Permission issues when transferring photo files

[phil1349]

I have a Panasonic camera which is WiFi enabled but when transferring photos over the network the files & the directory that contains them are nominated as "user: nobody" & "group: nogroup". This is not a problem when viewing the pics but of course any attempt at editing fails because the permissions are wrong. It is not a major problem to open a terminal window and as root "chown" as appropriate but it is tedious. I assume modification must be made to /etc/samba/smb.conf (copy attached).

If any one can point me in the correct direction I will be grateful.

Thanks in advance.

[oshunluvr]

Copy attached Not seeing it here. You may have to rename it to smbconf.txt to allow it to attach.

Not having a Panasonic camera or any understanding of how you've set up your system or samba (hint: post more info), the typical things to check are the permissions of the shared folder and set something in your smb.conf like this:

[Documents]
comment = Documents
create mask = 0664
directory mask = 06775
force create mode = 0664
force directory mode = 06775
force group = shared
force user = nobody
guest ok = Yes
path = /exports/Documents
read only = No


I use a special group - "shared" - for my public files.

[phil1349]

Copy attached Not seeing it here. You may have to rename it to smbconf.txt to allow it to attach.

Not having a Panasonic camera or any understanding of how you've set up your system or samba (hint: post more info), the typical things to check are the permissions of the shared folder and set something in your smb.conf like this:

[Documents]
comment = Documents
create mask = 0664
directory mask = 06775
force create mode = 0664
force directory mode = 06775
force group = shared
force user = nobody
guest ok = Yes
path = /exports/Documents
read only = No


I use a special group - "shared" - for my public files.

Not sure why the smb.conf file did not attach, it has worked OK in the past so I will try again.

The smb.conf is basically unchanged from the default after installation. I have added a section according to the template suggested by oshunluvr. The user/group names are the system defaults and the path I have entered is the path the camera transfers the photo files to which is setup on the camera itself. When transferring files it creates a sub-directory named "yyyymmdd" and places the files in there.

Unfortunately, after a reboot nothing has changed.

#
# Sample configuration file for the Samba suite for Debian GNU/Linux.
#
#
# This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
# smb.conf(5) manual page in order to understand the options listed
# here. Samba has a huge number of configurable options most of which 
# are not shown in this example
#
# Some options that are often worth tuning have been included as
# commented-out examples in this file.
#  - When such options are commented with ";", the proposed setting
#    differs from the default Samba behaviour
#  - When commented with "#", the proposed setting is the default
#    behaviour of Samba but the option is considered important
#    enough to be mentioned here
#
# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command
# "testparm" to check that you have not made any basic syntactic 
# errors. 

#======================= Global Settings =======================

[global]

## Browsing/Identification ###

# Change this to the workgroup/NT-domain name your Samba server will part of
  workgroup = WORKGROUP

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
    server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)

# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable its WINS Server
#   wins support = no

# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
;   wins server = w.x.y.z

# This will prevent nmbd to search for NetBIOS names through DNS.
  dns proxy = no

#### Networking ####

# The specific set of interfaces / networks to bind to
# This can be either the interface name or an IP address/netmask;
# interface names are normally preferred
;   interfaces = 127.0.0.0/8 eth0

# Only bind to the named interfaces and/or networks; you must use the
# 'interfaces' option above to use this.
# It is recommended that you enable this feature if your Samba machine is
# not protected by a firewall or is a firewall itself. However, this
# option cannot handle dynamic or non-broadcast interfaces correctly.
;   bind interfaces only = yes

#### Debugging/Accounting ####

# This tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
  log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m

# Cap the size of the individual log files (in KiB).
  max log size = 1000

# If you want Samba to only log through syslog then set the following
# parameter to 'yes'.
#   syslog only = no

# We want Samba to log a minimum amount of information to syslog. Everything
# should go to /var/log/samba/log.{smbd,nmbd} instead. If you want to log
# through syslog you should set the following parameter to something higher.
  syslog = 0

# Do something sensible when Samba crashes: mail the admin a backtrace
  panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d

####### Authentication #######

# Server role. Defines in which mode Samba will operate. Possible
# values are "standalone server", "member server", "classic primary
# domain controller", "classic backup domain controller", "active
# directory domain controller". 
#
# Most people will want "standalone sever" or "member server".
# Running as "active directory domain controller" will require first
# running "samba-tool domain provision" to wipe databases and create a
# new domain.
  server role = standalone server

# If you are using encrypted passwords, Samba will need to know what
# password database type you are using.  
  passdb backend = tdbsam

  obey pam restrictions = yes

# This boolean parameter controls whether Samba attempts to sync the Unix
# password with the SMB password when the encrypted SMB password in the
# passdb is changed.
  unix password sync = yes

# For Unix password sync to work on a Debian GNU/Linux system, the following
# parameters must be set (thanks to Ian Kahan <<kahan@informatik.tu-muenchen.de> for
# sending the correct chat script for the passwd program in Debian Sarge).
  passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
  passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .

