disconnectshares more flexible

[Member Robin]

Hello people,
I was just configuring and fine-tuning antiX on my laptop and came across the disconnectshares-script, which asked me constantly to check the boxes again and again, which share(s) was(were) to be unmounted. Since the shares are connected via WLAN, it is obvious that ALL shares have to be unmounted. Every single time I log out from the server. This is quite – let me say – time-consuming and much clickwork. So I decided to add some lines in the script, making things easier for me and more flexible.
I’ll post the slightly complemented script here in case it is usefull to somebody. I want to give back something, even if it is a small piece only, to the antiX community, for what you gave to me with this great OS. I am not a programmer, but have studied the basics of FORTRAN F77 some decades ago, and had some experience in BASIC, MS-DOS scripting, AutoLISP (AutoCAD), the first EXCEL-Macro-Language. It’s long time ago I last used these skills, so my output might not be exactly what one would call elegant coding. Sorry for that. But it works, at least for me.

Functionality I added:
– works without need to check every box, when all shares are to be unmounted (eg. for the Wireless Connection has to be powered off.); commandline-switch: “-a”
– ability to work without pop-up boxes, when all shares are unmounted, (since I’ll try to make it show its status in system-tray if its not too difficult for me and it isnt to ressource-hungry); commandline-swich: “-s”
– Aditional Message, when nothing was to unmount instead of no information or failur-message.

My Idea is it to add another switch, “-f <filename>”, to read data from a predefined config-file, which mounts are to be unmounted.

Here is what it is until now:

#! /bin/sh

PROGNAME=${0##*/}
PROGVERSION="7.0"

# --------------------
# Help and Information
# --------------------

# Test for a help request
if [ "$1" = '-h' ] || [ "$1" = '--help' ]; then
cat << end-of-messageblock

$PROGNAME version $PROGVERSION 
Unmount remote shares from the local system

Usage:
   $PROGNAME [options]

Options:
   -h, --help     Show this output
   -a, --all      Disconnect all shares
   -s, --silent   Disconnect all shares without dialogboxes.

Summary:
   Remote CIFS and NFS shares that are mounted on to the local
   file system are presented in an interactive menu.  From the
   menu, one or more shares may be selected and unmounted.

   A report file summarizing the outcome is produced in /tmp.

Requires:  
   awk, cat, cut, grep, dialog, mktemp, sed, sync, umount

Documentation:
   http://invisible-island.net/dialog

See also:
   connectshares
   connectshares.sh
   connectshares-config
   connectshares-config.sh
   disconnectshares

end-of-messageblock
   exit 0
fi

# -------------------------------------------------------------
# store decision whether user wants all shares to be unmounted
# -------------------------------------------------------------
ALLSHARES=0
if [ "$1" = '-a' ] || [ "$1" = '--all' ]; then ALLSHARES=1; fi

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# store decision whether user wants all shares to be unmounted silently
#  this includes ALLSHARES flag to be set also.
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
SILENT=0
if [ "$1" = '-s' ] || [ "$1" = '--silent' ]; then
		ALLSHARES=1
		SILENT=1
fi

# ----------------------
# Verify user privileges
# ----------------------

#  When not run via sudo display an error message
if [ -z "$SUDO_USER" ];then
   dialog --title "Error"   \
          --no-shadow       \
          --ok-label "Exit" \
          --msgbox "\ndisconnectshares.sh requires root privileges. \nIt should be run via sudo. \n " \
         15 50
   clear
   exit 1
fi

# -------------
# Set Variables
# -------------

# File to hold transient output
TEMPFILE1=$(mktemp -q) || TEMPFILE1=/tmp/tempfile1$$

#  Save the default IFS value then set IFS value to a comma
IFSDEFAULT=$IFS
IFS=,

#  Check, whether user wants all shares unmounted
if [ "$ALLSHARES" = 0 ]; then

# ---------
# Main Menu
# ---------

#  Create a comma separated list of remote share names mounted on the local system
{  grep -E 'cifs|nfs' /etc/mtab | \
   awk '/\/mnt\// { print $2 }' | \
   awk -F / '{ print $4 }' |      \
   sed 's/$/,/;s/\\040/ /g' > $TEMPFILE1
}

