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[Tom Shimon <2123902@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Public bug reported:

Description:

After upgrading Samba from 2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.5 to
2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.8, the %m variable in the smb.conf configuration
file stopped resolving to the hostname as it previously did. This issue
affects configurations that rely on %m for host-based home directory
mapping.

Use Case:

My Samba server is configured to serve user home directories based on
both hostname and username. Here is the relevant section of my
/etc/samba/smb.conf:

[homes]
  comment = Home Directories
  path = /share/samba/%m/%S

This configuration had worked for years. For example, when client1
connected as user1, the server would serve the home directory from:

/share/samba/client1/user1

Observed Behavior:

    Up to version 2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.6:
    %m was correctly substituted with the client's hostname (e.g., client1).

    In version 2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.7:
    %m was empty (""), causing Samba to try accessing /share/samba//user1, which failed due to a nonexistent path.

    In version 2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.8:
    %m is now set to the client's IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.123) instead of the hostname, resulting in paths like:

    /share/samba/192.168.1.123/user1

This is not the intended behavior and breaks existing configurations.

Debugging:

To debug the value of %m, I added the following line to the config:

preexec = /bin/sh -c 'echo m=%m >> /tmp/smb.log'

Results:

With 2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.5 (or .6):

m=client1

With 2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.7:

m=

With 2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.8:

m=192.168.1.123

Conclusion:

This appears to be a regression in how Samba resolves %m. It may be
related to [Bug 2120811], which also affected other variables like %U.

For now, I’ve reverted to 2:4.15.13+dfsg-0ubuntu1.5, where everything
works as expected. I'm hoping for a fix or clarification in a future
release.

Best regards.

** Affects: samba (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2123902

Title:
  Regression in %m Variable Substitution in Samba Config After Upgrade

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