Hello All, I have to set up a linux server (most likely debian-based) which will be a file/printer and web server.

Now i have a Single CD-RW Drive which i want to share via samba, so all users can burn CD's

A user would put a blank CD-R (or CD-RW) in the drive and connect to the samba share on the server (as they are windows users). From there i want them to be able to copy files to the CD-R(W) as if its a hard disk (e.g drag & drop), when they are done they close the share and remove the CD, which should be then usable in any computer (mac or PC).

I know Samba already has the ability to mount and unmount volumes automatically (well it has the posibillity to execute a program (or script) before and after mounting) depending on whether the share is in use.

now is it possible to make it so that as soon as a disk is inserted it will mount it writable (format it with a UDF filesystem if its a blank cd, keep the existing UDF filesystem (and users files) if the disk is already got a UDF filsystem) so that people can record accross the network?

(i think some scripts will be required for this)

linux has proved is flexibility and power to me more then once but can this really be done?

Also is there any-way to make it so that only one user at a time can access the share? (having three users trying to write to one CD could be messy )

any comments/example scripts/tips/how-to links appreciated....

Thanks!


NOTE: the automatic formatting of a CD-R(W) is not a requirement but it would be nice (saves them having to format it beforehand) but if its not possible its not too big a deal, the crucial thing is for the user to be able to write to the CD via the network. so if its not possible to do all the above, just telling me how to do the crucial thing is enough

i don't think is possible for windows to be able to burn to a network cd-rw drive unless your users will use putty or something like that but as far as windows burning to a network drive that is a no no

i may have read your post wrong tho ...

I haven't done it before but I think you could do it using a special share.

Here is how I think I would do it:
1) Create a 700MB partition (could just be a loopback file)
2) Write a script to burn the contents of that directory to the CD
3) Set that up as a samba share and create a "postexec" statement that runs your script

You could also create a prexec statement and use a check file to make sure that 2 people don't try to create a CD at the same time.

yea i wasnt too clear in my post, to the windows users the cd-rw would just appear as a normal share on the network, so they can just "drag and drop" onto it and burn CD's -- no special software needed (and no major thinking required on the M$ users part -- which means i will have fewer "how do I do this..." questions to answer )

I like david_rosses idea but i have one question:

Sorry i'm still a bit of newbie with linux, what exactly is a check file? and how do i create/use one of them (a nice link in the right direction will suffice )

A check file is just a file - it doesn't even have to contain anything.

For instanace, when a user starts to create a CD your script can run:
touch /tmp/cd_in_use
or so that you know who is using the cd writer:
echo "$user on $ip" > /tmp/cd_in_use

Then when your script has finished writing the CD you can remove the file:
rm -f /tmp/cd_in_use

The script that starts the process should check for the existance of "/tmp/cd_in_use" - if it exists then the writer is already in use and the process will not continue, if it does not exist then it will write the check file as described above.

How about Webcdwriter ?

Cheers all of you, i will have a look at webcdwriter as it seems to be a good alternative but saying that I will have to see which method (out of the two here) fits my needs perfectly.

Thanks for the help!