Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Utility to mount samba share as user
GVFS
While gvfs is an acronym for Gnome Virtual File System it’s usage is not depending on Gnome. It comes with very few dependencies and even Manjaro Plasma has the gvfs package installed and as such this will work on any Linux.
Reasons to use
The Linux mount utility does not allow for a user to mount a samba share and this results in Manjaro users setting up fstab to automount the share. Such automounts may cease working due to upstream changes e.g. when the SMB1 protocol was renamed to NT1 thus causing old shares to stop working.
Install the toolset
This script relies on the packages gvfs-smb which will pull the necessary smb-client dependency. The following command will sync the necessary packages
sudo pacman -Syu gvfs smbclient gvfs-smb gvfs-wsdd gvfs-dnssd --needed
Create a new script in ~/.local/bin and name it my-share.sh.
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
touch ~/.local/bin/my-share.sh
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/my-share.sh
Paste below content and modify the variables to use your samba server and share name.
# your samba server's hostname or IP address
HOST="my-server"
# the share name on the server
SHARENAME="my-share"
# credentials
USERNAME=
WORKGROUP=
PASSWD=
The symlinks folder defaults to ~/SMBLinks and this can of course be changed as you see fit.
Usage
Running the script will attempt mounting the share.
my-share.sh
If credentials are needed you will be challenged. Enter the correct credentials to continue.
To unmount a mounted share run with -u argument.
my-share.sh -u
To avoid entering credentials at runtime you can fill in the credentials inside the script - they will then be fed to the mount option using a file in a hidden configuration folder .credentials.
Script file content
Remember to adjust the variables for your specific use case
#! /bin/bash
#
# User script for mounting and unmounting a samba share
#
# - No fstab entry
# - No mount units
# - Easy customization
# - Symlinks are located in designated folder (default: $HOME/SMBLinks)
# - Symlink can be named (default: $SHARENAME)
# - Using `-u` argument will unmount and remove the symlink
# - Option for providing credentials
# - Option for a user service to mount at login
#
# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
#
# @linux-aarhus - root.nix.dk
#
###########################################
# NECESSARY - MODIFY THESE VARIABLES
# your samba server's hostname or IP address
HOST="my-server"
# the share name on the server
SHARENAME="my-share"
# credentials
USERNAME=
WORKGROUP=
PASSWD=
###########################################
# don't modify below this line
# - unless you know what you are doing
LINKNAME="$SHARENAME"
SYMLINKS="$HOME/SMBLinks"
SCRIPTNAME=$(basename "$0")
VERSION="0.2"
# check argument $1
if [[ "$1" == "-u" ]]; then
# remove symlink
rm -f "$SYMLINKS/$LINKNAME"
# unmount share
gio mount -u "smb://$HOST/$SHARENAME"
exit
elif [[ $1 != "" ]]; then
echo ":: $SCRIPTNAME v$VERSION"
echo "==> invalid argument: $1"
echo "Usage: "
echo " mount SMB : $SCRIPTNAME"
echo " umount SMB: $SCRIPTNAME -u"
exit 1
fi
# Create credentials folder
if ! [ -d "$HOME/.credentials" ]; then
mkdir -p $HOME/.credentials
chmod 700 $HOME/.credentials
fi
# ----------------------------------------------------------------
# mount command
if ! [[ -z "${USERNAME}" ]]; then
# create credentials file
fname="$HOME/.credentials/$USERNAME-$HOST-$SHARENAME"
printf ${USERNAME}'\n'${WORKGROUP}'\n'${PASSWD}'\n' > $fname
chmod 600 $fname
# mount and feed the credentials to the mount command
gio mount "smb://$HOST/$SHARENAME" < $fname
else
# mount (if credentials are required you will be prompted
gio mount "smb://$HOST/$SHARENAME"
fi
# ----------------------------------------------------------------
# easy reference to gio mount point
ENDPOINT=/run/user/$UID/gvfs/''smb-share:server=$HOST,share=$SHARENAME''
# crete the subfolder
if ! [ -d "$SYMLINKS" ]; then
# use --parents to suppress warnings if folder exist
mkdir -p "$SYMLINKS"
fi
# use --force argument to suppress warning if link exist
ln -sf "$ENDPOINT" "$SYMLINKS/$LINKNAME"
user service
You can complement this with a systemd user service to automate things even more.
Create the folder
mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
Create the service file
touch ~/.config/systemd/user/gio-mount-myshare.service
Edit the service file with your favorite text editor and paste below content
[Unit]
Description=GIO mount smb share-name
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/home/%u/.local/bin/my-share.sh
ExecStop=/home/%u/.local/bin/my-share.sh -u
RemainAfterExit=true
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
Enable and start the service
systemctl --user enable my-share.service
systemctl --user start my-share.service
Extend the utility
If you are in a situation where your smb share is not available you could extend the script with a service check - e.g. ping the service at regular intervals - if it’s available mount - if it becomes unavailable unmount.
E.g. using nmap
sudo pacman -Syu nmap
Then in a function run the check
nmap $HOST -PN -p 445 | grep open
Then mount or unmount depending on result
Prototype 2
#!/usr/bin/bash
# variables
#SMB=445
#NFS=2049
#SSH=22
PORT=445
HOST=ip.x.y.z
RESULT=$(nmap $HOST -PN -p $PORT | grep -e 'open')
echo "${RESULT}"
# use nmap to check the host for service on port
if [[ -z "${RESULT}" ]] ; then
echo "host ${HOST}:${PORT} is down"
exit 255
fi
echo "do important stuff"
Reference: https://root.nix.dk/en/utility-scripts/mount-samba-share-as-user