cifs-utils when using mount to access smb shares fails with certain characters

[James]

1) Ubu version is 14.04.1 but testing confirms this problem exists in other versions.
2) On 14.04.1 the cifs-utils version is 6.4 (though I include more on that via a link).
3) Files and folders with ? or : should be accessible (and have been up until at least 12.04).
4) File/folder not found errors and other behaviors outlined at the below link.

Ok. I've been working at sussing out this problem for a while now, and I think I'm finally getting close to the source of the matter.

In short, I have an Ubuntu server which is serving a number of shares using Samba. When I access any of those shares with, say, a 12.04 machine I have no problem with certain characters in file or folder names. However, newer versions of Ubuntu are not playing so nicely.

When those locations are mounted by mount (whether via fstab or no) using a 12.04 client machine the files and the folders which contain either (or both) of those characters in their respective paths are accessible as would be expected for any such file share.

There are at least two characters at odds with these newer versions of Ubuntu: the colon (:) and the question mark (?). I have mangled file names disabled, and remember Ubuntu 12.04 is accessing these files and folders without any trouble. Newer versions may error (can't find object) on either or both a file or folder name.

I have created a complete testing matrix here.

http://jamesisin.com/a_high-tech_blech/index.php/2016/10/notes-from-possible-cifs-utils-bug/

There you will find Ubuntu versions, cifs-utils versions, and comparisons of the behaviors for each character and comparisons with mounts created using Nautilus.

I am happy to help in any way I am able.
---
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.21
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-10-28 (4 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20160803)
Package: cifs-utils 2:6.0-1ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-31.50~14.04.1-generic 4.4.13
Tags: trusty
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-31-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
_MarkForUpload: True

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command only once, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:

apport-collect 1638448

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport by using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[James (ubuntu-soundunreason)]

apport information

[James (ubuntu-soundunreason)]

apport information

[James (ubuntu-soundunreason)]

I have run apport-collect against the 14.04.5 machine. This required the installation of python-support of course. No other changes were made. I can run this collection against any of my other test machines if that will be helpful. Please let me know if you'd like it run against one of the other versions.