nRF Connect for Desktop 5.3.0: App installation fails with EISDIR error on Linux

[Grzegorz Blach0]

When attempting to install a downloadable app in nRF Connect for Desktop 5.3.0 on Linux, the installation fails with an EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory error. The same operation works correctly in version 5.2.1.

Error occurred in handler for 'apps:install-downloadable-app': Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, copyfile '/tmp/fOmDuU/pc-nrfconnect-ble' -> '/home/magik/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-ble'
at async Object.copyFile (node:internal/fs/promises:623:10)
at async module.exports (/tmp/.mount_nrf_cowyj5fR/resources/app.asar/node_modules/move-file/index.js:31:4)
at async IOe (/tmp/.mount_nrf_cowyj5fR/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:643:19341)
at async X5 (/tmp/.mount_nrf_cowyj5fR/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:645:1881)
at async wOe (/tmp/.mount_nrf_cowyj5fR/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:645:1756)
at async WebContents.<anonymous> (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:86160) {
errno: -21,
code: 'EISDIR',
syscall: 'copyfile',
path: '/tmp/fOmDuU/pc-nrfconnect-ble',
dest: '/home/magik/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-ble'
}

Deleting /home/magik/.nrfconnect-apps/ doesn't help.

[Vidar Berg]

Hello,

Thank you for reporting. I was able to reproduce this on a Ubuntu 25.04 PC but seems like it was not reproducible on 24.04 LTS. Developers are looking into this now and hope to have a bug fix release ready soon.

Best regards,

Vidar

[Grzegorz Blach0]

If this bug only occurs on certain distributions, I'd like to clarify that I'm using Fedora 44.

[Vidar Berg]

Thanks for this detail. I will add this to the report.

[LongQi]

$ ./nrf_connect_for_desktop.appimage --no-sandbox
[1807578:0505/173134.866588:ERROR:mime_util_xdg.cc(137)] Invalid mime.cache file does not contain null prior to ALIAS_LIST_OFFSET=44
Error occurred in handler for 'apps:install-downloadable-app': Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, copyfile '/tmp/qASoNu/pc-nrfconnect-dtm' -> '/home/longqi/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-dtm'
at async Object.copyFile (node:internal/fs/promises:623:10)
at async module.exports (/tmp/.mount_nrf_coWEuCGJ/resources/app.asar/node_modules/move-file/index.js:31:4)
at async IOe (/tmp/.mount_nrf_coWEuCGJ/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:643:19341)
at async X5 (/tmp/.mount_nrf_coWEuCGJ/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:645:1881)
at async wOe (/tmp/.mount_nrf_coWEuCGJ/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:645:1756)
at async WebContents.<anonymous> (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:86160) {
errno: -21,
code: 'EISDIR',
syscall: 'copyfile',
path: '/tmp/qASoNu/pc-nrfconnect-dtm',
dest: '/home/longqi/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-dtm'
}
Error occurred in handler for 'apps:install-downloadable-app': Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, copyfile '/tmp/PMpqH2/pc-nrfconnect-programmer' -> '/home/longqi/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-programmer'
at async Object.copyFile (node:internal/fs/promises:623:10)
at async module.exports (/tmp/.mount_nrf_coWEuCGJ/resources/app.asar/node_modules/move-file/index.js:31:4)
at async IOe (/tmp/.mount_nrf_coWEuCGJ/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:643:19341)
at async X5 (/tmp/.mount_nrf_coWEuCGJ/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:645:1881)
at async wOe (/tmp/.mount_nrf_coWEuCGJ/resources/app.asar/dist/main.js:645:1756)
at async WebContents.<anonymous> (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:86160) {
errno: -21,
code: 'EISDIR',
syscall: 'copyfile',
path: '/tmp/PMpqH2/pc-nrfconnect-programmer',
dest: '/home/longqi/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-programmer'
}
^C%                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS 6.8.0-110-generic #110-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Mar 19 15:09:20 UTC 2026 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

also have this issue

[Vidar Berg]

Thank you. I will add to my bug report that the issue has also been seen on 24.04 LTS.