VFS_CATIA(8)

💖 VFS_CATIA — the manual page, but make it a group chat 💖

okay bestie, so this is vfs_catia from section 8 (system administration tools), and it's literally the module that fixes Catia's chaotic filenames so your CIFS clients don't have a meltdown. let's get into it 🦋

---

✨ NAME ✨

vfs_catia — translate illegal characters in Catia filenames 💅

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

vfs objects = catia

that's it. that's the whole vibe. 🎀

---

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so this VFS module is part of the samba(7) suite, okurrr 👑

the Catia CAD package commonly creates filenames using characters that are illegal in CIFS filenames. like, it just does that, no thoughts head empty. and the vfs_catia VFS module implements a character mapping so that these files can actually be shared with CIFS clients. slay.

this module is stackable. stack it, layer it, it's giving main character 🫶

the parameter "catia:mappings" specifies the mapping on a per-character basis — more on that below, bestie.

---

✨ OPTIONS ✨

• catia:mappings = SERVER_HEX_CHAR:CLIENT_HEX_CHAR — okay so SERVER_HEX_CHAR is a hexedecimal character code with a 0x prefix, and when that character shows up in a Samba server-side filename, it gets mapped to CLIENT_HEX_CHAR for the CIFS client. and the same mapping happens in the opposite direction too. multiple character mappings get separated by a comma. periodt.

---

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

1. map server-side quotation-marks (") to client-side diaeresis (¨) on filenames in the [CAD] share:

[CAD]
path = /data/cad
vfs objects = catia
catia:mappings = 0x22:0xa8

2. comprehensive mapping of common Catia filename characters, for when you wanna go all in:

[CAD]
path = /data/cad
vfs objects = catia
catia:mappings = 0x22:0xa8,0x2a:0xa4,0x2f:0xf8,0x3a:0xf7,0x3c:0xab,0x3e:0xbb,0x3f:0xbf,0x5c:0xff,0x7c:0xa6

3. here's a server-side filename that needs translating — note that the path delimiter "/" is not used here ok:

a\a:a*a?a"a<a>a|a

4. and the resulting filename, as seen by the client:

aÿa÷a¤a¿a¨a«a»a¦a

the glow-up is real 😭✨

---

✨ CAVEATS ✨

⚠️ bestie listen. character mapping must work in BOTH directions (server → client and client → server) to get unique and existing file names! do not skip this, i'm literally begging 🙈

a NOT working example (yes it's broken, that's the point):

[CAD]
path = /data/cad
vfs objects = catia
catia:mappings = 0x3a:0x5f

here the colon ":" is mapped to the underscore "_".

so assume a server-side filename "a:should_work", which gets translated to "a_should_work" for the client. cute, right? no. because BUT the reverse mapping from client "a_should_work" to server will result in "a:should:work" — and something like "file not found" will be returned. 💀 iconic? no. tragic.

---

✨ VERSION ✨

this man page is part of Samba versions from 3.5.0 to 4.0.6.

---

✨ AUTHOR ✨

the original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed. (we love a collab 👑)

new version written by Guenter Kukkukk kukks@samba.org

---

okay that's the whole page, you're basically a Catia filename whisperer now 🌸 and for the cute sign-off: this was the Samba 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfs release, dated 09/13/2026 — go forth and map those characters, bestie 💜🦋✨