My OperaWhy Linux Isn't Popular
Tuesday, November 21, 2006 7:11:32 AM
Yes, this is a rant.
A few weeks ago I set up a new Linux box running Fedora Core 5 to replace an old Red Hat 6.1. New software, faster computer, etc, etc. What could go wrong?
For the first few weeks, nothing. I set up the web server, MySQL database and Samba file sharing. No worries. Then I acquired a NAS (Network Attached Storage) hard drive enclosure. This is a box into which you can install your own hard drive. It has an ethernet connector and a built-in Samba server (and FTP server), so you can just plug it into your LAN and access it like any other network share.
I did that and all my Windows boxes could see it no problem. Then I tried to mount it on my FC5 machine.
smbmount - "command not found". Huh? Samba's installed! A few minutes of Googling revealed the solution - mount -t cifs.
No so fast! "mount error 20 = Not a directory"
Now what?
After much more Googling, it turns out the "smart" Fedora Core people have replaced smbmount with mount.cifs, except mount.cifs can't do everything smbmount can. Basically, CIFS != SMB. Only Windows 2000/XP do CIFS+SMB. Older Windows only do SMB, the same as my new NAS box. My old Linux box could do SMB, but not my new "upgraded" Linux box.
What's even worse, is that it's just the mount command that can't do SMB. The smbclient tool can, as can the main samba file sharing (my Win98 box has no trouble accessing the FC5 file shares). Why why why?! Why cripple just this one corner of functionality?
After yet more Googling, it turns out I could probably get it working by rebuilding the kernel with smb support. I haven't built a Linux kernel since I built that old Linux box - more than five years ago. The procedure has no doubt changed a bit since then. I'd have to find the kernel sources, download them, figure out how to put my settings in, figure out how to put smb in (since it's not in by default), rebuild it (I don't think I bothered installing the C compilers on my new box, so I'd have to do that too). Then install it.
What should have been a minute or two, has already taken up more than half an hour, and is now stretching into hours of hard work! Not gonna happen.
That, my friends, is why Linux is pants. Far too often the :monkey:s in charge get distracted by new shiny things and forget about the important stuff - like having things work.
A few weeks ago I set up a new Linux box running Fedora Core 5 to replace an old Red Hat 6.1. New software, faster computer, etc, etc. What could go wrong?
For the first few weeks, nothing. I set up the web server, MySQL database and Samba file sharing. No worries. Then I acquired a NAS (Network Attached Storage) hard drive enclosure. This is a box into which you can install your own hard drive. It has an ethernet connector and a built-in Samba server (and FTP server), so you can just plug it into your LAN and access it like any other network share.
I did that and all my Windows boxes could see it no problem. Then I tried to mount it on my FC5 machine.
smbmount - "command not found". Huh? Samba's installed! A few minutes of Googling revealed the solution - mount -t cifs.
No so fast! "mount error 20 = Not a directory"
Now what?After much more Googling, it turns out the "smart" Fedora Core people have replaced smbmount with mount.cifs, except mount.cifs can't do everything smbmount can. Basically, CIFS != SMB. Only Windows 2000/XP do CIFS+SMB. Older Windows only do SMB, the same as my new NAS box. My old Linux box could do SMB, but not my new "upgraded" Linux box.
What's even worse, is that it's just the mount command that can't do SMB. The smbclient tool can, as can the main samba file sharing (my Win98 box has no trouble accessing the FC5 file shares). Why why why?! Why cripple just this one corner of functionality?
After yet more Googling, it turns out I could probably get it working by rebuilding the kernel with smb support. I haven't built a Linux kernel since I built that old Linux box - more than five years ago. The procedure has no doubt changed a bit since then. I'd have to find the kernel sources, download them, figure out how to put my settings in, figure out how to put smb in (since it's not in by default), rebuild it (I don't think I bothered installing the C compilers on my new box, so I'd have to do that too). Then install it.
What should have been a minute or two, has already taken up more than half an hour, and is now stretching into hours of hard work! Not gonna happen.That, my friends, is why Linux is pants. Far too often the :monkey:s in charge get distracted by new shiny things and forget about the important stuff - like having things work.
You must be 
Rianav AntaresKerenSkyy # Friday, December 9, 2011 4:04:27 PM
It may be a strength, but too often is allowed to be a weakness.