spacedriveapp/spacedrive · critical · anyhow::Error

Could not determine data directory

Error message

Could not determine data directory

What it means

Thrown by default_data_dir() in the #[cfg(target_os = "ios")] branch when dirs::data_dir() returns None. On iOS this resolves the platform data directory (app container/Library/Application Support) and joins 'spacedrive'. It fails when the iOS platform APIs cannot report the container path, typically because the process is not running inside a proper app sandbox (no bundle identifier / NSHomeDirectory unavailable).

Source

Thrown at core/src/config/mod.rs:27

pub mod app_config;
pub mod migration;

pub use app_config::{
	AppConfig, JobLoggingConfig, LogStreamConfig, LoggingConfig, ProxyPairingConfig, ServiceConfig,
	SpacebotConfig,
};
pub use migration::Migrate;

/// Default data directory: `~/.spacedrive` on desktop, platform data dir on mobile.
pub fn default_data_dir() -> Result<PathBuf> {
	#[cfg(not(any(target_os = "ios", target_os = "android")))]
	let dir = dirs::home_dir()
		.ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("Could not determine home directory"))?
		.join(".spacedrive");

	#[cfg(target_os = "ios")]
	let dir = dirs::data_dir()
		.ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("Could not determine data directory"))?
		.join("spacedrive");

	#[cfg(target_os = "android")]
	let dir = dirs::data_dir()
		.ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("Could not determine data directory"))?
		.join("spacedrive");

	// Create directory if it doesn't exist
	fs::create_dir_all(&dir)?;

	Ok(dir)
}

/// User preferences
#[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
pub struct Preferences {
	pub theme: String,    // "light", "dark", "system"
	pub language: String, // ISO 639-1 code

View on GitHub (pinned to 6dfeccf211)

Solutions

1. Run the code inside the actual app process (Xcode/xcitest), where NSHomeDirectory and the data container are available.
2. Pass an explicit data directory through AppConfig instead of relying on default_data_dir() in test builds.
3. In Rust tests, skip or gate assertions that call default_data_dir() on iOS with #[cfg(not(target_os = "ios"))].

Example fix

// before
let dir = sd_core::config::default_data_dir()?; // fails outside app container

// after (tests / tools)
#[cfg(target_os = "ios")]
let dir = std::path::PathBuf::from("/tmp/spacedrive-test");
#[cfg(not(target_os = "ios"))]
let dir = sd_core::config::default_data_dir()?;

// iOS: only rely on default_data_dir() inside a real app container
#[cfg(target_os = "ios")]
fn data_dir() -> anyhow::Result<std::path::PathBuf> {
    dirs::data_dir()
        .map(|d| d.join("spacedrive"))
        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("no iOS container; run inside the app or inject a data dir"))
}

// in tests/tools, fail fast with a clear message instead of crashing deep in config load
let dir = match sd_core::config::default_data_dir() {
    Ok(d) => d,
    Err(_) if cfg!(test) => std::path::PathBuf::from("/tmp/spacedrive-test"),
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
};

When it happens

Trigger: Executing iOS-targeted core code outside a real app lifecycle: plain unit tests run on the iOS simulator host, an iOS binary launched via ssh/debug shell without a bundle container, or a test harness compiled with target_os=ios that calls default_data_dir().

Common situations: CI running `cargo test` for an iOS target without xctest-booted app containers; prototype iOS app (apps/ios) launched in an unsupported way; entitlement or provisioning changes that break the app container.

Related errors

• Could not determine home directory
• Could not determine home directory
• Cannot set key: {}
• Failed to start systemd service: {}
• No library selected. Run 'sd library list' to see available

AI-assisted analysis of spacedriveapp/spacedrive@6dfeccf211 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/eb4669b14f2f1e9f. Report an issue: GitHub.