#  Create vars for dialog checklist parameters tag, item, status, for each share name
COUNTER=1
#  Note: while loop data input at end of do/done
while read SHARENAME
do
   case $COUNTER in
      1)  TAG1=$COUNTER  && ITEM1=$SHARENAME  && STATUS1=off  ;;
      2)  TAG2=$COUNTER  && ITEM2=$SHARENAME  && STATUS2=off  ;;
      3)  TAG3=$COUNTER  && ITEM3=$SHARENAME  && STATUS3=off  ;;
      4)  TAG4=$COUNTER  && ITEM4=$SHARENAME  && STATUS4=off  ;;
      5)  TAG5=$COUNTER  && ITEM5=$SHARENAME  && STATUS5=off  ;;
      6)  TAG6=$COUNTER  && ITEM6=$SHARENAME  && STATUS6=off  ;;
      7)  TAG7=$COUNTER  && ITEM7=$SHARENAME  && STATUS7=off  ;;
      8)  TAG8=$COUNTER  && ITEM8=$SHARENAME  && STATUS8=off  ;;
      9)  TAG9=$COUNTER  && ITEM9=$SHARENAME  && STATUS9=off  ;;
      10) TAG10=$COUNTER && ITEM10=$SHARENAME && STATUS10=off ;;
   esac
   COUNTER=$(expr $COUNTER + 1)
done < $TEMPFILE1 

#  Display the interactive menu of share names available for unmounting
#+ and create a list of shares tagged for unmounting
   dialog --title "[Arrows] move up/down     [Spacebar] mark for disconnection" \
          --no-shadow                    \
          --separate-output              \
          --checklist "" 20 70 20        \
          $TAG1  $ITEM1  $STATUS1        \
          $TAG2  $ITEM2  $STATUS2        \
          $TAG3  $ITEM3  $STATUS3        \
          $TAG4  $ITEM4  $STATUS4        \
          $TAG5  $ITEM5  $STATUS5        \
          $TAG6  $ITEM6  $STATUS6        \
          $TAG7  $ITEM7  $STATUS7        \
          $TAG8  $ITEM8  $STATUS8        \
          $TAG9  $ITEM9  $STATUS9        \
          $TAG10 $ITEM10 $STATUS10       \
          2> $TEMPFILE1

#  Check if user selected cancel button or closed the window
[ "$?" != 0 ] && clear && rm $TEMPFILE1 && exit 1 

#  Transfer values and empty temporary file
TAGGED=$(cat $TEMPFILE1)
cat /dev/null > $TEMPFILE1

# --------------------------------------
# Correlate tagged shares to mountpoints
# --------------------------------------

#  Create a numbered, comma separated list of mountpoints of shares currently mounted
{  MOUNTED=$(grep -E 'cifs|nfs' /etc/mtab | \
   awk '/\/mnt\// { print $2 }' |           \
   sed = | sed 'N;s/\n/ /;s/$/,/;s/\\040/ /g')
}

#  Create a list of mountpoints corresponding to the tagged shares
echo "$TAGGED" | while read TAGGEDLINE
do
   echo "$MOUNTED" | while read MOUNTEDLINE
   do
      if [ "$TAGGEDLINE" = $(echo "$MOUNTEDLINE" | cut -d " " -f 1) ]; then
         echo "$(echo "$MOUNTEDLINE" | cut -d " " -f 2-)" >> $TEMPFILE1
      fi
   done
done

else
#  Empty temporary file, just to be sure
cat /dev/null > $TEMPFILE1
# ------------------------------------
# Correlate ALL shares to mountpoints
# ------------------------------------

#  Create a numbered, comma separated list of mountpoints of shares currently mounted
{  MOUNTED=$(grep -E 'cifs|nfs' /etc/mtab | \
   awk '/\/mnt\// { print $2 }' |           \
   sed = | sed 'N;s/\n/ /;s/$/,/;s/\\040/ /g')
}

