[Pkg-samba-maint] Bug#463367: smbfs: Vague error: "mount error 6 = No such device or address"

[A. Costa]

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