Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 02:43:30 +0000 From: B J <va6bmj@gmail.com> To: Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Can't Mount USB Drive As User Under FreeBSD 10 Message-ID: <CAP7QzkNrd0h_Gx1%2BfR0Mki7gALYyVoRniqvKbSC=CLZn6Lv2ZA@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20140214171610.GA58795@slackbox.erewhon.net> References: <CAP7QzkPx8Q1V8U1wAdBGZkDu-d94wPBZtfYV-R7XHewyCi_SmQ@mail.gmail.com> <20140214171610.GA58795@slackbox.erewhon.net>
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On 2/14/14, Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 04:39:46AM +0000, B J wrote:
>> I searched the mailing list archives for an answer to my problem but
>> didn't find anything.
>>
>> I recently installed FreeBSD 10 on a T42 Thinkpad. The configuration
>> uses Gnome as the desktop.
>>
>> I've had problems configuring the machine to mount external USB
>> drives. I can mount USB thumb drives when logged in as root using:
>>
>> mount -t msdosfs -o -m=644,-M=755 /dev/da0s1 /mnt/root
>>
>> after creating the directory /mnt/root.
>
> To be able to mount as a user several settings have to be made.
>
> First, in /etc/sysctl.conf:
>
> vfs.usermount=1
>
> Next the permissions for the devices have to be set. Since USB devices can
> be
> plugged in at random, this has to be set in /etc/devfs.rules, not
> etc/devfs.conf! You can make a choice here;
>
> 1) give _everybody_ read/write access by using mode 666
> 2) restrict r/w access to a group, e.g. a group 'usb'. This is the path
>
> I've chosen.
>
> So, in /etc/devfs.rules I've put the following;
>
> [my_usb=10]
> add path 'da*' mode 0660 group usb
> add path 'msdosfs/*' mode 0660 group usb
> add path 'usb/*' mode 0660 group usb
> add path 'ugen*' mode 0660 group usb
>
> Additionally, in /etc/rc.conf we have to activate this ruleset:
>
> devfs_system_ruleset="my_usb"
>
> What I like to do is have USB drives mount automatically. To this end I'm
> using sysutils/automount. This uses devd notifications. Configuration is
> done
> with two files;
>
> /usr/local/etc/devd/automount_devd.conf:
>
> notify 20 {
> match "system" "DEVFS";
> match "type" "CREATE";
> match "cdev" "da[0-9]s1$";
> action "/usr/local/sbin/automount $cdev attach";
> };
>
> notify 20 {
> match "system" "DEVFS";
> match "type" "DESTROY";
> match "cdev" "da[0-9]s1$";
> action "/usr/local/sbin/automount $cdev detach";
> };
>
> N.B.: /usr/local/etc/devd must be named as a directory option in
> devd.conf(5).
> But this is the default.
>
> Next we have /usr/local/etc/automount.conf:
>
> MNTPREFIX="/media"
> USERUMOUNT="YES"
> USER="your_name_here"
> ATIME="NO"
> REMOVEDIRS="YES"
>
> The directory '/media' has to be created. Under this directory,
> subdirectories
> named after the device will be created owned by $USER. So if a /dev/da0s1
> is
> detected by devd, it will be mounted at '/media/da0s1' owned by $USER. If
> the
> USB cable is unplugged the filesystem will be unmounted. Note that it is
> better to unmount filesystems by hand before unplugging them!
I got something to work. As we used to say while I worked in
industry, if it works, don't fix it.
Here's what I did:
- installed automount
- added the commands listed above (spelling things correctly helps! ;-))
- put "mount -t msdosfs -o -m=644,-M=755 /dev/da0s1 /media" in a file
(I called it mountusb)
- put "umount /media" in another file (I called it unmountusb), and
- make a link to /media and put it on the desktop.
I created identical files in my user account. Putting those commands
into files saves me the headache of typing them each time.
While operating as root, I:
- mounted the USB drive by typing "source mountusb"
- clicked on the link, the contents of the USB drive appeared, and
- umounted the USB drive by typing "source unmountusb"
While operating in my personal account, I:
- changed to the C shell, and
- used "source mountusb" and "source unmountusb" as before.
I copied files from the USB onto my desktop without any problems.
Anyway, it works and it's good enough for my purposes. Thanks for the
information.
B.M. Jatzeck
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