Android Studio signing-config.json: Operation not permitted error on NTFS drive from Ubuntu

Question

I'm running Android Studio 3.5.3 on Ubuntu 18.04. If I create a project and build or debug/run that project from a folder on my Linux drive /home//projectname I'm able to do that successfully. If I copy that exact same project to my NTFS drive when I build or debug/run the project I see this error for both debug and release builds:

<path to project build folders>/signing-config.json: Operation not permitted

I found some information here on Stackoverflow and also via web search where the suggested remedy was to delete the signing-config.json file and rebuild. That solution did not work.

I have full rwx permissions for my group on the NTFS drive so it doesn't make any sense that the build would have file permissions issues, but for some reason that seems to be the case given the "Operation not permitted" error. It seems to me that if the build works in the Linux folders it should also work on the NTFS drive.

Question: Is this a bug with Android Studio, and is there a workaround? So far the only workaround I've found is to copy the project files over to the Linux drive and build there.

The /etc/fstab entry is below. and I am a member of gid 27 -no doubt about it.

UUID=1AE2C18EFAC1F8B7  /media/Shared/    ntfs       defaults,umask=007,gid=27    0       0

Note: changing umask=000 did not correct the issue.

The entire build.gradle for app looks like this:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 28
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.zoltonquantum.showsensors"
        minSdkVersion 24
        targetSdkVersion 28
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:28.0.0'
    implementation 'com.android.support:design:28.0.0'
    testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test:runner:1.0.2'
    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.0.2'
}

The entire build stack trace is below. I suspect that the entire problem is from this operation: at

sun.nio.fs.UnixFileAttributeViews$Posix.setMode(UnixFileAttributeViews.java:238)
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixFileAttributeViews$Posix.setPermissions(UnixFileAttributeViews.java:260)

The likely culprit is that the build process isn't aware that the drive it is writing to is an NTFS drive that is being accessed by a Linux system. Since NTFS doesn't have any notion of file permissions, Android Studio attempting to set them is throwing the "Operation not permitted" error.

I'd really like to find a better workaround than having to copy the files to the Linux partition to build them in Linux. It seems cumbersome to maintain the project files in two locations since I use the same NTFS partition to share things between both Linux and Windows.

Build stack trace:

org.gradle.api.UncheckedIOException: java.nio.file.FileSystemException: /media/Data/proj/Programming/Android/ShowSensors/app/build/intermediates/signing_config/debug/out/signing-config.json: Operation not permitted
        at org.gradle.internal.UncheckedException.throwAsUncheckedException(UncheckedException.java:61)
        at org.gradle.internal.UncheckedException.throwAsUncheckedException(UncheckedException.java:41)
        at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.invoke(JavaMethod.java:106)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.StandardTaskAction.doExecute(StandardTaskAction.java:48)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.StandardTaskAction.execute(StandardTaskAction.java:41)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.StandardTaskAction.execute(StandardTaskAction.java:28)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask$TaskActionWrapper.execute(AbstractTask.java:702)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask$TaskActionWrapper.execute(AbstractTask.java:669)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter$5.run(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:404)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:402)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:394)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$1.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:165)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:250)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:158)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:92)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DelegatingBuildOperationExecutor.run(DelegatingBuildOperationExecutor.java:31)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeAction(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:393)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:376)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.access$200(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:80)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter$TaskExecution.execute(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:213)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ExecuteStep.lambda$execute$1(ExecuteStep.java:33)
        at java.util.Optional.orElseGet(Optional.java:267)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ExecuteStep.execute(ExecuteStep.java:33)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ExecuteStep.execute(ExecuteStep.java:26)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.CleanupOutputsStep.execute(CleanupOutputsStep.java:58)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.CleanupOutputsStep.execute(CleanupOutputsStep.java:35)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ResolveInputChangesStep.execute(ResolveInputChangesStep.java:48)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ResolveInputChangesStep.execute(ResolveInputChangesStep.java:33)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.CancelExecutionStep.execute(CancelExecutionStep.java:39)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.TimeoutStep.executeWithoutTimeout(TimeoutStep.java:73)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.TimeoutStep.execute(TimeoutStep.java:54)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.CatchExceptionStep.execute(CatchExceptionStep.java:35)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.CreateOutputsStep.execute(CreateOutputsStep.java:51)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.SnapshotOutputsStep.execute(SnapshotOutputsStep.java:45)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.SnapshotOutputsStep.execute(SnapshotOutputsStep.java:31)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.CacheStep.executeWithoutCache(CacheStep.java:201)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.CacheStep.execute(CacheStep.java:70)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.CacheStep.execute(CacheStep.java:45)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.BroadcastChangingOutputsStep.execute(BroadcastChangingOutputsStep.java:49)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.StoreSnapshotsStep.execute(StoreSnapshotsStep.java:43)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.StoreSnapshotsStep.execute(StoreSnapshotsStep.java:32)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.RecordOutputsStep.execute(RecordOutputsStep.java:38)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.RecordOutputsStep.execute(RecordOutputsStep.java:24)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.SkipUpToDateStep.executeBecause(SkipUpToDateStep.java:96)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.SkipUpToDateStep.lambda$execute$0(SkipUpToDateStep.java:89)
        at java.util.Optional.map(Optional.java:215)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.SkipUpToDateStep.execute(SkipUpToDateStep.java:54)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.SkipUpToDateStep.execute(SkipUpToDateStep.java:38)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ResolveChangesStep.execute(ResolveChangesStep.java:77)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ResolveChangesStep.execute(ResolveChangesStep.java:37)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.legacy.MarkSnapshottingInputsFinishedStep.execute(MarkSnapshottingInputsFinishedStep.java:36)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.legacy.MarkSnapshottingInputsFinishedStep.execute(MarkSnapshottingInputsFinishedStep.java:26)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ResolveCachingStateStep.execute(ResolveCachingStateStep.java:90)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.steps.ResolveCachingStateStep.execute(ResolveCachingStateStep.java:48)
        at org.gradle.internal.execution.impl.DefaultWorkExecutor.execute(DefaultWorkExecutor.java:33)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:120)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveBeforeExecutionStateTaskExecuter.execute(ResolveBeforeExecutionStateTaskExecuter.java:75)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ValidatingTaskExecuter.execute(ValidatingTaskExecuter.java:62)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.execute(SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.java:108)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveBeforeExecutionOutputsTaskExecuter.execute(ResolveBeforeExecutionOutputsTaskExecuter.java:67)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveAfterPreviousExecutionStateTaskExecuter.execute(ResolveAfterPreviousExecutionStateTaskExecuter.java:46)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.CleanupStaleOutputsExecuter.execute(CleanupStaleOutputsExecuter.java:94)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.FinalizePropertiesTaskExecuter.execute(FinalizePropertiesTaskExecuter.java:46)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveTaskExecutionModeExecuter.execute(ResolveTaskExecutionModeExecuter.java:95)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.execute(SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.java:57)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.execute(SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.java:56)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.CatchExceptionTaskExecuter.execute(CatchExceptionTaskExecuter.java:36)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.EventFiringTaskExecuter$1.executeTask(EventFiringTaskExecuter.java:73)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.EventFiringTaskExecuter$1.call(EventFiringTaskExecuter.java:52)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.EventFiringTaskExecuter$1.call(EventFiringTaskExecuter.java:49)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$CallableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:416)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$CallableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:406)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$1.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:165)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:250)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:158)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.call(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:102)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.DelegatingBuildOperationExecutor.call(DelegatingBuildOperationExecutor.java:36)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.EventFiringTaskExecuter.execute(EventFiringTaskExecuter.java:49)
        at org.gradle.execution.plan.LocalTaskNodeExecutor.execute(LocalTaskNodeExecutor.java:43)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionGraph$InvokeNodeExecutorsAction.execute(DefaultTaskExecutionGraph.java:355)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionGraph$InvokeNodeExecutorsAction.execute(DefaultTaskExecutionGraph.java:343)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionGraph$BuildOperationAwareExecutionAction.execute(DefaultTaskExecutionGraph.java:336)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionGraph$BuildOperationAwareExecutionAction.execute(DefaultTaskExecutionGraph.java:322)
        at org.gradle.execution.plan.DefaultPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker$1.execute(DefaultPlanExecutor.java:134)
        at org.gradle.execution.plan.DefaultPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker$1.execute(DefaultPlanExecutor.java:129)
        at org.gradle.execution.plan.DefaultPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker.execute(DefaultPlanExecutor.java:202)
        at org.gradle.execution.plan.DefaultPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker.executeNextNode(DefaultPlanExecutor.java:193)
        at org.gradle.execution.plan.DefaultPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker.run(DefaultPlanExecutor.java:129)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:63)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ManagedExecutorImpl$1.run(ManagedExecutorImpl.java:46)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadFactoryImpl$ManagedThreadRunnable.run(ThreadFactoryImpl.java:55)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
    Caused by: java.nio.file.FileSystemException: /media/Data/proj/Programming/Android/ShowSensors/app/build/intermediates/signing_config/debug/out/signing-config.json: Operation not permitted
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.translateToIOException(UnixException.java:91)
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:102)
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:107)
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixFileAttributeViews$Posix.setMode(UnixFileAttributeViews.java:238)
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixFileAttributeViews$Posix.setPermissions(UnixFileAttributeViews.java:260)
        at java.nio.file.Files.setPosixFilePermissions(Files.java:2045)
        at com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.SigningConfigMetadata$Companion.save(SigningConfigMetadata.kt:61)
        at com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.SigningConfigWriterTask.doTaskAction(SigningConfigWriterTask.kt:58)
        at com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.NonIncrementalTask$taskAction$$inlined$recordTaskAction$1.invoke(AndroidVariantTask.kt:51)
        at com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.NonIncrementalTask$taskAction$$inlined$recordTaskAction$1.invoke(AndroidVariantTask.kt:31)
        at com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.Blocks.recordSpan(Blocks.java:91)
        at com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.NonIncrementalTask.taskAction(NonIncrementalTask.kt:34)
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor77.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
        at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.invoke(JavaMethod.java:103)
        ... 91 more

