Issue 169: a machine shares its files, and the mesh does not know

ace exports the operator's media library over NFS and Samba with host
services no module declares: they close at converge, nothing owns their
configuration, and no module elsewhere can require the share. Proposes a
file-sharing module that accesses the paths, holds a node-scoped seat it
defines, and provides file-share to consumers.
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2026-09-30 13:49:25 +02:00
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status: open
opened: 2026-09-30
located-in:
- mesh-catalog (no module shares a path over the network)
- hq 02-DECISIONS (a file-share seat, per ADR 0126, is a module's own to define)
fixed-by:
amended-design:
---
# 169 — A machine shares its files, and the mesh does not know
## What was observed
ace serves the operator's media library to the home network with two host services no module
declares and HAL never managed either:
```
/etc/exports: /storage/media 192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,root_squash,…) nfs-server active, :2049
/etc/samba/smb.conf: [media] path = /storage/media/ valid users = media smb active, :139/:445
```
Two LAN clients were connected at survey (2026-09-30). The library itself is operator data
(ADR 0051: ~40 TB on ZFS, the mesh owns nothing about it — [issue 153](../153-an-adopted-machines-data-cannot-be-placed-where-it-is/00-report.md)
is about modules reaching it in place).
Under the mesh as it stands, this arrangement has no expression and one failure mode:
- **Nothing declares the listens.** At `converge ace` the filter is the sum of what modules listen
on (ADR 0045); 2049 and 445 are nobody's, so the shares close — silently, for the two clients
that mount them.
- **Nothing owns the configuration.** `/etc/exports` and `smb.conf` are hand-written files on one
machine; a second machine sharing a directory would be written by hand again.
- **Nothing can consume it.** A module on another node that wanted the library (a player, an
indexer, a backup) has no `requires` to state and no binding to read; it would mount by a
hand-typed host and path.
- The clients are LAN devices, so this also meets [issue 154](../154-a-machines-own-network-is-not-a-reach/00-report.md)
(no reach for the machine's own network).
## The proposal (the operator's, 2026-09-30)
A **file-sharing module** — NFS first, Samba the same shape — that:
- declares the exported paths as `accesses` (ADR 0051: it owns nothing about them, never creates,
chowns or removes), and *which* paths as the assignment's settings (ADR 0046/0112);
- writes the share configuration (`/etc/exports`, `smb.conf`) as mesh-managed files and drives the
units, like `dnsmasq`/`sshd` do for theirs;
- declares its endpoints (`nfs` 2049/tcp, `smb` 445/tcp, …) so the reach — internal, or the LAN
once 154 has an answer — is the assignment's, and converge keeps them open;
- **defines and holds a node-scoped seat** (`file-share`, one holder per machine, as ADR 0126
lets a module do) — the machine's one answer for "where are the files";
- **provides** `file-share` at mesh scope, serving the export path(s) and protocol, so a consumer
on another node `requires` it and reads `${bound:file-share:at}` and the path from its binding
instead of a hand-typed mount; a pair credential where the protocol has one (Samba user), none
for `sec=sys` NFS.
What it would settle: ace's library becomes reachable from the mesh by declaration, the two host
services get an owner, converge stops being a trap for them, and a media module on another machine
(or a backup on novox) can mount the library the way it binds a database today.
## Open questions for the decision
- The seat's name and whether Samba and NFS are one seat with two protocols (ADR 0129: a seat
carries the protocol of its role) or two seats.
- Whether an NFS export over the overlay is an `internal` reach of the same endpoint or a second
export line — NFS authorises by client address, so the mesh range and the LAN range are two
entries in one file.
- How a consumer's binding expresses a *path* to mount (today bindings carry `at`, `port`, `as` and
whatever the provider `serves`).