#  Create a list of mountpoints of all shares
   echo "$MOUNTED" | while read MOUNTEDLINE
   do
         echo "$(echo "$MOUNTEDLINE" | cut -d " " -f 2-)" >> $TEMPFILE1
   done
fi

#  Transfer values and empty temporary file
MOUNTPOINTLIST=$(cat $TEMPFILE1)
cat /dev/null > $TEMPFILE1

#  If there is nothing to unmount, don't try it.
if [ -z "$MOUNTPOINTLIST" ]; then
	echo "Nothing to do." >> $TEMPFILE1  # in case user wants to be informed
	# clear && rm $TEMPFILE1 && exit 1      # in style like the original script did it
else

# ----------
# Disconnect
# ----------

#  Unmount the tagged shares, and set a status indicator
sync
echo "$MOUNTPOINTLIST" | while read MOUNTPOINT
do
   umount -f $MOUNTPOINT
   ERRORCODE="$?"

   #  Store the status of the unmount attempt 
   [ "$ERRORCODE" = 0 ] && echo "Success unmounting $(echo $MOUNTPOINT | cut -d "/" -f 4-)" >> $TEMPFILE1
   [ "$ERRORCODE" != 0 ] && echo "Failure unmounting $(echo $MOUNTPOINT | cut -d "/" -f 4-)" >> $TEMPFILE1
done
fi

# -----------------------------------------
# Summarize the status of unmounting shares
# -----------------------------------------

#Check whether user wants to see this
if [ "$SILENT" = 0 ]; then
#  Display the summary
dialog --title "Summary" \
       --no-shadow \
       --sleep 5 \
       --cr-wrap \
       --infobox "\n$(cat $TEMPFILE1) \n " \
       20 70
else
#in case script was called from commandline and user wants to be informed
    cat $TEMPFILE1

fi

#  Save the summary report
cat $TEMPFILE1 > /tmp/disconnectshares.rpt

# --------
# Clean up
# --------

#  Delete the temporary file
rm $TEMPFILE1

# -----
# Close
# -----
#clear screen (only if there is something to clear)
if [ "$SILENT" = 0 ]; then clear; fi
exit 0

Greetings
Robin

P.S.: Original Script was taken from antiX 17.4.1, recently updated with ‘apt-get upgrade’.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Robin. Reason: orthography
• This topic was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Robin. Reason: orthography

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Member Robin]

Helpful

Up

0

::

OK, here is my next version, implementing the reading of shares to be unmounted from a file. Each share has to be written on its own line, there mustn’t be used any seperators or apostrophes in the file. No input-checks are performed, so it is crucial not to mess up filenames and mountpoints when using it. These input-testing should be added at some point for safety of our users. The original functionality of the script (without any commandline-switches) is still untouched, it works as before. I’ve tested its function in antix 17.4.1 with all recent updates (kernel: 4.9.240-antix.1-686-smp-pae).

#! /bin/sh

PROGNAME=${0##*/}
PROGVERSION="7.0"

# --------------------
# Help and Information
# --------------------

# Test for a help request
if [ "$1" = '-h' ] || [ "$1" = '--help' ]; then
cat << end-of-messageblock

$PROGNAME version $PROGVERSION 
Unmount remote shares from the local system

Usage:
   $PROGNAME [options]

Options:
   -h, --help             Show this output.
   -a, --all              Disconnect all shares.
   -sa, --silent          Disconnect all shares without dialogboxes.
   -f, --file <filename>  Use configfile instead of interactive dialog.
   -sf                    combination of -s and -f
   
Summary:
   Remote CIFS and NFS shares that are mounted on to the local
   file system are presented in an interactive menu.  From the
   menu, one or more shares may be selected and unmounted.

   A report file summarizing the outcome is produced in /tmp.

	Commandline-switches:
	-a   disconnects _all_ mounted CIFS and NFS shares and confirms
	       action afterwards in a pop-up-dialog.
	-sa  does the same, without any dialog. Mainly for use in connection
	       with other ways of status-display (e.g.taskbar)
	       when called from the commandline it will write the messages there.
	-f   reads list of shares to be unmounted from a given configuration
		   file. The filename may contain the path. Each mount is to be
		   written on a single line, with its full path. e.g.
		       /mnt/antiX2/MyFolder
		       /mnt/antix4/Music
	-sf  means, it shows not even the summary-message in the end, apart
		   from that is functions identical as the -f switch.
	
