cifs-utils

Overview

cifs-utils is the userspace companion package for the Linux CIFS/SMB client. It provides helper programs and man pages used when mounting SMB/CIFS shares, handling credentials, mapping identities, and working with related client-side tasks.

In a Linux distribution, this package exists so the kernel CIFS client can be used in a practical way from user space. The in-kernel CIFS filesystem is the preferred mounting path on Linux, and cifs-utils supplies the helper tools that that path depends on. (wiki.samba.org)

Purpose and typical use cases

Typical use cases include:

• mounting SMB/CIFS shares with mount.cifs or mount.smb3
• providing credentials or identity mapping helpers for mounted shares
• querying or setting CIFS-related metadata and ACL information where supported
• handling Kerberos or key-based upcalls used by the CIFS client stack

Typical users include:

• system administrators who mount network shares on workstations, servers, or build hosts
• developers who test or troubleshoot SMB/CIFS client behavior
• security engineers who need to review authentication, credential handling, or mount behavior
• CI/CD maintainers who validate that network storage access still works after package or kernel changes
• desktop users who mount shared storage from file managers or command-line tools

The exact set of available tools and their behavior depends on the upstream release and the kernel/client environment. NiceOS maintainers should verify details against the shipped man pages before relying on a specific feature. (wiki.samba.org)

Upstream project

Upstream documentation describes cifs-utils as the userspace toolset for the Linux CIFS client. The Samba wiki notes that these tools were split out from Samba proper and are used alongside the in-kernel CIFS filesystem. (wiki.samba.org)

Upstream reference pages and documentation for individual tools are available through the Linux man pages and Samba wiki. (wiki.samba.org)

Dist-git repository contents

This dist-git repository is organized as follows:

• SPECS/ — RPM spec files and packaging logic
• SOURCES/ — source manifests and related metadata used to describe the upstream source set
• METADATA/ — repository metadata maintained by the packaging workflow
• SBOM/ — software bill of materials artifacts, when present

Large upstream source archives are intentionally not stored in this Git repository. Instead, source integrity is tracked through the manifest files in SOURCES/, together with the packaging metadata used by the build system. (wiki.samba.org)

Source storage and integrity policy

NiceOS stores packaging metadata in Git, not full upstream release archives.

What to expect:

• the repository should contain the spec file, source manifests, and related packaging metadata
• upstream tarballs or other large source payloads are fetched separately by the build process
• the SOURCES/ manifests are the place to check which upstream inputs belong to the package set

Before updating the package, verify that:

• the source manifest still points to the intended upstream inputs
• the upstream source set matches the packaging changes in the spec file
• any new or removed source files are intentional
• the repository does not contain stale metadata from an older packaging layout

Do not rely on any local digest value in this README; those values are expected to change over time and are intentionally omitted here.

NiceOS maintenance notes

Before updating cifs-utils, NiceOS maintainers should check the following:

• upstream release notes and man-page changes for tool behavior updates
• whether any helper binaries, man pages, or installed paths changed upstream
• whether the spec file needs refreshed patches, file lists, or service/scriptlet adjustments
• whether the SOURCES/ manifest needs regeneration because the upstream source set changed
• whether SBOM/ artifacts, if used by this repository, need to be refreshed
• whether any build-time or runtime assumptions in NiceOS packaging still hold

Risks to consider:

• package behavior may depend on the kernel CIFS client shipped by the distribution, not only on the userspace package
• mount helper behavior can change when upstream adjusts option parsing, authentication handling, or man pages
• tests that pass on one kernel may fail on another kernel with different CIFS client support
• changes in upstream documentation can indicate altered defaults or deprecated options that should be reviewed before shipping

If a detail is unclear from the package sources, NiceOS maintainers should verify it before depending on it.

Build and verification checklist

Suggested checklist for RPM maintainers:

• confirm the intended upstream source set is listed in SOURCES/
• review the spec file for patches that may need rebasing or dropping
• build the SRPM and binary RPMs in a clean environment
• check that all expected files are installed into the correct package locations
• verify the installed man pages and helper binaries are present
• run packaging tests or smoke tests for mount-helper invocation if available in the build environment
• confirm file ownership, permissions, and subpackage splits are still correct
• compare generated metadata and SBOM outputs, if used, against the updated source set
• review any changes to runtime dependencies or scriptlets before pushing

For functional verification, a reasonable smoke test is to confirm that the mount helper and related tools start and report help or version information correctly, and that a basic CIFS mount path still works in a controlled test environment.

References

• LinuxCIFS utils
• mount.cifs(8) manual page
• cifs.upcall(8) manual page
• getcifsacl(1) manual page
• setcifsacl(1) manual page
• cifs.idmap(8) manual page
• smb2-quota(1) manual page

Russian documentation

See README_RU.md for the Russian version of this document.

Dist-git repository notes

• Package repository: rpms/cifs-utils
• NiceOS branch: niceos-5.2
• This README is intentionally stable and does not include EVR, source archive checksums or lock hashes.