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it belongs to [Ask Ubuntu](https://askubuntu.com). — Martin Zeitler, Dec 28 '19 at 05:18
>> I'm voting to close this question -- It's an Android Studio programming problem. But thanks for your input. — Ken, Dec 29 '19 at 20:50

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 28 '19 at 05:07

0

If you have given signingConfig in build.gradle, Check the path of given file OR Replace with following lines (It will take default debug.keystore for signing your APK:

android {
  buildTypes {
    release {
      signingConfig debug.signingConfig
    }
  }
}

Thank you.

answered Dec 28 '19 at 05:07

Pratik Butani

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What's the point of using a `debug` signing-config for a `release` build? – Martin Zeitler Dec 28 '19 at 05:23
That is just for example as he didn't paste build.gradle. He will get answer if he has done mistake in path as I wrote ***Check the path of given file*** – Pratik Butani Dec 28 '19 at 05:27
The error message reads "Operation not permitted" and not "File not found" (I'd suspect it to be a driver-setup issue, which results in a permission issue). The "not permitted" implies that either the directory or the file could be located - it is only the question, which operation it does not like. – Martin Zeitler Dec 28 '19 at 05:28
I got this error before and I solved it as the given solution. – Pratik Butani Dec 28 '19 at 06:11
Unfortunately adding "signingConfig debug.signingConfig" as suggested did not correct the problem. – Ken Dec 29 '19 at 20:57

Martin Zeitler · Answer 2 · 2019-12-28T05:24:22.130

The ntfs-3g driver usually works quite seamless - however, the mount-options in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab dictate how it behaves. Since the question did not consider the mount-options (which may also result in different file-system permissions), this only permits a general hint to review them once. This is not even an Android Studio or Gradle question, but rather a question for Ask Ubuntu (since the "Operation not permitted" appears to be a symptom and is likely not the root cause).

Ken · Answer 3 · 2019-12-30T05:21:59.890

I found a solution that works for me. Based on the solution found here: Change gradle build directory in android studio?

Add the following section to build.gradle above and outside the android tag:

    allprojects {
        /*
            When compiling a project on a NTFS partition from
            Linux set the buildDir so that the intermediate files
            are placed on the Linux partition.
            This fixes the signing-config.json: Operation not permitted
            problem when the intermediate files go to the NTFS partition.

            To compile from Windows comment out the buildDir line below.

         */
        buildDir = "/home/myUser/proj/myBuildOutputFolder/${rootProject.name}/${project.name}"
    }

android {
   // other settings ...
}

This solution has the advantage that if I run Android Studio on Windows all I need to do is comment out the one line in build.gradle.

Android Studio signing-config.json: Operation not permitted error on NTFS drive from Ubuntu

3 Answers3