Moodle SMB Web client 0 byte file size issue

[mwnci]

I've got a problem with the moodle smb web client module. I get a list of all of the documents in the relevant folder, but when I download any file via the moodle block, the file size is always 0 bytes, and as such I cannot read or open any of my files.

I am running Moodle 1.9.7. Has anyone got this module working on 1.9.7? Anyone having similar issues?
Cheers

[RTFM]

We are having similar issues, I think it is a problem with that module specifically.

We haven't had the time however to look into fixing the problem!!

[kieran8055]

Well the problem is with folder downoad for us in IE and it is okay in Mozilla Fire fox.
Check with different browsers and see if its working.

[mwnci]

Thanks for that - well I have tried in both IE8 and Firefox 3.6 and the problem occurs in both cases. I am able to upload a file successfully - and when I browse via windows explorer on my pc, the file is there and works, but I still cannot then view this new file via the module. It is listed, but when downloaded, has a file size of 0 bytes...

[Achandler]

I have found that on our Ubuntu box we had the same issue. Having read multiple threads and posts from everywhere around the web I found a work around which is not ideal but does work.

The solution was to create a temporary area on the webserver which the smbclient block can use to write files to before allowing you to download them.

Looking at my config file I have line 81 configured like this

$smb_cfg->cfgCachePath = '/tmp/moodle/';

This represents a potential security loophole, so make sure the permissions on the folder are set to read/right only with no execute permissions and that only apache (we're on Ubuntu so its www-data) can read and write to it. You will also need to setup a scheduled task to delete the files so the temporary area doesnt fill.

Hope this helps you solve the problem.

[mwnci]

Thanks for that fix - that works brilliantly! It's a shame that it is a bit of a security vulnerability, but hopefully this will be fixed properly further down the line with new releases of this module.

[mwnci]

As an update to this - I can really only get this working when the apache user has execute rights. Is there anything I can do to avoid this?

[Achandler]

I'm sure I haven't put execute rights in there i'll check when i get time.