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

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

[Walter Dnes]

  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?

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications

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

[walt]

On 07/23/2014 09:59 PM, 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?

I vaguely remember suffering through the same problem when I bought my Nexus7
tablet from google about a year ago.  (My memories now are a bit fuzzy.)

I believe I had to add this file manually:

#cat /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules 
SUBSYSTEM=="usb",ATTRS{idVendor}=="18d1",ATTRS{idProduct}=="4e41",MODE="0666",OWNER="wa1ter"

I harvested those hex numbers from running "lsusb -v" IIRC.

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

[Mark David Dumlao]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 3075 bytes --]

On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 11:49 AM, walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 07/23/2014 09:59 PM, 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?
>
> I vaguely remember suffering through the same problem when I bought my
> Nexus7
> tablet from google about a year ago.  (My memories now are a bit fuzzy.)
>
> I believe I had to add this file manually:
>
> #cat /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
>
> SUBSYSTEM=="usb",ATTRS{idVendor}=="18d1",ATTRS{idProduct}=="4e41",MODE="0666",OWNER="wa1ter"
>
> I harvested those hex numbers from running "lsusb -v" IIRC.
>
>
The idea behind w41ter's plan is to make sure that the device file
corresponding to the mtp device is read-writable by the user running mtpfs.

You mentioned that you are a member of the plugdev group, but does the
plugdev group actually get ownership of the mtp device? This is something
you'll have to investigate in your mdev rules.




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

[Samuli Suominen]

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, ...

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

[Walter Dnes]

On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 08:07:10AM +0300, Samuli Suominen wrote

> 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, ...

  Pulling in gnome-base/gvfs and media-libs/libgphoto2 isn't that big an
issue.  The question is... will I be able to mount from a straight text
console, especially when X is not running?

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications

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

[Samuli Suominen]

On 25/07/14 09:36, Walter Dnes wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 08:07:10AM +0300, Samuli Suominen wrote
>
>> 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, ...
>   Pulling in gnome-base/gvfs and media-libs/libgphoto2 isn't that big an
> issue.  The question is... will I be able to mount from a straight text
> console, especially when X is not running?
>

Semi-long answer

Yes, if you have /etc/init.d/consolekit in your default runlevel, and
sys-auth/consolekit built with USE="pam"
and sys-auth/pambase built with USE="consolekit", you get a PAM module
called pam_ck_connector.so
So, when you login to text console, pam_ck_connector.so kicks in and
will tell PolicyKit you are a local user,
it will show up in `ck-list-sessions` command as "active = TRUE" -line
Then, when you run gvfs-mount from text console, it will query PolicyKit
if you are allowed or not, and
you are, since pam_ck_connector.so has done the job

Short answer:

Yes, everything related works from command line outside of X as well

- Samuli

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

[Samuli Suominen]

On 25/07/14 12:35, Samuli Suominen wrote:
> On 25/07/14 09:36, Walter Dnes wrote:
>> On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 08:07:10AM +0300, Samuli Suominen wrote
>>
>>> 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, ...
>>   Pulling in gnome-base/gvfs and media-libs/libgphoto2 isn't that big an
>> issue.  The question is... will I be able to mount from a straight text
>> console, especially when X is not running?
>>
> Semi-long answer
>
> Yes, if you have /etc/init.d/consolekit in your default runlevel, and
> sys-auth/consolekit built with USE="pam"
> and sys-auth/pambase built with USE="consolekit", you get a PAM module
> called pam_ck_connector.so
> So, when you login to text console, pam_ck_connector.so kicks in and
> will tell PolicyKit you are a local user,
> it will show up in `ck-list-sessions` command as "active = TRUE" -line
> Then, when you run gvfs-mount from text console, it will query PolicyKit
> if you are allowed or not, and
> you are, since pam_ck_connector.so has done the job
>
> Short answer:
>
> Yes, everything related works from command line outside of X as well
>
> - Samuli
>

...and if you want to be able to use it as non-local user like via ssh
from text console, then
it needs /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/ file like 10-mtp.rules to give authozation
there are examples for writing .rules if you google around, sorry I
don't have
time to go into that now