Requires:  
   awk, cat, cut, grep, dialog, mktemp, sed, sync, umount

Documentation:
   http://invisible-island.net/dialog

See also:
   connectshares
   connectshares.sh
   connectshares-config
   connectshares-config.sh
   disconnectshares

end-of-messageblock
   exit 0
fi

# -------------------------------------------------------------
# store decision whether user wants all shares to be unmounted
# -------------------------------------------------------------
ALLSHARES=0
if [ "$1" = '-a' ] || [ "$1" = '--all' ]; then ALLSHARES=1; fi

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# store decision whether user wants all shares to be unmounted silently
#  this includes ALLSHARES flag to be set also.
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
SILENT=0
if [ "$1" = '-sa' ] || [ "$1" = '--silent' ]; then
		ALLSHARES=1
		SILENT=1
fi

# -------------------------------------------------------------
# store decision whether user wants to read from config-file
#  and all shares to be unmounted
# -------------------------------------------------------------
FROMFILE=0
if [ "$1" = '-f' ] || [ "$1" = '-sf' ] || [ "$1" = '--file' ]; then 
    FROMFILE=1
    ALLSHARES=1
    if [ "$1" = '-sf' ]; then SILENT=1; fi 
    CFGFILE="$2"
    # todo: here should be done some input-checking with the 
    # content of the variable CFGFILE, before using it.
	echo "reading shares to unmount from "$CFGFILE" ..."
fi

# ----------------------
# Verify user privileges
# ----------------------

#  When not run via sudo display an error message
if [ -z "$SUDO_USER" ];then
   dialog --title "Error"   \
          --no-shadow       \
          --ok-label "Exit" \
          --msgbox "\ndisconnectshares.sh requires root privileges. \nIt should be run via sudo. \n " \
         15 50
   clear
   exit 1
fi

# -------------
# Set Variables
# -------------

# File to hold transient output
TEMPFILE1=$(mktemp -q) || TEMPFILE1=/tmp/tempfile1$$

#  Save the default IFS value then set IFS value to a comma
IFSDEFAULT=$IFS
IFS=,
E_NOFILE=86

#---------------------------------------
# Check if cfg-file exists, if requested
#---------------------------------------
if [ "$FROMFILE" = 1 ]; then
  if [ ! -f "$CFGFILE" ]; then
      echo "File \"$CFGFILE\" does not exist."
      rm $TEMPFILE1 && exit $E_NOFILE
  fi
fi

#  Check, whether user wants all shares unmounted
if [ "$ALLSHARES" = 0 ]; then
# ---------
# Main Menu
# ---------

#  Create a comma separated list of remote share names mounted on the local system
{  grep -E 'cifs|nfs' /etc/mtab | \
   awk '/\/mnt\// { print $2 }' | \
   awk -F / '{ print $4 }' |      \
   sed 's/$/,/;s/\\040/ /g' > $TEMPFILE1
}

#  Create vars for dialog checklist parameters tag, item, status, for each share name
COUNTER=1
#  Note: while loop data input at end of do/done
while read SHARENAME
do
   case $COUNTER in
      1)  TAG1=$COUNTER  && ITEM1=$SHARENAME  && STATUS1=off  ;;
      2)  TAG2=$COUNTER  && ITEM2=$SHARENAME  && STATUS2=off  ;;
      3)  TAG3=$COUNTER  && ITEM3=$SHARENAME  && STATUS3=off  ;;
      4)  TAG4=$COUNTER  && ITEM4=$SHARENAME  && STATUS4=off  ;;
      5)  TAG5=$COUNTER  && ITEM5=$SHARENAME  && STATUS5=off  ;;
      6)  TAG6=$COUNTER  && ITEM6=$SHARENAME  && STATUS6=off  ;;
      7)  TAG7=$COUNTER  && ITEM7=$SHARENAME  && STATUS7=off  ;;
      8)  TAG8=$COUNTER  && ITEM8=$SHARENAME  && STATUS8=off  ;;
      9)  TAG9=$COUNTER  && ITEM9=$SHARENAME  && STATUS9=off  ;;
      10) TAG10=$COUNTER && ITEM10=$SHARENAME && STATUS10=off ;;
   esac
   COUNTER=$(expr $COUNTER + 1)
done < $TEMPFILE1 

