[Samba] Case-sensitivity problems with smbmount on linux

[Michael Carmack]

[This seems like it should be a FAQ, but I searched for quite some time 
without finding anything.]

Mounting a samba share using smbmount under linux leads to problems when 
dealing with filenames that differ in case only. These problems do not 
affect WinXP mounting the same share, so it looks like a client issue.

The server is running Samba 3.0.1 on linux, kernel 2.4.20. The relevant 
part of smb.conf looks like:

   case sensitive = yes
   preserve case = yes
   short preserve case = yes

On the server I create two files, "test" and "TEST", as follows:

karmak at server$ echo test > test
karmak at server$ echo TEST > TEST

Running some commands from the linux client, after mounting with 
smbmount/3.0.1 (kernel 2.4.25):

karmak at client$ ls
TEST  test
karmak at client$ cat TEST
test
karmak at client$ cat test
test
karmak at client$ mv test Test
mv: overwrite `Test'? n


It appears 'cat' can only see the lowercase file. Same for when you try 
to move the file. Instead of renaming, it thinks you want to overwrite 
the existing file. Other file utilities are affected in similar ways.

I believe the server is properly configured, since under WinXP the 
behavior is as one would expect:

 > dir
............. TEST
............. test
 > type TEST
TEST
 > type test
test
 > move test Test
...
 > dir
............. TEST
............. Test

I find this odd, because I would expect the Linux client to be at least 
as capable as the WinXP client in handling the case differences (if 
anything I'd expect the XP machine to be the one with the problems).

Have I overlooked something?

Thanks,
Michael Carmack
karmak at karmak.org