[Scummvm-tracker] [ScummVM :: Bugs] #11753: ANDROID: On Android 10+ (API 29+) external storage is no longer browsable

[ScummVM :: Bugs]

#11753: ANDROID: On Android 10+ (API 29+) external storage is no longer browsable
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Reporter:  antoniou79                            |      Owner:  (none)
    Type:  defect                                |     Status:  new
Priority:  high                                  |  Component:  Port:
Keywords:  API 29, Android 10, Android 11, File  |  Android
  access, External Storage, Scoped Storage       |       Game:
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 Starting November 2nd 2020 all app updates on the Play Store must target
 API 29 or higher (https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-
 practices/develop/target-sdk):
  Note: From 2 November 2020, app updates must target Android 10 (API level
 29) or higher.

 However:
 - API level 29 introduces some strict file access policies, and certain
 functions that we were using to browse external (to our app) folders, will
 be now returning null/ empty lists.
 - See post https://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?p=89631#p89631 by
 forum member Vince (on Android 10).

 My current physical devices go only up to API level 28. I can only test on
 emulated devices for higher API level, but this is not as fast and it's
 kind of harder to catch such issues.

 For example, I have set up a Android x86 emulated device running on API 30
 (Android 10.0+) but the folders in the emulated SD Card can be seen
 (unlike the screenshots provided by forum member Vince). However, their
 contents are not listed and choosing a valid game folder does not result
 in adding the game but rather to the error "ScummVM could not find any
 game in the specified directory!"

 For the moment we're back to targeting API 28 (Android 9). This is set in
 build.gradle as "targetSdkVersion"

 References I found for figuring out a possible solution:
 https://developer.android.com/about/versions/10/privacy/changes
 https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/storage
 https://www.raywenderlich.com/9577211-scoped-storage-in-android-10
 -getting-started
 https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage#scoped-storage
 https://android.jlelse.eu/handling-files-in-code-after-the-android-10
 -released-2bea0e16d35
 https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57449242/android-q-10-ask-permission-
 to-get-access-all-storage-scoped-storage
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Ticket URL: <https://bugs.scummvm.org/ticket/11753>
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