:name="com.javasrv.TestActivity"
            android:screenOrientation="1">

            <intent-filter>

                <action
                    android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category
                    android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

        <service
            android:name=".MyTestService" />

        <service
            android:name=".MyJobService"
            android:permission="android.permission.BIND_JOB_SERVICE" />

        <receiver
            android:name="Boot">

            <intent-filter
                android:priority="100">

                <action
                    android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
            </intent-filter>
        </receiver>
    </application>
</manifest>

Any ideas?

THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN SOLVED

Answer 1

May be this can help you.

Just make your in your app gradle you have compileSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion as 26.

Answer 2

If checkpermission is not working you can try the dialog permission

When your app receives PERMISSION_DENIED from checkSelfPermission(), you need to prompt the user for that permission. Android provides several methods you can use to request a permission, such as requestPermissions().

  ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this,
                    new String[]{Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE},
                    1);

Then override the method

  @Override
public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, @NonNull String[] permissions, @NonNull int[] grantResults) {
    super.onRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
    switch (requestCode) {
        case 1: {
            // If request is cancelled, the result arrays are empty.
            if (grantResults.length > 0
                    && grantResults[0] == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
                // permission was granted

            } else {
                // permission denied

                Toast.makeText(BiggerScreen.this, "Permission denied to write your External storage", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
            return;
        }
        // other 'case' lines to check for other
        // permissions this app might request
    }
}

Answer 3

Wow. All that time the problem was with AndroidManifest.xml. I specified minSdkVersion in the wrong place. I should've done that in uses-sdk xml tag, not in manifest tag, just like on the Android Developer website is written: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element

I don't know where I picked up an idea that these attributes should be written in manifest tag. Perhaps this is what gradle is doing - it transfers the attributes when compiling the apk..

Edit: In addition, one have to restart the app after permission has been granted. Otherwise, checkSelfPermission will inform that acccess has been granted, but the app will not have any access to the files: Writing external storage doesn't work until I restart the application on Android M