Only some files on local network shares (SMB) are visible

I am using VLC Android from the f-Droid store. On my laptop running on Ubuntu 18.04, I share some media files through Samba. It is configured so that no authentication is needed. VLC can see only some of the files and folders listed. Other applications on my android like Ghost commander can see all the files. When I move the files around into different folders, some of them appear but not all of them. Also, my computer appears twice in the list of computers on my local network but I guess that is a separate issue. The list of the files that are visible and that are omitted seems to be stable, but when I remove some of the files, they also disappear from view in VLC.

This is on revision 918e4425 that was released on 2020-02-27 on Android Pie on Cosmo Communicator (a niche keyboarded phone).

Is there a common pattern for them showing or not? Like media files or ?

No, both mp3 a mp4 and mkv files are both showing and not showing. It is quite persistent though. It seems to me that the same files are shown/not shown across reboots [though I say this only with like 80 % confidence]. I also thought about filenames but that does not seem to have an affect either.

I also seem to be suffering from some form of this: #1209 as my computer is listed 1-4 times (from what I have observed so far).

(and on a side note, requring two form authentication with a download of an authentication app really needs a dedicated bug reporter)

What protocol is it?

SMB - Samba. I am on Ubuntu 18.04, so I appear to have Samba 2.4.7.6. The shares are set up as loginless. This is my server-side that is working with other devices (or even other apps on my Android phone) smb.conf:

[global]
allow insecure wide links = yes
workgroup = doma
server string = tom-notebook
netbios name = satya
dns proxy = no
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 1000
syslog = 0
panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
server role = standalone server
passdb backend = tdbsam
obey pam restrictions = yes
unix password sync = yes
passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
pam password change = yes
map to guest = bad user
usershare allow guests = yes

[Hudba]
path = /home/drew/Hudba
guest ok = yes   

[e-Booky]
path = /home/drew/Desktop/Osobní/E-knihy
guest ok = yes   

[Videa]
path = /home/drew/Desktop/Videa
guest ok = yes   
read only = no
writeable = yes 

[Desktop]
path = /home/drew/Desktop	
guest ok = yes   


[Sdilene]
path = /home/drew/Sdilene
guest ok = yes   
read only = no
writeable =  yes 
follow symlinks = yes
wide links = yes`

So you see all the shares, not all the files in the shares?

Yes, I made the title of the bug clearer to specify that.

added VLC core label

changed title from Only some of local network shares are visible to Only some files on local network shares are visible

changed title from Only some files on local network shares are visible to Only some files on local network shares (SMB) are visible

What is the pattern of the missing files? Common extensions or?

No pattern that I was able to discern. It feels like a caching issue. For either mp4, mkv or mp3, some would get lost and some would stay. The same for file lengths and filenames as I was able to discern.

I just tried to remove all the files from the folder in question, refresh the folder and move the files back and it made the files visible so fixing the issue (I am pretty sure I tried that before and it did not help). But as I add and remove files, I am quite sure some will start to be invisible again.

This is very weird for SMB.

Indeed. It just happened again. I created a new folder and moved some files into it. I refreshed the view (using the three vertical dots at the top right corner) and the files displayed correctly in the new folder. Now, about two hours later, I open the app again and the files are listed in that folder, even though it is empty on my computer.

Deleting said folder, closing and restarting the app fixes the issue. I dunno, it really is weird. It seems sometimes (some time needs to apparently pass), a previous state of directory is somehow stored and is not updated. But it does not happen everytime.

Hm, a good way to trigger this on my side seems to be to move some files from the shared directory, refresh the view on Android, wait some time and then put the files back to the directory - refreshing then stops working.

I have similar issue. If I just create a file on samba share with "touch ". The file can not be seen in VLC but can be seen in Cx File Explorer.

Could be fixed by !1358 (closed)

changed milestone to %3.6.x

It's been a long time with no other reports. Also a fix has been made in the meantime. Feel free to reopen if you still reproduce.

closed

This may be a different issue but my symptoms are very similar to those in the original issue description, so I'll add my comment here.

I'm using VLC for Android 3.5.4 from the Play store. I also share media using Samba and a stable subset of the shared files is not visible in VLC.
The pattern I see is that when a folder name contains a colon (:) then files in that file are not shown. The folders themselves are listed but are shown as empty. When I rename the folder so that is has no : in its name then the contents are listed.