Patreon Logo Support us on Patreon to keep GamingOnLinux alive. This ensures all of our main content remains free for everyone. Just good, fresh content! Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal Logo PayPal. You can also buy games using our partner links for GOG and Humble Store.
Title: Discord
1xok 2 Jun 2018
User Avatar
  • Supporter Plus
After installing discord as snap under Ubuntu 18.4 I see a lot of these message in dmesg as soon as I start discord:

audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44308): apparmor="DENIED" operation="ptrace" profile="snap.discord.discord" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="trace" denied_mask="trace" peer="unconfined"
[37158.620284] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44309): apparmor="DENIED" operation="open" profile="snap.discord.discord" name="/proc/2521/cmdline" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="r" denied_mask="r" fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[37158.620292] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44310): apparmor="DENIED" operation="open" profile="snap.discord.discord" name="/proc/2539/cmdline" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="r" denied_mask="r" fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[37158.620297] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44311): apparmor="DENIED" operation="ptrace" profile="snap.discord.discord" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="trace" denied_mask="trace" peer="unconfined"
[37158.620313] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44312): apparmor="DENIED" operation="ptrace" profile="snap.discord.discord" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="trace" denied_mask="trace" peer="unconfined"
[37158.620331] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44313): apparmor="DENIED" operation="open" profile="snap.discord.discord" name="/proc/2634/cmdline" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="r" denied_mask="r" fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[37158.620336] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44314): apparmor="DENIED" operation="ptrace" profile="snap.discord.discord" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="trace" denied_mask="trace" peer="unconfined"
[37158.620350] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44315): apparmor="DENIED" operation="ptrace" profile="snap.discord.discord" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="trace" denied_mask="trace" peer="unconfined"
[37158.620361] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44316): apparmor="DENIED" operation="ptrace" profile="snap.discord.discord" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="trace" denied_mask="trace" peer="unconfined"
[37158.620372] audit: type=1400 audit(1527966934.264:44317): apparmor="DENIED" operation="ptrace" profile="snap.discord.discord" pid=15446 comm="Discord" requested_mask="trace" denied_mask="trace" peer="unconfined"


PID2Process:
15446 = discord
2521 = (sd-pam)
2539 = gnome-keyring-daemon
2634 = ssh-agent


It spams up the kernel buffer. I'm not the first to notice that:

https://github.com/snapcrafters/discord/issues/2

Sorry, never done anything with snaps before.
devnull 2 Jun 2018
Actually got banned from Discord for pointing out how absolutely fucked their client is. My only advice to people is DO NOT USE DISCORD, or at least use an unofficial client .. that is, until they ban those too.
nox 2 Jun 2018
What you can do for now is just using the .deb client :) It works great for me.

And devnull... I tried to report an issue to them, it was a frustrating experience...
1xok 3 Jun 2018
User Avatar
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: devnullActually got banned from Discord for pointing out how absolutely fucked their client is. My only advice to people is DO NOT USE DISCORD, or at least use an unofficial client .. that is, until they ban those too.
How they did this? By IP or username or what means "banned"?

I normally only use Mumble. But everyone always asks for Discord.
1xok 3 Jun 2018
User Avatar
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: noxWhat you can do for now is just using the .deb client :) It works great for me.

And devnull... I tried to report an issue to them, it was a frustrating experience...
The client is running. I wonder why it's constantly trying to access the gnome key ring. Is there a way to turn that off?
devnull 3 Jun 2018
Quoting: 1xokHow they did this? By IP or username or what means "banned"?

I normally only use Mumble. But everyone always asks for Discord.
Username.

Quoting: noxWhat you can do for now is just using the .deb client :) It works great for me.

And devnull... I tried to report an issue to them, it was a frustrating experience...
Ironically debian is part of the problem, false sense of security. AFAIK the same telemetry applies to you anyway unless debian completely recompiled the client? Hit F12 to watch the console or look at your firewall.

