[plug] KDE / DCOP vs SMBFS home path.....? (long post, adv. topic)

[Ben New]

Hi all,

I've been using Linux for a few years now and never came across this one 
before.  My problem relates to KDE and probably also Samba...

Anyway, to start from the start, I've just ditched SuSE and installed 
Mandrake 9.1, no real problem there.  I have a server running Samba 
(among other things) with several global shares plus users home paths, 
setup with swat.  There is no problem with the global shares, I just 
include a line like the following in the workstation's /etc/fstab:

//[server]/[share]  /mnt/[path]  smbfs  
auto,nouser,rw,credentials=/foo/bar,uid=[user],gid=[grp] 0 0

I also mount the user's home paths using a line like this for each user 
(again in the wkstn's /etc/fstab):

//[server]/homes /home/[user]  smbfs  
auto,user,rw,credentials=/foo/bar,uid=[user],gid=[grp] 0 0

Note that I've used "homes" as the source path, rather than [user] - 
don't know if this makes any difference (?)

Anyway this all works fine for a console login.  A user can login (to 
the wkstn), do an 'ls' and the files on their home path on the server 
are there.  Also there is no problem with writing files (as verified 
with "echo test > test.txt") or removing ("rm test.txt").

When it comes to X funny things happen.  If I try to login with a KDE 
session I get the error:

There was an error setting up inter-process communications for KDE.  The 
message returned was:
Could not read network connection list 
/home/[user]/.DCOPserver_[wkstn].leftclick.com.au__0
Please check that the "dcopserver" program is running.

I looked for the file mentioned and of course it wasn't there. 

Next I tried logging in as root, running "dcopserver" manually, and 
trying again, but got exactly the same error.  I tried Gnome but that 
wouldn't work either, a similar error message (can supply exact wording 
if req'd).  The same happened when running "dcopserver" manually as the 
user trying to login to KDE.

Right now I'm using IceWM because it actually works.  If I run a KDE 
application (even Klickety) under ice, I get the same error but the app 
then still runs.  Some KDE apps like KOffice don't run at all, just 
fails after the dcop message.

If I login as root and "umount /home/[user]" then I can login to KDE 
fine.  But of course, then everything is stored on the local root 
partition, not the Samba server.  That is why I believe the KDE problem 
is related to Samba...

Sorry if this is all a bit long winded but there's nothing worse than 
someone asking "I got an error message, what does it mean?".  Anyway if 
there's anyone out there who can help, please do!  I've been told that 
if there's anyone around who can help, they would be on this list ;-)

Regards,
Ben


Full version info:
Mandrake 9.1 (3 disc version)
XFree86  4.3-5mdk
KDE  3.1-83.3mdk
Samba  2.2.7a-8mdk






-- 
Ben New
ben at leftclick.com.au
0407 089 890

Leftclick Software Development
http://www.leftclick.com.au/
08 9433 5380