[SOLVED] Permission problems with 8.xx

[Phosphoric]

Try setting a longer IP address timeout in System Config. The default is 90 secs but it can be up to 180 secs. Thats a three minute wait for an IP address to be assigned.

It's very odd that have to completely regenerate the Library just because an IP address was not assigned. The mount will of course fail but once its re-mounted the Library should appear again as it was before.

Hi all,

just to add to the soup... from my Linux Mint I connect to moOde this way:

sftp://pi@moode-lounge.local/

I add a bookmark after I successfully connect using one of the icons that "Network" offers me; the other one being possibly SMB (but I think now it is disabled)

Cheers, A.

Thanks Nutul,
I've tried that format also and still run in to write permission problems.

[Phosphoric]

@Phosphoric

You said

I am not inclined to alter too much the set up of my existing Linux Mint 20 PC as it connects flawlessly  to mo0de 7.6x, my RPI NAS and two other Linux based computers.

I can either revert to mo0de 7.6x which works fine or accept the limitations of 8.20

I'm perplexed.

I have now brought up a moOde 7.6.0 player side-by-side with my 8.2.0 players. I don't see a difference in SMB behavior beyond the need in 8.2.0 to enable the SMB file service explicitly, at least in the quick tests I've done.

In both versions, on first attempt to open the player's SMB share(s) via the host icon that appears in my Linux Mint 20.3 File Manager I have to declare myself registered user pi/(the password I gave user pi on my moOde player). After than I can continue to access shares even if I swap out USB drives on the players. As before, I've tested with both a single-partition USB thumbdrive with a VFAT file system and a two-partition uSD card with moOde image on it (VFAT/ext4). I can both read and write to the file systems on the USB partitions. [Some software says "VFAT", some "FAT32", although FAT32 is actually an extension of VFAT.]

In both versions, I can also ssh to the moOde player as user pi/(the password I gave this user) and read the mounted USB partition(s). I can write to them only as root, however, which is easily done with the sudo command.

As an aside and as I've said previously, Linux Mint and/or the Caja File Manager that's part of the MATE desktop environment I'm using seem to cache the SMB credentials so it remembers them when I revisit a host. That has to be considered when interpreting test scenarios.

Regards,
Kent

Hi Kent,

I am still unable get past the Moode 8.20 "Unable to mount location.....etc" error message in the normal Network file manager even though mo0de 7.6x and raspberrypi NAS open perfectly.  This is what bugs me most of all, it's just mo0de 8.20 that won't work.

I am able to access mo0de 8.20 via Network/Connect to Server/192.168.68.xxx. The contents of the USB mounted sd card are fully displayed and I am able to drill down to the media/'Moode playe' directory where all my music files reside.  However, they are read only. 
If I attempt to open the 'Moode playe' directory using the "Open as root" option after entering the authentication password I get an error message
"Could not display '/run /user/1000/gvfs/sftp:hos....168.68.113/-media/Moode playe"
"The location is not a folder"

How do you manage to open your media directory as root please?

Incidentally, my Linux Mint 20x pc is using the Cinnamon desktop.  Don't know if that makes a difference to your Mate desktop.

Thanks
Ray

[TheOldPresbyope]

@Phosphoric

Hi, Ray.

It sure feels like you are trying to do things the hard way.

We're talking "bog standard" SMB protocol here. Linux and other O/Ses I use deal with it as a matter of course. They often refer to the SMB shares as "Windows shares" although IBM invented the technology for OS/2.

I used Linux Mint in my previous replies to show this is true for the OS you use but it could have been some other OS instead. I'll stick to it for this reply as well.

The GUI-based file managers in the various LM desktop environments have no trouble mounting moOde's SMB shares without resort to special gimmickry such as using "Network/Connect" or sftp. I used the Caja file manager in the MATE desktop before but in the following I'll use the Nemo file manager in the Cinnamon desktop.

Here's an example where I want to work with a moOde 8.2.0 player named m82pirate ('cuz it has a Pirate Audio DAC Hat) which has an attached USB thumbdrive containing a single VFAT partition with the partition label RALLY8GB.

First, let's ask the file manager to look at my LAN (e.g., "Network"). What I see on the screen is the window I've captured here. It shows my usual hodgepodge of hosts (aside: host omv-hc1 is an Odroid HC1 running Open Media Vault and offering several services).
 
   

Now I double-click on the m82pirate icon.  As you can see, the resulting window shows moOde's customary built-in shares plus my USB thumbdrive.

   

Continuing, I double-click on the SMB share named "RALLY8GB". I get a popup saying a password is required. It's here that I tell the file manager to connect as a registered user and enter the moOde player's username pi/password <whatever I've set it to be>.

   

Now I have the traditional file manager view of icons for the first-tier directories (folders, if you will) on the thumbdrive. I didn't bother to capture a screenshot here.

Finally, I drilled down to the directory named "Test" which I'd previously created on this drive. As you can see, I just now created a new file for fun in this directory named "New file for Phosphoric.txt" simply by right-clicking in the windows and selecting "create a new document/empty document" from the menu. 