Quoting: 1xokThe client is running. I wonder why it's constantly trying to access the gnome key ring. Is there a way to turn that off?
Could it be because you enabled save password? Honestly don't know, didn't do that.
1xok 3 Jun 2018
User Avatar
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: devnullCould it be because you enabled save password? Honestly don't know, didn't do that.
I think Discord just does it for whatever reason. If you install it normally via the package manager like nox, there is maybe no AppAmor profile for the application in this case.

I have not been able to determine any functional limitations so far. But Discord tries the calls every few seconds. And I wonder what they're good for. I haven't found anything useful on the net yet. Not a big problem, I guess. But annoying.

However, I would be interested to know why they banned you. That's a bit of a serious problem if that happens.
ThePythonicCow 25 Aug 2019
Working with my son, a gamer, and with my own skills using the strace(1) command, I think I figured out what Discord is doing that is generating all the log file spam, when Discord is run inside a Snap sandbox.

Discord has a "feature" where it automatically tells all your Discord friends what game you're playing, with a "Playing World of Warcraft" (or whatever game) below your name on your friend's Discord panel(s).

Discord implements this feature by doing a scan, once every five seconds, of every numeric entry in the /proc file system. Let's say your current Linux user id is "joe", and one (of hundreds) of processes you are running is process pid == 999. Then Discord will first stat "/proc/999", and if that proc directory is owned by yourself, "joe", it will then further try to "open /proc/999/cmdline" and " readlink /proc/999/exe", in an effort to see if you're also running a recognized game executable. If (for example) it sees that you're running a World of Warcraft executable, it will tell your connected friend's Discords to add the "Playing ..." annotation below your name "Joe" on their Discord. The above stat of "/proc/999" call does not generate an error (when run by Discord inside a snap sandbox), but the additional two " open /proc/999/cmd" and "readlink /proc/999/exe" do generate EACCES (Permission denied) errors. If the only entries that Discord found matching the pattern "/proc/NNN", for some decimal number NNN, were not owned by the current Discord user, then I imagine that Discord would quietly decide that you're not running any recognized games and go on about its other business, until the next five second loop.

So ... question for snap experts. Could the Discord snap be packaged with a fake "/proc" file system, that contained exactly one entry, an empty directory "/proc/1", owned by uid 65535 (nobody)? I'd wager that Discord would cease flooding my log files with these error messages.
Salvatos 25 Aug 2019
Might be stating the obvious, but what if you just turn off the game activity option?
Ehvis 25 Aug 2019
User Avatar
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: SalvatosMight be stating the obvious, but what if you just turn off the game activity option?
That only makes it stop showing it, it still logs everything. If you let it. :D
Salvatos 25 Aug 2019
Weird. That seems wasteful.
razing32 26 Aug 2019
User Avatar
So glad i setup a TeamSpeak server for me and my friends and threw discord in the trash.
ThePythonicCow 26 Aug 2019
Above I suggested:
So ... question for snap experts. Could the Discord snap be packaged with a fake "/proc" file system, that contained exactly one entry, an empty directory "/proc/1", owned by uid 65535 (nobody)? I'd wager that Discord would cease flooding my log files with these error messages.
This suggestion of mine fails. Discord has additional expectations on certain entries under /proc and elsewhere in snap's "core" and "snapd" runtime.

Discord also expects to examine the read the symlink "/proc/self/exe", to see by what name it was invoked.

Such examination of /proc/self/exe is fairly common in Linux, allowing a single binary executable file to behave differently, depending on what name it was called when executed.

I hacked around that /proc/self/exe symlink problem, then hit another problem. Discord expected to read /proc/self/mountinfo in order to "determine nfs usage in generateSystemKey" (quoting its error message.)

I hacked around that.

I then got an error system_key.go:142: cannot determine seccomp compiler version in generateSystemKey: fork/exec /snap/snapd/current/usr/lib/snapd/snap-seccomp: no such file or directory

I hacked around that.