# This boolean controls whether PAM will be used for password changes
# when requested by an SMB client instead of the program listed in
# 'passwd program'. The default is 'no'.
  pam password change = yes

# This option controls how unsuccessful authentication attempts are mapped
# to anonymous connections
  map to guest = bad user

########## Domains ###########

#
# The following settings only takes effect if 'server role = primary
# classic domain controller', 'server role = backup domain controller'
# or 'domain logons' is set 
#

# It specifies the location of the user's
# profile directory from the client point of view) The following
# required a [profiles] share to be setup on the samba server (see
# below)
;   logon path = \\%N\profiles\%U
# Another common choice is storing the profile in the user's home directory
# (this is Samba's default)
#   logon path = \\%N\%U\profile

# The following setting only takes effect if 'domain logons' is set
# It specifies the location of a user's home directory (from the client
# point of view)
;   logon drive = H:
#   logon home = \\%N\%U

# The following setting only takes effect if 'domain logons' is set
# It specifies the script to run during logon. The script must be stored
# in the [netlogon] share
# NOTE: Must be store in 'DOS' file format convention
;   logon script = logon.cmd

# This allows Unix users to be created on the domain controller via the SAMR
# RPC pipe. The example command creates a user account with a disabled Unix
# password; please adapt to your needs
; add user script = /usr/sbin/adduser --quiet --disabled-password --gecos "" %u

# This allows machine accounts to be created on the domain controller via the 
# SAMR RPC pipe.  
# The following assumes a "machines" group exists on the system
; add machine script  = /usr/sbin/useradd -g machines -c "%u machine account" -d /var/lib/samba -s /bin/false %u

# This allows Unix groups to be created on the domain controller via the SAMR
# RPC pipe.  
; add group script = /usr/sbin/addgroup --force-badname %g

############ Misc ############

# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
# of the machine that is connecting
;   include = /home/samba/etc/smb.conf.%m

# Some defaults for winbind (make sure you're not using the ranges
# for something else.)
;   idmap uid = 10000-20000
;   idmap gid = 10000-20000
;   template shell = /bin/bash

# Setup usershare options to enable non-root users to share folders
# with the net usershare command.

# Maximum number of usershare. 0 (default) means that usershare is disabled.
;   usershare max shares = 100

# Allow users who've been granted usershare privileges to create
# public shares, not just authenticated ones
  usershare allow guests = yes

#======================= Share Definitions =======================

# Un-comment the following (and tweak the other settings below to suit)
# to enable the default home directory shares. This will share each
# user's home directory as \\server\username
[homes]
  comment = Home Directories
  browseable = no

# By default, the home directories are exported read-only. Change the
# next parameter to 'no' if you want to be able to write to them.
  read only = no

# File creation mask is set to 0700 for security reasons. If you want to
# create files with group=rw permissions, set next parameter to 0775.
  create mask = 0775

# Directory creation mask is set to 0700 for security reasons. If you want to
# create dirs. with group=rw permissions, set next parameter to 0775.
  directory mask = 0775

# By default, \\server\username shares can be connected to by anyone
# with access to the samba server.
# Un-comment the following parameter to make sure that only "username"
# can connect to \\server\username
# This might need tweaking when using external authentication schemes
;   valid users = %S

# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
# (you need to configure Samba to act as a domain controller too.)
;[netlogon]
;   comment = Network Logon Service
;   path = /home/samba/netlogon
;   guest ok = yes
;   read only = yes

# Un-comment the following and create the profiles directory to store
# users profiles (see the "logon path" option above)
# (you need to configure Samba to act as a domain controller too.)
# The path below should be writable by all users so that their
# profile directory may be created the first time they log on
;[profiles]
;   comment = Users profiles
;   path = /home/samba/profiles
;   guest ok = no
;   browseable = no
;   create mask = 0600
;   directory mask = 0700