#  Display the interactive menu of share names available for unmounting
#+ and create a list of shares tagged for unmounting
   dialog --title "[Arrows] move up/down     [Spacebar] mark for disconnection" \
          --no-shadow                    \
          --separate-output              \
          --checklist "" 20 70 20        \
          $TAG1  $ITEM1  $STATUS1        \
          $TAG2  $ITEM2  $STATUS2        \
          $TAG3  $ITEM3  $STATUS3        \
          $TAG4  $ITEM4  $STATUS4        \
          $TAG5  $ITEM5  $STATUS5        \
          $TAG6  $ITEM6  $STATUS6        \
          $TAG7  $ITEM7  $STATUS7        \
          $TAG8  $ITEM8  $STATUS8        \
          $TAG9  $ITEM9  $STATUS9        \
          $TAG10 $ITEM10 $STATUS10       \
          2> $TEMPFILE1

#  Check if user selected cancel button or closed the window
[ "$?" != 0 ] && clear && rm $TEMPFILE1 && exit 1 

#  Transfer values and empty temporary file
TAGGED=$(cat $TEMPFILE1)
cat /dev/null > $TEMPFILE1

# --------------------------------------
# Correlate tagged shares to mountpoints
# --------------------------------------

#  Create a numbered, comma separated list of mountpoints of shares currently mounted
{  MOUNTED=$(grep -E 'cifs|nfs' /etc/mtab | \
   awk '/\/mnt\// { print $2 }' |           \
   sed = | sed 'N;s/\n/ /;s/$/,/;s/\\040/ /g')
}

#  Create a list of mountpoints corresponding to the tagged shares
echo "$TAGGED" | while read TAGGEDLINE
do
   echo "$MOUNTED" | while read MOUNTEDLINE
   do
      if [ "$TAGGEDLINE" = $(echo "$MOUNTEDLINE" | cut -d " " -f 1) ]; then
         echo "$(echo "$MOUNTEDLINE" | cut -d " " -f 2-)" >> $TEMPFILE1
      fi
   done
done

else
#  Empty temporary file, just to be sure
cat /dev/null > $TEMPFILE1

#  check if user has given a config-file
   if [ "$FROMFILE" = 1 ]; then
# ---------------------------
# read from given config file
# ---------------------------
      cut -z --output-delimiter="," -d'
' -f 1- $CFGFILE > $TEMPFILE1   
      # todo: here should be a check whether the file content isn't garbage   
      
   else
# ------------------------------------
# Correlate ALL shares to mountpoints
# ------------------------------------
	 echo "looking for mounted shares..."
#    Create a numbered, comma separated list of mountpoints of shares currently mounted
{    MOUNTED=$(grep -E 'cifs|nfs' /etc/mtab | \
     awk '/\/mnt\// { print $2 }' |           \
     sed = | sed 'N;s/\n/ /;s/$/,/;s/\\040/ /g')
}

#    Create a list of mountpoints of all shares
     echo "$MOUNTED" | while read MOUNTEDLINE
     do
           echo "$(echo "$MOUNTEDLINE" | cut -d " " -f 2-)" >> $TEMPFILE1
     done
   fi
fi

# in any case, at this point we have a valid content of $TEMPFILE1.
#  Transfer values and empty temporary file
MOUNTPOINTLIST=$(cat $TEMPFILE1)
cat /dev/null > $TEMPFILE1

#  If there is nothing to unmount, don't try it.
if [ -z "$MOUNTPOINTLIST" ]; then
	echo "Nothing to do." >> $TEMPFILE1  # in case user wants to be informed
	# clear && rm $TEMPFILE1 && exit 1      # in style like the original script did it
else

# ----------
# Disconnect
# ----------

#  Unmount the tagged shares, and set a status indicator
sync
echo "$MOUNTPOINTLIST" | while read MOUNTPOINT
do
   umount -f $MOUNTPOINT
   ERRORCODE="$?"

