← Back to team overview

desktop-packages team mailing list archive

[Bug 1419523] Re: GVFS MTP paths are not stable

 

Doing some research, I found the MTP spec at:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/de-de/library/ms867188.aspx

Chapter 5.1.1 DeviceInfo Dataset specifies a Serial Number (5.1.1.14),
which is "required to be unique among all devices sharing identical
Model and Device Version fields". Thus every MTP device should be
uniquely identifiable by the following fields from its DeviceInfo:

- Manufacturer
- Model
- Device Version
- Serial Number

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop
Packages, which is subscribed to gvfs in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1419523

Title:
  GVFS MTP paths are not stable

Status in gvfs package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Every time I unplug my Android phone and reconnect it, its URL
  changes. E.g. when it is mounted as mtp://[usb:002,002]/ and I unplug
  and recoonect it, it gets a new URL, e.g. mtp://[usb:002,003]/.

  This behavior breaks all use cases which depend on a stable path (e.g.
  shell scripts, synching via Unison etc.).

  Is there any way to implement a behavior similar to removable drives?
  They get a consistent mounting path, which is /media/<user>/<name>,
  where <name> is either the volume label (if present) or the volume ID.

  In GVFS this would require uniquely identifying MTP devices. If there
  is something as a volume ID, GUID or any other element that can
  uniquely identify a MTP device, this would be the way to go. If MTP
  doesn't provide this kind of ID (don't know if it does), then maybe
  "fingerprinting" the device (based on characteristics as the USB
  vendor & device IDs) may be a valid workaround.

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gvfs/+bug/1419523/+subscriptions


References