List of network servers is not updated

[ar-jar]

When I restart my computers running Hardy Heron after hibernation or stand-by and select Places -> Network, I get a list of computers that was the current list when I last time rebooted the computer (I believe). It's at least not the list of computers currently on-line and it doesn't get update between reboots.

When I browse my way through Windows Network -> Home (my workgroup) -> Computer X, I often get a blank window at first on all levels in the folder hierarchy. I have to try 2 - 4 times before I see the content of the next level. The same behavior is repeated all the way down to the windows showing the shares on a particular computer in the Windows workgroup. The computers in the Windows workgroup are a mix of Windows XP and Hardy Heron. No difference in behavior.

The list of computers in the Windows workgroup seems to be a more current (but not always entirely current, see below) list of computers on-line and is usually thus not the same as the list of computers in the top level Network (Severs) window.

Opening the Windows workgroup computers from a Windows XP machine does not require several tries to open the next level, regardless of if the computer runs Ubuntu or Windows.

When I suspend an Ubuntu computer, the list of computers in the Workgroup folder is updated only after about 10 minutes in either Ubuntu or Windows and the update only shows when I reopen the window. Maybe a feature of the Windows workgroup implementation?

In conclusion, there are three perspectives on this issue:

#1: The list of servers in the Network window / view is not updated as servers are added and others are taken off-line. If this is the intended behavior then let me suggest that it is confusing and not very helpful.

#2: The same window / view is called "Network" under the Places menu but "Network Servers" in the Places left navigation bar of the file browser. As it looks now, a third name, "Networks and Network Servers", would perhaps be more appropriate as it is a mix of both types of objects. I would be quite happy with "Networks" (in plural) and I would prefer not to see (an outdated) list of servers on this level. What is the intention?

#3: It often takes several tries on each level to drill down to the shared folders in the computers in the Windows workgroup. Eventually they seem to turn up but the behavior is not pretty. Again, this is after waking up from hibernation or stand-by. Once I've accessed all computers in the workgroup, they don't go away.

I have the same behavior on two computers with very different hardware configurations, one wired and one wireless, both running Hardy Heron. Both have the latest updates.

What I expect to happen is that I in the top-level Network (again, I'd prefer "Networks", in plural) window only see networks and no servers. When drilling down into the potentially several networks, I expect to see an updated list of servers that are all on-line when the Windows workgroup window is opened. And I expect this list be updated immediately when something happens on the network.

Thanks,

Arto Jarvinen, Vreta kloster, Sweden

(Sorry about the attachment. It doesn't provide much value. I thought I could include three images but I don't find a way to do that. Neither don't I seem to be able to delete the attachment already attached.)

[ar-jar (arto-jarvinen-letter)]

Not sure if this is related but sometimes when I try to open a share, I either get the message

Couldn't display "smb://solbacka/www."
Error: Invalid argument
Please select another viewer and try again

The next type i try, gedit opens with the error message:

smb://solbacka/www is a directory. Please check that you typed the location correctly and try again.

Now, if I right-click on the folder and explicitly open it with the File Browser, then it opens up as it should. It seems that the file system doesn't recognize the object type of the folder properly.

At the fourth try, it opens up properly just with a double-click as it should.

/Arto

[bascule (kennym-safe-mail)]

Hi, thanks for reporting this bug.

If you try with the smbclient command line-utility what effects to you get then? Can you paste

apt-cache policy samba

as well, thanks.

[ar-jar (arto-jarvinen-letter)]

I answered by mail but I realize that for added transparency I should perhaps reply here too:

Not sure what exactly what type of smbclient output you wish. I haven't
used this utility before. I don't have any problems listing the shares
on all the computers in the HOME workgroup with the -L flag. See below.

There are currently five computers on-line on the home network, two
Ubuntu machines, two XP machines and one machine running Vista. Not sure
what the "Domain" parameter in the smbclient output means. No Windows
domain is set on any computer. All machines have workgroup set to "HOME"
but that doesn't show for the Windows machines.

If I try smbclient -L=* then I only get one of the computers (Solbacka)
listed as below. Not sure if "*" is a valid value.

I also did smbfind (see below). It would only list the two Ubuntu
computers currently on the network. Not sure if the Windows machines are
supposed to be listed. It certainly looks so in some of the examples on
Internet.

After several tries to open the Windows Network in Nautilus, all five
servers are listed in the smb://home/ view. The network:/// view only
shows three computers. After computer restart the correct list appears in
the network:/// view.

In Windows, the My Network Places window shows all servers and shares
currently on the network (and a few that aren't currently on-line).

Overall, the different ways to look at the network (through Windows,
smbclient, smbfind, Nautilus) give an inconsistent view with respect to
available servers and workgroup assignment. And again, this is after
coming back from hibernation.

Please let me know what smbclient commands you'd like to have the output
from so that I can assist you better.

Thanks!

Arto

---

ar-jar@Heron:~$ smbclient -L=Gamer
Password:
Domain=[GAMER] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

        Sharename Type Comment
        --------- ---- -------
        Public Disk
        IPC$ IPC Fjärr-IPC
        ADMIN$ Disk Fjärr-admin
        C$ Disk Standardresurs
Domain=[GAMER] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

        Server Comment
        --------- -------

        Workgroup Master
        --------- -------
ar-jar@Heron:~$
ar-jar@Heron:~$ smbclient -L=Heron
Password:
Domain=[HERON] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.28a]

        Sharename Type Comment
        --------- ---- -------
        IPC$ IPC IPC Service (Heron)
        Videos Disk
        Backup Disk
        Music Disk
        Share Disk
Domain=[HERON] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.28a]

        Server Comment
        --------- -------

        Workgroup Master
        --------- -------
        HOME SOLBACKA
ar-jar@Heron:~$ smbclient -L=Verkstad
Password:
Domain=[VERKSTAD] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

        Sharename Type Comment
        --------- ---- -------
        Video Disk
        Re...

[fnegri (francesconegri)]

Something similar happens to me in Jaunty.
The list of hosts under network:/// is out of date, containing hosts that no longer exist and missing some hosts that have recently joined the network.
I can see an updated list under smb:///, where I see a "workgroup" icon, and then under smb://workgroup/, where I see the full list of available hosts.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for the report, the bug is one that needs to be send directly upstream to: http://bugzilla.gnome.org , forwarding instructions are available at: http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME , Thanks in advance.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

any news about this ? did you sent the bug upstream? may you tell us the number there? Thanks.

[fnegri (francesconegri)]

yes i sent the bug upstream 2 months ago, forgot to report that here, sorry!
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=597060

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks!, linking the report.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The issue should be resolved in newer versions, closing, feel free to open a new bug if you still get problems though