   #  Store the status of the unmount attempt 
   [ "$ERRORCODE" = 0 ] && echo "Success unmounting $(echo $MOUNTPOINT | cut -d "/" -f 4-)" >> $TEMPFILE1
   [ "$ERRORCODE" != 0 ] && echo "Failure unmounting $(echo $MOUNTPOINT | cut -d "/" -f 4-)" >> $TEMPFILE1
done
fi

# -----------------------------------------
# Summarize the status of unmounting shares
# -----------------------------------------

#Check whether user wants to see this
if [ "$SILENT" = 0 ]; then
#  Display the summary
dialog --title "Summary" \
       --no-shadow \
       --sleep 5 \
       --cr-wrap \
       --infobox "\n$(cat $TEMPFILE1) \n " \
       20 70
else
#in case script was called from commandline and user wants to be informed
    cat $TEMPFILE1

fi

#  Save the summary report
cat $TEMPFILE1 > /tmp/disconnectshares.rpt

# --------
# Clean up
# --------

#  Delete the temporary file
rm $TEMPFILE1

# -----
# Close
# -----
#clear screen (only if there is something to clear)
if [ "$SILENT" = 0 ]; then clear; fi
exit 0

Have fun with it,
Robin

Xxx edited by bobc

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by BobC. Reason: Try to fix

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Moderator BobC]

Helpful

Up

0

::

I’ve never tried connect shares

[Member olsztyn]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Robin wrote:

I was just configuring and fine-tuning antiX on my laptop and came across the disconnectshares-script, which asked me constantly to check the boxes again and again, which share(s) was(were) to be unmounted. Since the shares are connected via WLAN, it is obvious that ALL shares have to be unmounted. Every single time I log out from the server. This is quite – let me say – time-consuming and much clickwork. So I decided to add some lines in the script, making things easier for me and more flexible.

I am just an average user of Connectshares, not a programmer, so I am curious of how this script is applied in practice. Does it need to be invoked from a command line?
So far I have been connecting SMB shares using Connectshares when needed and either disconnecting manually through Disconnectshares or at laptops shutdown. If multiple shares are connected then Disconnectshares requires to check which are to be disconnected.
As I understand your script disconnects all SMB shares of of the entire server in one shot?
Thanks and Regards…

Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters

[Forum Admin SamK]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Robin wrote:

Since the shares are connected via WLAN, it is obvious that ALL shares have to be unmounted.

It is disputable that “it is obvious that all shares have to be unmounted” simply because you use wlan.

By design Connectshares is able to mount a single or multiple remote resources, on a single or multiple remote servers, using different protocols. It can do this individually (manually) or as a group (automatically) making resources available from one or more servers on one or more machines in the LAN.

The popular way to provide access to frequently used resources is to automatically mount them at system startup via the user session startup file. They are usually needed throughout the session. Additional resources can be mounted on demand irrespective of whether they orginate from the same server.

Disconnectshares is able to unmount a single or multiple shares on demand (manually) irrespective of their remote origin.

The usual way to unmount the frequently used shares that are needed throughout the session is as a group (automatically) at shutdown.

Robin wrote:

Every single time I log out from the server.

If “log out from the server” means unmount a remote share(s) the easiest method is to unmount all resources automatically as a group when the local client system is shut down.

[Forum Admin SamK]

Helpful

Up

0

::

olsztyn wrote:

As I understand your script disconnects all SMB shares of of the entire server in one shot?
Thanks and Regards…

No. It will only disconnect remote resources mounted by the method which Disonnectshares employs as previously described.

olsztyn wrote:

…if SMB shares have been connected via methods other than Connectshares then Disconnectshares does not seem to detect any shares as connected in order to disconnect…

SamK wrote:

Because of the many different ways of connecting to shares it is not feasible to have a single way to deal with gracefully breaking all connections. For that reason each method of connecting usually provides its own method of disconnecting.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by SamK.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by SamK.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by SamK.

