amarok + cifs/smb = no seek ?

Molly · 04-02-2008, 05:17 PM

Greets all,

I've had this same issue across two separate installs. Amarok will not seek within mp3/ogg files that are being played from a locally mounted samba/cifs share. If I copy the same files over to my local hd and play from there, the problem does not exist and I can seek forwards/backwards within the file. The symptom is just that the seekbar appears to be locked and I cannot move it. Seeking is no problem when using other simple media player apps such as orpheus or mp3blaster with this samba share.

Just to clarify, this is a samba share mounted via cifs locally from a server on my lan.

if it matters, between the client and server there is a linksys wrt54g router (running openwrt kamikaze) and a cisco catalyst 2900 switch

Client specs: amarok 1.4.6 on slackware 12.0 with a custom 2.6.24.3 kernel.
Also had the same issue on debian 4.0rX etch.

client box /etc/fstab line:

//10.0.0.3/freeside /freeside cifs credentials=/home/myname/.cifs,

server box = centos/redhat 5.0:
kernel version: 2.6.18-53.1.14.el5
smbd version : 3.0.25b-1.el5_1.4

server box smb.conf section:

[freeside]
comment = none
path = /freeside
valid users = myname
public = no
writable = no
printable = no

thanks for any help!

jschiwal · 04-02-2008, 06:21 PM

I just mounted my home directory on a desktop on a mountpoint on my laptop and selected an mp3 file from "files" in amarok. I was able to seek to the middle of the mp3 file. Maybe it was due to the mp3 file being short or maybe because I am the owner of both and using cifs instead of smb. I normally use NFS, and actually I download all podcasts to an NFS share on the desktop. I usually listen to the podcasts from my laptop in another room. ( I also use mysql on the desktop as well, but I digress. )

Code:

> sudo mount -t cifs //hpmedia/jschiwal /mnt/hpmedia/mb2/ -o defaults,cred=/home/jschiwal/.credentials    

mount |grep cifs
//hpmedia/jschiwal on /mnt/hpmedia/mb2 type cifs (rw,mand)

You used smb/cifs in your post. Check which one is used. cifs has better linux-to-linux support.
Which engine are you using to play the mp3's? I am using the xine engine.

Molly · 04-02-2008, 07:07 PM

yes it's in the fstab line- i'm using cifs.. i just mention it as smb/cifs because some people sort of scratch their heads when you say cifs.

To be certain we're both on the same page, I've added the 'defaults' option to my fstab:

//10.0.0.3/freeside /freeside cifs defaults,credentials=/home/myname/.cifs,users

the 'users' option is to allow non-root users to mount/unmount samba shares.

I just noticed something very strange: If I play an m3u playlist created on local hd which points to files on the cifs share, amarok WILL allow seeking within the files.. If I load the files directly into amarok as usual, however, seeking is once again disabled! Does this make any sense to anyone?

jschiwal · 04-03-2008, 01:10 AM

Something tells me that this may have to do with file locks.

I could probably clean up my desktop's smb.conf file, but I rarely use samba. Maybe a comparison might help:

Code:

[global]
        workgroup = JESNET
        map to guest = Bad User
        printcap name = cups
        logon path = \\%L\profiles\.msprofile
        logon drive = P:
        logon home = \\%L\%U\.9xprofile
        wins support = yes
        usershare allow guests = No
        printing = cups
        cups options = raw
        print command =
        lpq command = %p
        lprm command =
        include = /etc/samba/dhcp.conf

[homes]
        comment = Home Directories
        valid users = %S, %D%w%S
        read only = No
        inherit acls = Yes
        browseable = No

[profiles]
        comment = Network Profiles Service
        path = %H
        read only = No
        create mask = 0600
        directory mask = 0700
        store dos attributes = Yes

[users]
        comment = All users
        path = /home
        read only = No
        inherit acls = Yes
        veto files = /aquota.user/groups/shares/

I don't think you mentioned which engine you are using.
You could use NFS for your podcast or music share.

Molly · 04-08-2008, 12:56 PM

Amarok is using the xine engine and i've tried using arts (no play), oss, and alsa for output with the same results.

Also have tried chmod'ing /usr/bin/amarok u+s, chown'ing it to my own username, running amarok as root, mounting the cifs share as root instead of user.

All with the same result: If I have the files in a playlist, the seekbar works fine, but if i load the cifs shared files directly, seekbar is locked. One other detail: amarok is not calculating the length of the files loaded from the samba cifs share. The "length" field is just blank for those tracks, yet the "length" field is correctly filled for the exact same files if they are loaded through a playlist or copied over to local hd and loaded from there.

Any further ideas?

Molly · 04-09-2008, 12:32 AM

Ok, I figured out a compromise/solution to get this working.. here's what I did in my /etc/fstab:

Code:

#//10.0.0.3/freeside /freeside      cifs         defaults,credentials=/home/username/.cifs,users
#//10.0.0.3/freeside /freeside    cifs      file_mode=0444,dir_mode=0555,credentials=/home/username/.cifs,users
//10.0.0.3/freeside /freeside   smbfs      fmask=0444,credentials=/home/username/.cifs,users

The lines that are commented out are the ones I tried with no success in resolving the seek issue. Basically I could not get this to work with cifs AT ALL .. so I switched to smbfs. The other VITAL option was the fmask=0444 - without this option the same problem will exist.. no seek!

The last thing I did was chmod u+s /usr/bin/smbmnt to allow users to mount/unmount the share.. this was not necessary when using cifs but becomes necessary with smbfs.

Hope I've saved others a bit of headache here.