   

To borrow a phrase from an amateur-magician friend, "at no times did my fingers leave my hands."

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Kent

PS - if the same isn't true for you, we'll next have to dive into the nitty gritty of your system.

[Phosphoric]

@Phosphoric

Hi, Ray.

It sure feels like you are trying to do things the hard way.

We're talking "bog standard" SMB protocol here. Linux and other O/Ses I use deal with it as a matter of course. They often refer to the SMB shares as "Windows shares" although IBM invented the technology for OS/2.

I used Linux Mint in my previous replies to show this is true for the OS you use but it could have been some other OS instead. I'll stick to it for this reply as well.

The GUI-based file managers in the various LM desktop environments have no trouble mounting moOde's SMB shares without resort to special gimmickry such as using "Network/Connect" or sftp. I used the Caja file manager in the MATE desktop before but in the following I'll use the Nemo file manager in the Cinnamon desktop.

Here's an example where I want to work with a moOde 8.2.0 player named m82pirate ('cuz it has a Pirate Audio DAC Hat) which has an attached USB thumbdrive containing a single VFAT partition with the partition label RALLY8GB.

First, let's ask the file manager to look at my LAN (e.g., "Network"). What I see on the screen is the window I've captured here. It shows my usual hodgepodge of hosts (aside: host omv-hc1 is an Odroid HC1 running Open Media Vault and offering several services).
 


Now I double-click on the m82pirate icon.  As you can see, the resulting window shows moOde's customary built-in shares plus my USB thumbdrive.



Continuing, I double-click on the SMB share named "RALLY8GB". I get a popup saying a password is required. It's here that I tell the file manager to connect as a registered user and enter the moOde player's username pi/password <whatever I've set it to be>.



Now I have the traditional file manager view of icons for the first-tier directories (folders, if you will) on the thumbdrive. I didn't bother to capture a screenshot here.

Finally, I drilled down to the directory named "Test" which I'd previously created on this drive. As you can see, I just now created a new file for fun in this directory named "New file for Phosphoric.txt" simply by right-clicking in the windows and selecting "create a new document/empty document" from the menu. 



To borrow a phrase from an amateur-magician friend, "at no times did my fingers leave my hands."

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Kent

PS - if the same isn't true for you, we'll next have to dive into the nitty gritty of your system.

Hi Kent, how grateful I am that you have spent so much time on such a poor student. I really do appreciate it.

You've given me a brilliant and time consuming tutorial on how to achieve access to my music files......sadly, yet again , my system has failed at the first hurdle.

I'll try to add screenshots like you.

....... Well, i took some screenshots of the difference between mo0de 8.20 and mo0de 7.61 but they appear to be too large to post.  
How do you do that?

Basically I get the same as your first screenshot.  When I double click on my MOODE icon (like your m82pirate) I get an error message:
"Unable to mount location. Failed to retieve share list: Invalid argument"

Then I put mo0de 7.61 back in my pi and did the same thing and this time the I was able to follow through exactly as you showed with your example.

I can also do the same thing with my RPI based NAS and two other Linux based PCs to access and execute fully.

It's just mo0de 8.20 that won't cooperate. I can't get by the first error message.

Unfortunately you are not able to recreate the same problem so it's very hard to suggest a fix.

Incidentally, I also tried loading up a live CD Mint 20.0, absolutely clean, and got the same access problem.

My network is a mesh system of 3 x Deco M5 with one of the units running in router mode, just in case that's odd. Thing is , I keep coming back to all the other Linux based units, including mo0de7.61, work OK.

Stumped
Ray

[TheOldPresbyope]

@Phosphoric

Actually, at this point I think your LAN configuration may indeed be playing a role here. Unfortunately, both GUI-based file managers are opaque. I have some things I have to do this morning and then I’ll see what we can do next from the Linux Mint side.

Regards,
Kent

[TheOldPresbyope]

@Phosphoric

Wait. A penny just dropped. Back in your post #33 you said

I am able to access mo0de 8.20 via Network/Connect to Server/192.168.68.xxx. The contents of the USB mounted sd card are fully displayed and I am able to drill down to the media/'Moode playe' directory where all my music files reside.  However, they are read only. 

You must be using the file manager "Connect to Server..." option with type "SSH". That just leads to more complication.

Remember, we've been talking about SMB shares here. Try the "Connect to Server..." option with type "Windows Share" (aka SMB Share) instead. You'll have to name the share. In the case of my earlier example with share RALLY8GB on my "m82pirate" player the resulting file manager prompt looks like the following after I filled it out

   

Notes: 1) I don't have local DNS service so I have to add the .local pseudo-domain to the server's hostname. The server's numeric IP address would work just as well. 2) "WORKGROUP" is the domain name for moOde's shares unless you've made changes to its Samba configuration.

After connecting, I can read and write files to the share without further entry of any credentials.

