Package: smbfs
Version: 3.0.28-2
Severity: normal
Before Debian's recent move from 'smbfs' to 'cifs', these used to work:
mount -t smbfs //192.168.1.51/dev/hdb1 /mnt/tmp -o
username=knoppix,password=xxxxxx
mount.smbfs //192.168.1.51/dev/hdb1 /mnt/tmp -o
username=knoppix,password=xxxxxx
After the move they don't work, even when connecting to the same
unchanged server. OK, sometimes syntaxes change... so I tried
'mount.cifs'.
The 'cifs' error message is confusing:
% mount.cifs //192.168.1.51/dev/hdb1 /mnt/tmp -o
user=knoppix,password=xxxxxx
retrying with upper case share name
mount error 6 = No such device or address
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g.man mount.cifs)
It took over an hour of web searching & trial and error to discover
the new syntax:
% mount.cifs //192.168.1.51/hdb1 /mnt/tmp -o user=knoppix,password=xxxxxx ;
echo $?
0
It's almost the same as 'mount.smbfs', except: s/smbfs/cifs/
s,/dev/hdb1,/hdb1, s/username/user/.
Some observations & suggested revisions, skip ahead to the latter if 'why' is
less interesting that 'what'...
Observations on the error message:
1) "retrying with upper case share name" -- retrying what? What verb:
connecting, finding, mounting? And what does the program take to
be the share name? Users need specific diagnostics.
2) "mount error 6 = ": what does "6" mean? According to 'man mount':
RETURN CODES
mount has the following return codes (the bits can be ORed):
0 success
1 incorrect invocation or permissions
2 system error (out of memory, cannot fork, no more loop
devices)
4 internal mount bug
8 user interrupt
{...etc.}
Therefore a "6" (4+2) means a system error OR a bug? Not likely,
since the problem was just the needless text '/dev'.
Perhaps the "6" is internal to 'mount.cifs'. Users shouldn't be
distracted; put that in the 'mount.cifs' return code.
3) "no such device or address" -- which is it? And why 'device'?
Shouldn't it be no such "server name" or no such "samba share name"?
Both nouns "device" and "address" are too general.
It's extra-confusing for users trying to mount a '/dev' device.
4) "Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g.man mount.cifs)"
Not useful, since it doesn't mention the error.
Suggested revisions...
General version:
% mount -t cifs //192.168.1.51/fubar /mnt/tmp -o
user=knoppix,password=xxxxxx
No such share name '/fubar'
Retry mount with upper case share name...
No such share name '/FUBAR'
This requires the program's internal error checking logic to
distinguish between server names and share names. Which it probably
should, if it doesn't already.
User-friendly upgrader's version:
% mount -t cifs //192.168.1.51/dev/hdb1 /mnt/tmp -o
user=knoppix,password=xxxxxx
No such share name '/dev/hdb1'
Retry mount with upper case share name...
No such share name '/DEV/HDB1'
Share name prefix '/dev' in '/dev/hdb1' is valid for deprecated 'smbfs',
but not
for 'cifs -- try share name '/hdb1' instead.
(Other 'mount.smbfs' upgraders might benefit.)
Hope this helps...
-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.24-rc7-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)
(ignored: LC_ALL set to C)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Versions of packages smbfs depends on:
ii libc6 2.7-6 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii netbase 4.30 Basic TCP/IP networking system
ii samba-common 3.0.28-2 Samba common files used by both th
smbfs recommends no packages.
-- no debconf information
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