Upgrade StorageLinux help (for a dual-boot problem!) that affects my use of Zotero
So I don't waste your time ... this is specifically a Linux problem rather than a problem with Zotero itself.
It's a follow-on to a problem that I first raised a year ago on:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/92670/report-id-1084601263#latest and which I have been completely unable to solve. As @dstillman has explained in an answer on the earlier discussion, this is *not* a Zotero problem. It's a Linux problem that affects my use of Zotero.
Briefly, I have a dual-boot system. The Windows partition (on /dev/sda2) is mounted with:
> sudo mount -t ntfs -o nls=utf8,umask=0000 /dev/sda2 /media/myusername/windrive
I have general read/write access on the Windows partition for *most* file operations. The problem is that although Zotero can access the library on Windows OK, it can't update the library because of an error related to setting times (see the discussion referred to above). Has anyone else encountered a similar problem, and if so, how did you overcome it.
It's a follow-on to a problem that I first raised a year ago on:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/92670/report-id-1084601263#latest and which I have been completely unable to solve. As @dstillman has explained in an answer on the earlier discussion, this is *not* a Zotero problem. It's a Linux problem that affects my use of Zotero.
Briefly, I have a dual-boot system. The Windows partition (on /dev/sda2) is mounted with:
> sudo mount -t ntfs -o nls=utf8,umask=0000 /dev/sda2 /media/myusername/windrive
I have general read/write access on the Windows partition for *most* file operations. The problem is that although Zotero can access the library on Windows OK, it can't update the library because of an error related to setting times (see the discussion referred to above). Has anyone else encountered a similar problem, and if so, how did you overcome it.
The problem stems from the command used to mount the NTFS drive. In the original `mount` command, it IS necessary to use `sudo` because the Linux system will only allow the NTFS drive to be mounted by someone with (temporary) super-user permissions. However, a problem then arises, which is that the NTFS drive is then owned by `root` and some operations on the drive are only `root` permitted by `root`. For example, copying (`cp`)from the Linux partition to the Windows partition would be allowed, but moving a file with `mv` would not be allowed, because moving (`mv`) requires permission to manipulate times on the NTFS drive. So, `sudo mv ...` would work, but `mv` alone would not.
The solution is to add options into the original mount command. Specifically, tell your Linux system, that you, and not root, are the owner of the mounted NTFS partition. Just include the uid and gid options in the mount command as follows:
sudo mount -t ntfs -o uid=myusername,gid=mygroupname,nls=utf8,umask=0000 /dev/sda2 /media/myusername/windrive
The Zotero application on Linux can then update its library on the NTFS partition OK ... AND sync correctly.
See How To: Debian/Ubuntu Linux Auto Mount Windows NTFS File System