[clug] Kubuntu startup

Scott Ferguson scott.ferguson.clug at gmail.com
Fri Sep 9 22:38:23 MDT 2011


On 09/09/11 19:52, Keith Sayers wrote:
> On Monday 05 September 2011 Scott Ferguson suggested :
>
>> try:-
>>
>> UUID=47C6-4FAE /media/EASTON vfat user,rw,noauto,umask=007 0 0
>
> Well that did something but not what was expected.

What it "should" do is allow you to (user) to mount that disk at that
location - but not to automatically mount it.
The umask is little trickier (and I suspect it's not the problem here).
umask effects are determined by existing permissions - and I don't know
what yours are. Ubuntu/Kubuntu and Debian Squeeze have significant
differences.

> After the splash screen I still got the request for the password.

I assume you're referring to ksplash??
There are upto four "splash" screens (without counting app splashes).
grub splash (the grub boot selection screen)
plymouth splash (masks boot messages)
kdm splash (kde login screen/greeter)
kde splash (after login, before desktop)

I'm guessing you use sudo which now uses "safe path" (from Sid) and
there have been issues (see bug reports) - also Squeeze doesn't have
policykit fully implemented (that won't happen until Wheezy, maybe).

You could try changing or removing the umask.

> Duly entered I moved on to the desktop and opened Dolphin but found
> that although that offered Easton it would not let me in there. When
> I clicked thereon it held the focus for perhaps a second and then
> reverted to Home.  Similar happened with other programs.  I have left
> the line in fstab for now but preceded it with a hash.

The fstab suggestion will *not* automount EASTON - it simply (should)
allow "you" to mount it, after login. You could try changing the
mountpoint to somewhere in home.

To help diagnose the problem:-
Restore SOLID and policykit to default settings by:-
Removing EASTON
Logging out of the desktop and then logging into a console session
# dpkg --get-selections | grep solid
and:-
# dpkg --get-selections | grep policykit
to get a list of the relevant packages, then:-
# dpkg-reconfigure <each_package>
Log back into your desktop
open two console sessions
in one:-
# lshal -m
Then plug in EASTON
wait 2 minutes
in a second console session:-
note the output of dmesg | tail -n 20
back on the desktop:-
left-click on the EASTON icon in SOLID systray and choose open in
Dolphin (if it's detected)
note the output of mount in the second console session

The output of mount may be instructive if you want to use fstab

eg outputs:-
==============dmesg======================================
[ 4274.437820] usb 1-7: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=3
[ 4274.437823] usb 1-7: Product: TransMemory
[ 4274.437826] usb 1-7: Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
[ 4274.437829] usb 1-7: SerialNumber: 0A70967071F348CD
[ 4274.437991] usb 1-7: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 4274.438843] scsi7 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 4274.439217] usb-storage: device found at 7
[ 4274.439222] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 4279.436936] usb-storage: device scan complete
[ 4279.437670] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     TOSHIBA  TransMemory
  6.50 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 4279.438729] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
[ 4279.441481] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] 3903487 512-byte logical blocks: (1.99
GB/1.86 GiB)
[ 4279.442048] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
[ 4279.442056] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 08
[ 4279.442060] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 4279.444554] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 4279.444565]  sdd: sdd1
[ 4279.456303] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 4279.456313] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 4294.019260] FAT: utf8 is not a recommended IO charset for FAT
filesystems, filesystem will be case sensitive!
===================mount=======================================
/dev/sdd1 on /media/disk type vfat
(rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,uid=1000,utf8,shortname=mixed,flush)
===================lshal -m=====================================
13:51:27.949: usb_device_930_6540_0A70967071F348CD added
13:51:27.967: usb_device_930_6540_0A70967071F348CD_if0 added
13:51:27.980: usb_device_930_6540_0A70967071F348CD_if0_scsi_host added
13:51:32.933: usb_device_930_6540_0A70967071F348CD_if0_scsi_host_0 added
13:51:32.945:
usb_device_930_6540_0A70967071F348CD_if0_scsi_host_0_scsi_device_lun0 added
13:51:32.953:
usb_device_930_6540_0A70967071F348CD_if0_scsi_host_0_scsi_device_lun0_scsi_generic
added
13:51:33.065: storage_serial_TOSHIBA_TransMemory_0A70967071F348CD_0_0 added
13:51:33.065: storage_serial_TOSHIBA_TransMemory_0A70967071F348CD_0_0
property info.interfaces =
{'org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Storage.Removable'} (new)
13:51:33.857: volume_uuid_747C_693E added
13:51:33.949: volume_uuid_747C_693E property volume.mount_point =
'/media/disk'
13:51:33.961: volume_uuid_747C_693E property volume.is_mounted = true

>
> So to Chris Smart's suggestion :
>
>> Most likely the authentication dialog you're seeing is coming from
>> PolicyKit, which wants authentication to mount. If you click "more
>> info" on the authentication dialog box it should tell you want
>> you're authenticating for.
>
> I do not get a "more info" option - only OK and Cancel.
>
> But I went to the 'net for information on PolicyKit, may have
> understood some of what I found and as a result created this file :
>
> 10-mount-easton.pkla ---------------------------------- [Mount
> Easton] Identity=unix-user:[keith]
> Action=org.freedesktop.udisks.filesystem-mount ResultAny=yes
> ResultInactive=yes ResultActive=yes
ResultAny makes ResultInactive and ResultActive redundant... (shouldn't
matter though)

I can't speculate on why that doesn't work without see preceding 
tree[*1], but it sounds like polkit doesn't recognise use as an 
administrator. If that's the case there can be several causes - recent 
changes to sudo, autologin, misconfigured polkit administrators file.

Before making substantial changes - try uncommenting the fstab entry and 
retrying your policykit rule [*2]

NOTE: Policykit settings can't allow what hal denies - see my comment on hal
further down.

[*1] eg. files beneath /etc/polkit-1/localauthority.conf.d/
refs:-http://hal.freedesktop.org/docs/polkit/
[*2] http://hal.freedesktop.org/docs/udisks/Device.html see the section 
on FilesystemMount ()

>
> - and put it into /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/  - then
> checked that I was online, switched off, rebooted - and after the
> splash screen was asked for the password. But once in I could at
> least access Easton.	  Sofor now I am back to square one.
>
> If anyone could suggest anything else I would be pleased to hear but
> if it is too difficult I will just drop the idea.  It is a 'would
> like' not a 'must have', but automatic mounting of a drive had seemed
> something that should be logically possible.
>
> If it is relevant, the permissions are : /media drwxrwxrwx /Easton
> drwxr-xr-x /dev drwxr-xr-x and the various sda and sdb below /dev are
> all brw-rw----
>
> And in response to Owen, yes I was puzzled by such a short uuid but
> it does seem to be correct.

The short uuid is standard for vfat. A disk label can be used instead
(in fstab) but gnomevfs won't like it (if you have that installed).

Note also that hal does the mount under SOLID (policykit only defines
permissions for hal).... so I'd look there before looking at policykit.
eg.:-
/etc/hal/fdi/policy/preferences.fdi

But unless you're absolutely sure you know all the changes you've made,
and their effects - I'd result solid and policykit to default first.


Cheers

<snipped>


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