I then got an error system_key.go:142: cannot determine seccomp compiler version in generateSystemKey: invalid version-info length: "2c4cf1ac0f802f4eb72a2ae972b18425228c8510 2.4.1 8c73f36d3de1f71977107bf6687514f16787f639058b4db4c67b28dfdb2fd3af bpf-actlog"

I then gave up.

Perhaps I will next try running Discord inside a virtual machine, that I can setup just to keep Discord happy (and deprive it of the opportunity to spy on what else I run on my system.)
Apparition_B5 26 Aug 2019
Quoting: razing32So glad i setup a TeamSpeak server for me and my friends and threw discord in the trash.
I wish I could do the same, but my friends and acquaintances absolutely insist on Discord and won't bother trying anything else because "everyone else uses Discord and it just works."
Ehvis 26 Aug 2019
User Avatar
  • Supporter Plus
I setup Discord in its own user. That user has no access to anything but it's own empty user. I revoked all rights to see the process list (except its own). Added advantage. If I click a link, firefox starts as the "discord" user and it's set up in full privacy+wipe mode. Nothing to see, nothing to log.

Took quite a bit of doing because Ubuntu is not really set up for multi-user privacy.
razing32 27 Aug 2019
User Avatar
Quoting: Apparition_B5
Quoting: razing32So glad i setup a TeamSpeak server for me and my friends and threw discord in the trash.
I wish I could do the same, but my friends and acquaintances absolutely insist on Discord and won't bother trying anything else because "everyone else uses Discord and it just works."
True
I could say the same about my friends using Windows.
Then they laugh when i can;t get a game to run in wine.
I did manage to convince them to use Teamspeak.
But i do shoulder the cost of 5$/month for a droplet on digital ocean
Cyril 27 Aug 2019
User Avatar
Quoting: Apparition_B5
Quoting: razing32So glad i setup a TeamSpeak server for me and my friends and threw discord in the trash.
I wish I could do the same, but my friends and acquaintances absolutely insist on Discord and won't bother trying anything else because "everyone else uses Discord and it just works."
FFS that statement... I really empathize with you. It's a pain in the ass.

Quoting: razing32True
I could say the same about my friends using Windows.
Then they laugh when i can;t get a game to run in wine.
I did manage to convince them to use Teamspeak.
But i do shoulder the cost of 5$/month for a droplet on digital ocean
Teamspeak is popular too, at last It was some years ago I think, but too bad it's proprietary.
I suppose you and your friends use it mainly for vocals, what about other software like Mumble for example?

But the real question is: how did you convinced them?! :D
razing32 27 Aug 2019
User Avatar
Quoting: Cyril
Quoting: Apparition_B5
Quoting: razing32So glad i setup a TeamSpeak server for me and my friends and threw discord in the trash.
I wish I could do the same, but my friends and acquaintances absolutely insist on Discord and won't bother trying anything else because "everyone else uses Discord and it just works."
FFS that statement... I really empathize with you. It's a pain in the ass.

Quoting: razing32True
I could say the same about my friends using Windows.
Then they laugh when i can;t get a game to run in wine.
I did manage to convince them to use Teamspeak.
But i do shoulder the cost of 5$/month for a droplet on digital ocean
Teamspeak is popular too, at last It was some years ago I think, but too bad it's proprietary.
I suppose you and your friends use it mainly for vocals, what about other software like Mumble for example?

But the real question is: how did you convinced them?! :D
Have not tried Mumble but may give a shot at installing Murmur. Hope my minimal droplet can handle it .
As for convincing them , there was a small scandal a little while ago where it was revelead that supposedly some Discord staff were furries and were tollerating certain "videos" between humans and non humans being shared through discord.
FBI was apparently involved.

It also helped that the server was made and paid for by me and i maintain it so all they had to do was download the client and connect.
Think we used team speak and skype in the past before discord.
Also some friends did have some bad disconnects with discord.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon Logo Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal Logo PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Login / Register