[Member Robin]

Helpful

Up

0

::

olsztyn wrote:

so I am curious of how this script is applied in practice. Does it need to be invoked from a command line?

Well, let me say first, many things in our OS are regulated and executed by scripts of that kind. The normal user won’t even notice it was a script which did something automatically. This is true for this script also. From the perspective of the user it appears just as an entry in a menu or as a checkbox in a configuration utility. The creators of the OS arrange things in a way, he – the user – doesn’t have to think about every single routine job his computer executes, after he has set some checkboxes in the very beginning. The experienced user may tinker with the advanced option most scripts (and also real programs) provide.
If you use the connectshares/disconnectshares-entry in Menu–>Aplications–>Internet–>Connectshares or Disconnectshares, then you actually start exactly that script. It bings the grey window with its checkbox(es) on your screen, where you can chose which share is to be disconnected, in more technical terms: unmounted. You can try yourself, if you are starting connectshares/disconnectshares from the menu usually (having configured it already) you can open a virtual console (Terminal-Window) on your antiX-System, type in first connectshares, and see what happens. Then type in disconnectshares. And finally type disconnectshares –help in order to understand, what’s really going on behind the scenes. You will get a help-message in the terminalwindow, mostly identic to that you can read above in the first few codelines of my version of the script. Actually it is that text, slightly complemented. Also you could type in a terminal-window: cat /usr/local/bin/connectshares.sh, which will print out that very script script in its original form on your terminal-window, as it is used already in your antiX-system.
What I did, was to add some features to the original script. In the first place, it works exactly as before, if you don’t give any option (commandline-switch) when starting. This is the normal use-case, as before.

And now, what are the additional switches good for in my version? Well, there are some use-cases, or scenarios:
If you have always only one connection to a single share, i.e., your 2nd pc in the coal-cellar, runing samba, it is a useless question which share should be unmounted every day. Always you will click on that box, just because it is there, seven day’s a week. I asked me whether the script had a built-in option to disconnect a share without bothering me with this routine task. connectshares -h told me, there was no option at all.

Now let us discuss the question, in which scenarios (use-cases) it would be mandatory to disconnect shares. May be I’ve missunderstood the concept of connectshares, but in my perspective it should be used always before the connection to the server(s) is cut.
This will happen
– on shutdown. Here does an other mechanism do the job, I think (haven’t checked).
– on suspend-to-ram. I noticed that recover from suspend fails siginficantly more often when shares are not disconnected before. I don’t know the reason, but I observed it in 17.4.1 recently apt-upgraded and when using noveau-driver instead of nvidia-legacy. What is the connection between, I can’t tell. But I have always to use disconnectshares before suspending to ram. And here is a script, which has no option to automatize the job, disconnecting (and connecting again after resume) the shares which were actually mounted. And, doing its job, not to bother the user with unnecessery questions. That’s the idea behind the switches I added to the scipt. The script with options is intended to be called from other scripts, that are responsible for the execution of the suspension, in our case it would be desktop-session-exit -S probably. May be, it turns out the options I added are not sufficient and have to be supplemented or adjusted later on.
– on hibernating. The before said is true here also. Keep in mind, we have notebooks which can be suspended or hibernated instead of shut down, carried away in this state and then there possibly won’t be a server to disconnect from after resuming. Then it is better I think, when the shares are disconnected already beforehand, the user will not miss them after resuming, very well knowing he is at another location. When he stays in reach of his WLAN (and his share-server) the scripting will do the reconnect to the shares silently on resume (Well here is some scripting left to be done).
– at one keystroke of the user, when he is going to leave a location with running equipment tucked under his arm for some reason.
– Since the new options allow to hand over a filename, you’ll be able to connect and disconnect a predeterminded set of shares depending on the location you are with your notebook mostly automatically. You could create menuentries (e.g. “At home”, “At University”, “At Grandma” …) each with a different set of shares to be connected _and_ disconnected from. Connectshares already has the ability to handle different config-files, but disconnectshares didn’t. We always to had to check the boxes instead of using a predetermined set of files (configfiles of connectshares i.e.).

