Re: [gentoo-user] Regular user can't mount/unmount mtpfs; root is OK

[Samuli Suominen <ssuominen@gentoo.org>]

On 24/07/14 07:59, Walter Dnes wrote:
>   I sent this a day or 2 ago, but it doesn't show up on the list for me.
> Apologies to anyone seeing a duplicate.
>
>   I'm a total noobie at mtpfs/FUSE.  My "excellent adventure" started
> yesterday when I got a clearout 7" tablet, and took a sample photo, and
> tried mounting the tablet... no /dev/sdb to be found anywhere.  I went
> to "Mr. Google" for help, and found out that MTP is the "new and
> improved" way of doing things.  So I installed mtpfs.  It works great
> for root, but a regular user can't mount the tablet.  The mtpfs command
> immediately returns to the command prompt, with no error message or any
> other info.  The tablet is not mounted...
>
> [d531][waltdnes][~] mtpfs ~/tablet 
> [d531][waltdnes][~]
>
>   Before anyone asks...
>
> 1) Yes, I have enabled FUSE in the kernel.  At first I hadn't, but I got
> a big red warning when I tried compiling mtpfs.  I tweaked and rebuilt
> the kernel, and rebooted, then built mtpfs.
>
> 2) Yes, I am a member of plugdev...
>
> [d531][root][~] grep plugdev /etc/group
> plugdev:x:247:waltdnes,user2
>
> 3) This PC uses mdev rather than udev.  Could that be the problem?
>
>   I've figured out a kludge to get around it.  This involves issuing a
> few commands as root.  I've added them into a file in /etc/sudoers.d/
> but I'd really rather prefer a cleaner solution.
>
> [d531][root][~] mtpfs -o allow_other /home/waltdnes/tablet
> Device 0 (VID=0bb4 and PID=2008) is UNKNOWN.
> Please report this VID/PID and the device model to the libmtp development team
> Android device detected, assigning default bug flags
>
>    When I was finished, I tried...
>
> [d531][waltdnes][~] fusermount -u tablet
> fusermount: entry for /home/waltdnes/tablet not found in /etc/mtab
>
>   I had to unmount as root...
>
> [d531][root][~] fusermount -u /home/waltdnes/tablet
>
>   I experienced similar problems with simple-mtpfs, so that's not a
> solution either.  Any ideas?
>

Install gnome-base/gvfs with USE="gphoto2 mtp" and then use gvfs-mount
to mount the device, because gvfs-mount
will make use of your PolicyKit with ConsoleKit or systemd-logind
authorization that allows mounting as a *local*
and *normal* user.
Then you don't need the mtpfs command, any group, any custom udev rules, ...