Now, back to why you can't open the shares by clicking on the host icon. Candidly, I don't know how to debug this. My spidey sense tells me this is related somehow to how your LAN is dealing with mDNS and DNS queries but I haven't thought of a way to look into what the Linux Mint file manager is doing. 

Since moOde 8.2 introduced the ability to share files via NFS instead of/in addition to SMB, I suppose you could try the NFS route. It's not my cup of tea and I have no idea how well/poorly the Linux Mint file manager can navigate it.

ETA - Another late thought. Are you booting moOde from this "USB mounted SDcard"?

Regards,
Kent

[TheOldPresbyope]

@Phosphoric

As a postscript, all along I have been assuming (who can forget Benny Hill's mini-lecture on "assume"?) that your USB-mounted SD card is not the system card. 

If, however, you are booting moOde from this USB-mounted uSD card, and if your music files are stored in the /media directory of the filesystem on this card, then you won't be able to access the files using the method I described above. As you can see in your smb.conf file, there's no SMB share defined for /media itself, only for the filesystems of any external devices that have been mounted by Linux in the /media directory.

I suppose you could create a custom smb.conf file but I don't recommend it. This file is subject to change as moOde's configuration settings are changed.

The alternatives are to move your music files to /mnt/SDCARD or to place them on a separate USB drive (which can be another uSD card). I highly recommend the latter since a separate card won't get overwritten by fresh moOde installs.

Regards,
Kent

[Phosphoric]

@Phosphoric

As a postscript, all along I have been assuming (who can forget Benny Hill's mini-lecture on "assume"?) that your USB-mounted SD card is not the system card. 

If, however, you are booting moOde from this USB-mounted uSD card, and if your music files are stored in the /media directory of the filesystem on this card, then you won't be able to access the files using the method I described above. As you can see in your smb.conf file, there's no SMB share defined for /media itself, only for the filesystems of any external devices that have been mounted by Linux in the /media directory.

I suppose you could create a custom smb.conf file but I don't recommend it. This file is subject to change as moOde's configuration settings are changed.

The alternatives are to move your music files to /mnt/SDCARD or to place them on a separate USB drive (which can be another uSD card). I highly recommend the latter since a separate card won't get overwritten by fresh moOde installs.

Regards,
Kent

Hi Kent, thank you once again for your persistence in my problem.

I am not booting from this USB mounted sd card first of all.

I've just tried connecting via a windows share as you suggested and I get a similar error message "Failed to mount Windows share: Invalid argument"

Despite all the help that I have received i have decided to call it a day, I've formatted and mounted 3 different sd cards dozens of times to no avail. I'm getting worried about wearing out the sd slot on my rpi motherboard!
For the time being, my workaround is to remove the USB mounted sd card and transfer all the flac music files to my NAS. That all connects fine to mo0de 8.20 and I'm able to edit my rpi NAS easily from my Linux Mint PC.

Maybe somebody else will have the same experience and come up with a solution, but until then I'm giving it a rest.

Thanks again for all who have tried to help.
Regards
Ray

[Phosphoric]

@Phosphoric

As a postscript, all along I have been assuming (who can forget Benny Hill's mini-lecture on "assume"?) that your USB-mounted SD card is not the system card. 

If, however, you are booting moOde from this USB-mounted uSD card, and if your music files are stored in the /media directory of the filesystem on this card, then you won't be able to access the files using the method I described above. As you can see in your smb.conf file, there's no SMB share defined for /media itself, only for the filesystems of any external devices that have been mounted by Linux in the /media directory.

I suppose you could create a custom smb.conf file but I don't recommend it. This file is subject to change as moOde's configuration settings are changed.

The alternatives are to move your music files to /mnt/SDCARD or to place them on a separate USB drive (which can be another uSD card). I highly recommend the latter since a separate card won't get overwritten by fresh moOde installs.

Regards,
Kent

Hi Kent,  thank you once again for your persistence in my problem.

I am not booting from this USB mounted sd card first of all.

I've just tried connecting via a windows share as you suggested and I get a similar error message "Failed to mount Windows share: Invalid argument"

Despite all the help that I have received i have decided to call it a day, I've formatted and mounted 3 different sd cards dozens of times to no avail.  I'm getting worried about wearing out the sd slot on my rpi motherboard!
For the time being, my workaround is to remove the USB mounted sd card and transfer all the flac music files to my NAS.  That all connects fine to mo0de 8.20 and I'm able to edit my rpi NAS easily from my Linux Mint PC.

Maybe somebody else will have the same experience and come up with a solution, but until then I'm giving it a rest.

Thanks again for all who have tried to help.
Regards
Ray

Finally found the problem.  It appears to be a corrupt avahi-daemon issue.

I completely removed avahi-daemon files that I could find in Synaptic Package manager and re-installed them.

Now have full access to mo0de and my RPI NAS.    

Thanks again to all who helped me with this issue, especially TheOldPresbyope.

Regards
Ray

[TheOldPresbyope]

Nice catch!