Ubuntu
nfs-utils package

Warning when exported path contains spaces

Bug #197499 reported by Chad Miller
20
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
nfs-utils (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

root@zippy:~ # mkdir /tmp/x /tmp/"x withspace"
root@zippy:~ # cat >/etc/exports
"/tmp/x" 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0(async,no_subtree_check)
"/tmp/x withspace" 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0(async,no_subtree_check)
root@zippy:~ # exportfs -ar
exportfs: Warning: /tmp/x withspace does not support NFS export.
root@zippy:~ # ls -lad /tmp/x*
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 2008-03-01 19:53 /tmp/x
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 2008-03-01 19:53 /tmp/x withspace
root@zippy:~ # dpkg -l nfs-common nfs-kernel-server
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-f/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/t-aWait/T-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-=================-=================-==================================================
ii nfs-common 1:1.1.1~git-20070 NFS support files common to client and server
ii nfs-kernel-server 1:1.1.1~git-20070 support for NFS kernel server
root@zippy:~ # man exports |grep -C 1 spaces
       the end of the line. Entries may be continued across newlines using a
       backslash. If an export name contains spaces it should be quoted using
       double quotes. You can also specify spaces or other unusual character
       in the export name using a backslash followed by the character code as
root@zippy:~ #

Revision history for this message
Chad Miller (cmiller) wrote :

Additionally, backslash-space and backslash-040 give the same error message when used in place of spaces, with or without quotes.

Revision history for this message
The Punisher (melprinsi) wrote :

same here

Revision history for this message
taka k. (scar) wrote :

confirmed here with ubuntu 8.10 and nfs-kernel-server 1:1.1.2-4ubuntu1.1 and nfs-common 1:1.1.2-4ubuntu1.1

tried using an export point with a space, defined inside quotes or with backslash-040

both exportfs and nfs-kernel-server return "Warning: <export point> does not support NFS export."

when the export point is renamed to not contain a space, and /etc/exports is updated accordingly, the export point is exported successfully

actually, chad succinctly summed it up in the original report ;)

Revision history for this message
silvagroup (casaba7339-ubuntu) wrote :

Confirmed here also with Ubuntu 8.10 same as scar. Unfortunately I can't change to no space in this case !!!!!!

Revision history for this message
Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote :

In spite of the error message, a test here shows that when using the double-quote syntax, paths containing spaces can be successfully exported and mounted over NFS. So the only bug is a spurious (or not-so-spurious, if this violates the protocol) warning message from exportfs.

Changed in nfs-utils (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Low
status: New → Triaged
Steve Langasek (vorlon)
summary: - Exported filesystems do not allow spaces
+ Warning when exported path contains spaces
Revision history for this message
Derek Simkowiak (ubuntu-cool-st) wrote :

Steve Langasek's result is confirmed.

In /etc/exports on the NFS server, I used double quotes to enclose a path with a space. When I ran "exportfs -ra", I got the error, "Warning: <export point> does not support NFS export."

Then on the NFS client, I created an /etc/fstab entry where I replaced the space character " " with "\040". It works as expected (and no error is printed out).

Incidentally, finding out how to use double-quotes in /etc/exports was hard. Several forums exist where people falsely state 'spaces don't work at all with NFS'. And finding out to use \040 in /etc/fstab was hard too... I only decided to try that after somebody posted how to do that with a non-NFS mount point.

To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.
Subscribing...

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.