SamK wrote:

The usual way to unmount the frequently used shares that are needed throughout the session is as a group (automatically) at shutdown.

Think twice. As I stated above, we talk about notebooks also, so you might not shut the computer down necessarily, before carrying it away. Maybe it is hibernated, suspended, or even running. So you need something, to disconnect really all shares as it automatically happens at shutdown, willingly at hand of the user. You can reply, that one can check all boxes in the dialog. But that is exactly what the -a switch does. It uses the original script-logic to determine what is to be unmounted, when you check all the boxes. And there are use-cases, when this is usefull. I put my additions under the Headline more flexible, which means, you can call a silently acting script automatically from different locations of the OS when needed (see above the pre-down example), you could as well call it from the suspend-to-ram script or from hibernate-script. As well you could tell disconnectshares to do the job silently and without bothering you. Exactly this does my -a option. And if you even don’t want to be informed by the script, that it has done its job, you can use -sa option; you can see your mount vanish in SpaceFM devices-sidebar, which is sufficient information. No poster-size messagebox fills your screen if you don’t want it nor need it.

SamK wrote:

It is disputable that “it is obvious that all shares have to be unmounted” simply because you use wlan.

You are right here. I only think it’s obvious. My reasons I explained above, but may be I’m “on the woodway” with all that, as we call it in Germany (meaning: I’d be on the up and up), and you shouldn’t hesitate to object to my statements.

For sure there are cases, we are not able to cover: Network-cable plugged of without stopping the processes which use it right in that moment, as well as user switching off the hardware-wlan-switch before disconnecting (and finishing writing on his shares) beforehand. But this is in the responsibility of the user.

olsztyn wrote:

As I understand your script disconnects all SMB shares of of the entire server in one shot?

Not of the entire server, but all the shares you have mounted on your client (i.e. your notebook) at that time, which saves you from checking all the boxes before network-connection is shut down, or you suspend or hibernate your notebook, having a clean state when resuming at a different location. If you neglect to do the first disconnect, i noticed some confusion later, when trying to reconnect to your samba-server, once back at the first location again. Since the the network-management tools (which is WiCD in 17.4.1 per default as far as I understand) support post-up and pre-down scripts, you can put a link to disconnectshares there to be called at the right time.

It is obvious that you can’t use any of the new options, when you really want to check only some of the boxes in the dialog-box.

Now finally, what is the -file swich good for?
I think this is the most important part of the additions. In my eyes the correct way to handle the shares is: unmount them, before the connection is interrupted, mindless of what is the reason. Hence not only shutdown needs a disconnect, but also suspend-to-ram, hibernate, and – if user choses it – even pre-down of networking, all of witch don’t need come to the attention of the user, since it is obvious that the shares have to be mounted again after resume in these cases automatically.

So let me conclude:
– the antix suspend-to-ram helper script (named desktop-session-exit -S ) should call precautionary the disconnectshares-script silently (-s), and make sure to call connectshares with the previously unmounted shares silently as well. If there is nothing to unmount the script will do nothing in this case, not even show a messagebox. The original disconnectshare-script allready writes a temp file (/tmp/disconnectshares.rpt) which contains what it has done. From this file (or a similar, which could become easyly created by the script) connectshares could tell exactly, what to mount in this mode (which would be have been to be added in connectshares-script for this purpose)
So this is in my view a first step to make some thinks work smoother only. In my tests with the RIM 2000-Notebook (see wellcome-section of the forum) I noticed, that often it doesn’t recover correctly from suspend-to-ram, when a samba-share was still connected. And shares refused sometimes (not every time) working after resume. (This was true at least with noveau-driver, which I had to dismiss unfortunately after kernel-upgrade and replace it by nvidia-legacy).

Sorry for the long text! I’m not able to write as concise in English language as I’m used to in German, so I need much more words to express what I want to say substantially.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Robin. Reason: sentence structure was out of order
• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Robin. Reason: Klammersetzung was wrong
• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Robin.

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Author]

Posts