[Bug 1424424] [NEW] SMB KIO Slave Mangles Time/Date Stamps

[Weary1]

Public bug reported:

NOTE:  The "What package" question above was left unanswered because
this COULD be due to any of several packages.  The primary suspects are:

    "kde-runtime"
		(Version 4:4.13.3-0ubuntu0.2 tested)
    Various Samba-related ("samba-common", "samba-common-bin", "samba-libs", "libsmbclient", possibly others)
		(Version 2.4.1.6+dfsg-1ubuntu2.14.04.5 tested)

This bug is VERY similar -- but apparently NOT quite identical -- to two
others which have been previously reported:

	https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/samba/+bug/73452 
	https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/samba/+bug/122302

both of which have been open for roughly eight years without ever being
properly addressed.

HOWEVER, in both of those cases, the reporters mentioned use of Nautilus
as the GUI file manager used to move/copy the files, which in turn
implies the use of Gnome.  But in my case, Gnome was NOT in use (or even
installed on the system), which I believe is significant in light of the
troubleshooting done thus far, which seems to point to a KDE-specific
package.

In any event, the root cause of all three instances may or may not be
the same, and I have no way to definitively determine this.  Hence, I am
filing this a a separate bug, and will leave it to others to determine
if it really is a duplicate or not.  If indeed it is a duplicate of
either/both of the previously reported bugs, it is long past time for it
to be FIXED!

I recently ran across this bug after setting up a new desktop
workstation under Kubuntu 14.04.2 LTS, which includes KDE v4.13.3.
(Historically, our Linux-based workstations have used other Debian-based
distributions, such as Simply MEPIS and Debian itself.)  After some
discussion in another venue (cf.
<https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthread.php?67480-Time-Stamping-
Weirdness>), I found a viable work-around (Thank You, "kubicle"!); but
the malfunction itself remains unrepaired.  Hence this bug report.

The core issue is that, when moving or copying files between the
workstation and a general-purpose fileserver (running Debian and Samba)
elsewhere on our LAN, and using the SMB KIO Slave (i.e., the "remote"
URI starts with "smb://"), the original date/time stamps on the files
being moved/copied are, more often than not, lost in the process and the
files become stamped with the current date & time.  I refer you to the
Kubuntu Forums thread cited above for further details; but a few key
points are:

  -- When moving/copying files from the workstation to the server, all
folders and files become stamped with the current date/time, every time
(or at least as close to every time as I've been able to discern).

  -- When moving/copying files from the server to the workstation, the
behavior is INCONSISTENT:  Some files will still have their original
date/time-stamps, while others will be stamped with the current
date/time -- and there's no telling which (or how many) will be which.
If, for example, you're copying a folder with a dozen files in it,
perhaps three or four will retain their correct time-stamps; the rest
will be re-stamped with the current date/time.  But again, this is VERY
inconsistent and unpredictable; sometimes all files will be re-stamped,
sometimes only a few (more often the former than the latter, it seems).

  -- This problem affects ONLY the workstation running Kubuntu.  Another
workstation on the same LAN running straight Debian (Stable, v7.8) &
"generic" KDE (v4.8.4) does NOT exhibit the problem, ever; and the
server (to/from which the files are being copied/moved) is the same in
both cases.  Notably, the suspect packages ("kde-runtime" and various
Samba-related packages) ALL carry Ubuntu-specific version numbers on the
affected system (and apparently have done so for some time).  So, while
it is perhaps possible that the bug is attributable to KDE itself (or
maybe even to Samba), I find this highly doubtful.  For that to be the
case, the bug would have to be newly-created since the release of KDE
v4.8.4, which simply does not jibe with the fact that essentially the
same problem has been reported against various Ubuntu-specific packages
going back to 2006 (albeit, it was blamed exclusively on Samba at that
time, which I do not believe to be the case).  Further, I have yet to
find any reference to similar issues from anyone NOT running Ubuntu or
Kubuntu.

  -- The user-level "shell" application used to initiate the copy/move
operations appears to be irrelevant.  As noted above, the originators of
both of those 8-year-old bug reports were using Nautilus.  But in my
case, Dolphin was used.  Further, Dolphin was used on BOTH workstation
systems:  One of them works correctly, the other doesn't; so obviously,
the key variable lies elsewhere, presumably somewhere "deeper" in the
system.

  -- In the previous reports the misbehavior was reported in the context
of copy/move operations involving a "real" Windows-based server.  But in
THIS case, Windows is not being used at all.  Again, that strongly
implies that the problem actually resides in the workstation(s).

  -- The problem does NOT manifest itself when using a different KIO
Slave, even on the same (problematic) system.  The "work-around" noted
above was to access the server via the sFTP protocol rather than SMB,
which of course uses the FTP KIO Slave to do teh "grunt work", rather
than the SMB KIO Slave.  Since implementing that work-around, I have
experienced zero time-stamp errors, while all the other variables (same
server, use of Dolphin on the local workstation, etc.) have remained the
same.

If there is any further information required, I would be happy to supply
it (as long as I know how to get it).

** Affects: kde-runtime (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1424424

Title:
  SMB KIO Slave Mangles Time/Date Stamps

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