[Bug 251923] Re: /sbin/mount.nfs doesn't understand mount option mountvers=n

[scorp123]

> That's as may be, but we didn't touch it. You'd have to take up
> the question of not touching it with linux-nfs upstream.

Yes, I get it. I'll try that too. Thanks so far.


> because the only thing affected was a version of the protocol that's 
> been *obsolete* for a decade. 

A lot of "Enterprise" stuff (be that software or OS) still use tons of
obsolete things, e.g. HP-UX and Solaris still install r*-tools (rcp,
rlogin, rsh, and so on), and so on, and so on. I've been in server rooms
where they still use VAX and PDP-something machines in active production
... :)

Thanks for your patience and help so far.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/251923

Title:
  /sbin/mount.nfs doesn't understand mount option mountvers=n

Status in “nfs-utils” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  It appears that on Ubuntu 8.04 the binary /sbin/mount.nfs no longer
  understands certain (standard?) mount options which work on Ubuntu
  7.10. This is bad for compatibility!

  Instructions to reproduce the behaviour:

  1.) both on Ubuntu 8.04 and 7.10:
  Configure an NFS server and have it export a directory "/smb" ... e.g. my /etc/exports looks like this:

  /smb    *(rw,async,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check)

  
  2.) Now try to mount it onto your localhost with this command:
  sudo mount -t nfs -o rw,udp,mountvers=2,port=4242 localhost:/smb /smb

  Results you will get:

  * Ubuntu 7.10: 
  Everything OK, works tip top. A simple "mount" returns this:

  ~$ mount
  ...
  localhost:/smb on /smb type nfs (rw,udp,mountvers=2,port=4242,addr=127.0.0.1)

  The application (please see below for details) I have to do this for
  also works tip top with Ubuntu 7.10.

  
  * Ubuntu 8.04: 
  Does not work! The "mount" binary immediately exists with this error message: 

  "mount.nfs: an incorrect mount option was specified"

  If I modify above command e.g. so that it now looks like this (leaving
  away the "mountvers=2" parameter) ...:

  sudo mount -t nfs -o rw,udp,port=4242 localhost:/smb /smb

  ... then "mount" seems to hang for quite a while and then after
  several minutes simply exits with this message:

  "mount.nfs: internal error"

  ... Without giving any further explanation of what might be wrong!
  "dmesg" shows this line:

  "[718405.028275] nfs: server localhost not responding, timed out"

  ... But according to the "nfs-kernel-server" itself it is running:

  # /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server status
  nfsd running

  The same message about "nfs: server localhost not responding, timed
  out" is also present in /var/log/messages but other than this there
  are no indications of why this does not work anymore (again: it works
  tip top in Ubuntu 7.10 and other Linux distributions).

  
  Background:

  We are using "Sun Secure Global Desktop" (see here:
  http://www.sun.com/software/products/sgd/get.jsp) and Ubuntu as
  application server (e.g. Ubuntu's Gnome desktop session is served as
  application to our SGD users) and for everything (= audio forwarding,
  client drive mapping, seamless window mode) to work it is necessary to
  install the "SGD Client Enhancement Module". Details about that one
  can be found here: http://docs.sun.com/source/820-2550/cdm.html

  This page explains in detail how NFS and exporting the "/smb" share is needed for "Client Drive Mapping" to work:
  http://docs.sun.com/source/820-2550/cdm.html#unixappserver

  As per these instructions by SUN, when you issue this command:

  /opt/tta_tem/bin/tem startcdm

  ... to trigger the "client drive mapping" functionality then this
  script "/opt/tta_tem/bin/tem" is executed which ultimately triggers
  the mount command I give above (I checked via "strace"):

  "mount -t nfs -o rw,udp,mountvers=2,port=4242 localhost:/smb /smb"

  So this explains why I need above command to work, no matter how
  strange and pointless it may look.

  As explained above, I can use "Sun Secure Global Desktop" with Ubuntu
  7.10 and with "client drive mapping" (and therefore via that funny-
  looking "mount" command above!) users who login get the drives of
  their client PC (e.g. their C:\ .... or their $HOME directory) mapped
  onto the remotely running desktop session (e.g. Ubuntu's Gnome
  session) as if it were connected directly to the server. Trust me,
  this is a very cool feature.

  With Ubuntu 8.04 however this does not work anymore.

  So it all boils down to the fact that this command (regardless how odd
  and pointless it may look):

  sudo mount -t nfs -o rw,udp,mountvers=2,port=4242 localhost:/smb /smb

  ... works tip top on Ubuntu 7.10
  ... but does not work at all on Ubuntu 8.04

  
  ... Which means that we cannot use Ubuntu 8.04 in connection with "Sun Secure Global Desktop" and maybe other enterprise products as well.

  So am I right to assume that something was changed in the "mount.nfs"
  binary and that this might be a bug?

  If it's not a bug .... could we please have 7.10's binaries back?
  :-)

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