diff --git a/gio/gdocumentportal.c b/gio/gdocumentportal.c
index 56378b1e6..154cc74df 100644
--- a/gio/gdocumentportal.c
+++ b/gio/gdocumentportal.c
@@ -31,9 +31,6 @@
 #include "gunixfdlist.h"
 #endif
 
-#ifndef O_PATH
-#define O_PATH 0
-#endif
 #ifndef O_CLOEXEC
 #define O_CLOEXEC 0
 #else
@@ -92,76 +89,6 @@ init_document_portal (void)
   return (documents != NULL && documents_mountpoint != NULL);
 }
 
-char *
-g_document_portal_add_document (GFile   *file,
-                                GError **error)
-{
-  char *doc_path, *basename;
-  char *doc_id = NULL;
-  char *doc_uri = NULL;
-  char *path = NULL;
-  GUnixFDList *fd_list = NULL;
-  int fd, fd_in, errsv;
-  gboolean ret;
-
-  if (!init_document_portal ())
-    {
-      g_set_error (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_NOT_INITIALIZED,
-                   "Document portal is not available");
-      goto out;
-    }
-
-  path = g_file_get_path (file);
-  fd = g_open (path, O_PATH | O_CLOEXEC);
-  errsv = errno;
-
-  if (fd == -1)
-    {
-      g_set_error (error, G_IO_ERROR, g_io_error_from_errno (errsv),
-                   "Failed to open %s", path);
-      goto out;
-    }
-
-#ifndef HAVE_O_CLOEXEC
-  fcntl (fd, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC);
-#endif
-
-  fd_list = g_unix_fd_list_new ();
-  fd_in = g_unix_fd_list_append (fd_list, fd, error);
-  g_close (fd, NULL);
-
-  if (fd_in == -1)
-    goto out;
-
-  ret = gxdp_documents_call_add_sync (documents,
-                                      g_variant_new_handle (fd_in),
-                                      TRUE,
-                                      TRUE,
-                                      fd_list,
-                                      &doc_id,
-                                      NULL,
-                                      NULL,
-                                      error);
-
-  if (!ret)
-    goto out;
-
-  basename = g_path_get_basename (path);
-  doc_path = g_build_filename (documents_mountpoint, doc_id, basename, NULL);
-  g_free (basename);
-
-  doc_uri = g_filename_to_uri (doc_path, NULL, NULL);
-  g_free (doc_path);
-
- out:
-  if (fd_list)
-    g_object_unref (fd_list);
-  g_free (path);
-  g_free (doc_id);
-
-  return doc_uri;
-}
-
 /* Flags accepted by org.freedesktop.portal.Documents.AddFull */
 enum {
   XDP_ADD_FLAGS_REUSE_EXISTING             =  (1 << 0),
@@ -210,7 +137,14 @@ g_document_portal_add_documents (GList       *uris,
         {
           int fd;
 
-          fd = g_open (path, O_CLOEXEC | O_PATH);
+          fd = g_open (path, O_CLOEXEC | O_RDWR);
+          if (fd == -1 && (errno == EACCES || errno == EISDIR))
+            {
+              /* If we don't have write access, fall back to read-only,
+               * and stop requesting the write permission */
+              fd = g_open (path, O_CLOEXEC | O_RDONLY);
+              permissions[1] = NULL;
+            }
           if (fd >= 0)
             {
 #ifndef HAVE_O_CLOEXEC
diff --git a/gio/gdocumentportal.h b/gio/gdocumentportal.h
index adb1b974e..82d32640e 100644
--- a/gio/gdocumentportal.h
+++ b/gio/gdocumentportal.h
@@ -23,9 +23,6 @@
 
 G_BEGIN_DECLS
 
-char * g_document_portal_add_document (GFile   *file,
-                                       GError **error);
-
 GList * g_document_portal_add_documents (GList       *uris,
                                          const char  *app_id,
                                          GError     **error);
diff --git a/gio/gopenuriportal.c b/gio/gopenuriportal.c
index 38d60bf68..b798d7cd1 100644
--- a/gio/gopenuriportal.c
+++ b/gio/gopenuriportal.c
@@ -31,9 +31,6 @@
 #include "gunixfdlist.h"
 #endif
 
-#ifndef O_PATH
-#define O_PATH 0
-#endif
 #ifndef O_CLOEXEC
 #define O_CLOEXEC 0
 #else
@@ -107,7 +104,7 @@ g_openuri_portal_open_uri (const char  *uri,
 
       path = g_file_get_path (file);
 
-      fd = g_open (path, O_PATH | O_CLOEXEC);
+      fd = g_open (path, O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC);
       errsv = errno;
       if (fd == -1)
         {
@@ -318,7 +315,7 @@ g_openuri_portal_open_uri_async (const char          *uri,
         g_object_set_data (G_OBJECT (task), "open-file", GINT_TO_POINTER (TRUE));
 
       path = g_file_get_path (file);
-      fd = g_open (path, O_PATH | O_CLOEXEC);
+      fd = g_open (path, O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC);
       errsv = errno;
       if (fd == -1)
         {