Mounting an SMB share only when used

Mounting an SMB share only when used

[David Lecompte]

Dear Guix,

On other distros (Trisquel, Parabola), I use autofs to mount SMB shares when
the user tries to access the directory where the share is to be mounted.

I prefer this over mounting something via the file manager of a DE because I
want to access the files in command line, not only via the file manager.

I prefer this over something always mounted because this can be on a laptop
not in the network where the SMB share is, so this would not work.

What would be a suitable way for GuixSD?

I see there is an autofs package, is it functional? Will a daemon be started
for it or is there another way? Also, which files do I need to configure (I
used to configure /etc/auto.master indicating a mount starting point and a
file that lists the SMB shares and mount option)?

Or is there another method?

Thanks for any hint.

David.

Re: Mounting an SMB share only when used

[Felix Lechner via]

Hi David,

On Sun, Jul 28 2024, David Lecompte wrote:

> I see there is an autofs package, is it functional?

Probably, as version 5.1.8 is from 2021.  You can also use 5.1.9 locally
and then submit a patch.

> Will a daemon be started for it [...] ?

No, the package will provide the executable, but you must start it.

Aside from one-off experiments, the best way is to start daemons is to
write service definitions. It's not complicated, but your challenges
could be:

    1. Getting the G-expressions right; and
    2. Getting the configuration record to work properly.

You can look at the cachefiled service.  I think mpd is also somewhat
recent.

> Also, which files do I need to configure [...] ?

The configuration record will "serialize" itself into a configuration
file that the daemon understands.

Getting that right can be discouraging, but it pays to stay with it.
You will help a bunch of other people, including potentially me.

Kind regards
Felix

P.S. The define-maybe types tend to be duplicated across source files.