[printers]
  comment = All Printers
  browseable = no
  path = /var/spool/samba
  printable = yes
  guest ok = no
  read only = yes
  create mask = 0700

# Windows clients look for this share name as a source of downloadable
# printer drivers
[print$]
  comment = Printer Drivers
  path = /var/lib/samba/printers
  browseable = yes
  read only = yes
  guest ok = no
# Uncomment to allow remote administration of Windows print drivers.
# You may need to replace 'lpadmin' with the name of the group your
# admin users are members of.
# Please note that you also need to set appropriate Unix permissions
# to the drivers directory for these users to have write rights in it
;   write list = root, @lpadmin

[Photos]
comment = Photos
create mask = 0664
directory mask = 06775
force create mode = 0664
force directory mode = 06775
force group = phillip
force user = phillip
guest ok = Yes
path = /home/phillip/Lumix
read only = No

[oshunluvr]

I edited your post and put the smb.conf file inside CODE tags. This makes it much easier to read. No problem to cut-n-paste a file here, but use the CODE tags so the post itself isn't pages and pages long.

So if the camera is making it's own subfolder, that may be the issue. Show us a long file listing showing the ownership and permissions of the "Lumix" folder and the YYYYMMDD folders.

BTW, you don't need to reboot to test changes to smb.conf, just restart samba;

sudo systemctl restart smbd

[phil1349]

Yes, I should have put the file within code tags but as the original attempt to attach a file had failed I just wanted to make sure...

The full listing of the Lumix directory is :-

drwxrwxrwx 86 phillip phillip 4096 Nov 19 19:09 Lumix

and for sub-directories :-

drwxr-xr-x 2 nobody nogroup 4096 Nov 19 19:09 20181119

I have previously copied files over the network from other computers, both Linux & Windows, and the files have arrived with my default user/group settings. Perhaps it is something the camera is doing but I cannot find anything in the manual which is relevant. Maybe I should try contacting Panasonic

[oshunluvr]

So the "Force..." options are for items created by samba, so your camera is the dirty player. As usual with linux there ways to fix this if the camera cannot be tamed. You could create a script to "chown" the files and use inotify to activate it.

[phil1349]

I can well believe that the camera is the problem, my experience is that the software on such devices is written with compliance with windows based systems in mind. I like the idea of a script to "chown" the files but I have never used inotify and reading the man pages for it look complicated but if I can find a good tutorial article I might be OK.

[oshunluvr]

I notify is simple enough to use; open two konsole windows at your home location, create a folder named "test", then enter this in the first window:

inotifywait -re create test/ && echo "Change detected"

Then in the second window, type;

mkdir test/test1


and you see this output in the first window;

test/ CREATE,ISDIR test1
Change detected

The problem is - now that I think about it - I assume the copy process would take awhile depending on the number and size of the files. If the inotify trigger occurred during the operation, it would fail or cause issues.

What about a script that you execute from a desktop icon instead? Not really a solution, but at least you wouldn't have to keep manually running chown.

Bu before we try that, try adding;

guest only = yes

to your config. Then run testparm and restart samba and tes.t

[phil1349]

You are right, the copy process can take 5 - 10 mins depending on the no of photos which typically are 3 -4 Mb in size. A script is probably the best solution as adding guest only = yes did not have any effect.

Another confusing effect is that I was experimenting with transferring files with an old laptop (running Mint) that I keep for experiments where I do not want to compromise my main computer. I found that "pulling" a file from the other resulted in it arriving with the correct user/group names for the receiving computer. However, if I "pushed" a file from one to the other it arrived with the nobody/nogroup. This was the case irrespective of which computer pulled or pushed the file. Perhaps the camera is not the problem after all.

[oshunluvr]

Yeah, makes sense. Must be something missing from the SAMBA set up. The best work around's I can think of are either a script run from a desktop icon that you can click on when needed, or a Dolphin Servicemenu that would allow you to change it.

Alternately, you can force group (and I think owner, but I seem to recall this was broken at some point) and permissions within the file system. I use this with my NFS server, but don't know if it works with Samba.

So chmod the Lumix directory : chmod ug+s /path/to/Lumix

This should force any folders or files created under Lumix to be the same group (and maybe owner) as Lumix. And then try:

setfacl -d -m u::rwX,g::rwX,o::rX /path/to/Lumix

That should force permissions. As long as the camera doesn't object when copying to the drive, you should be good.