1<HTML> 2<HEAD> 3<TITLE> Samba meta FAQ: General Information</TITLE> 4</HEAD> 5<BODY> 6<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-1.html">Previous</A> 7<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-3.html">Next</A> 8<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ.html#toc2">Table of Contents</A> 9<HR> 10<H2><A NAME="s2">2. General Information</A></H2> 11 12<P> 13<A NAME="general_info"></A> 14</P> 15<P>All about Samba - what it is, how to get it, related sources of 16information, how to understand the numbering scheme, pizza 17details.</P> 18 19<H2><A NAME="ss2.1">2.1 What is Samba?</A></H2> 20 21<P> 22<A NAME="introduction"></A> 23</P> 24<P>Samba is a suite of programs which work together to allow clients to 25access to a server's filespace and printers via the SMB (Server Message 26Block) and CIFS (Common Internet Filesystem) protocols. Initially 27written for Unix, Samba now also runs on Netware, OS/2, VMS, StratOS and 28Amigas. Ports to BeOS and other operating systems are underway. Samba 29gives the capability for these operating systems to behave much like a 30LAN Server, Windows NT Server or Pathworks machine, only with added 31functionality and flexibility designed to make life easier for 32administrators. </P> 33<P>This means that using Samba you can share a server's disks and printers 34to many sorts of network clients, including Lan Manager, Windows for 35Workgroups, Windows NT, Linux, OS/2, and AIX. There is also a generic 36client program supplied as part of the Samba suite which gives a user on 37the server an ftp-like interface to access filespace and printers on any 38other SMB/CIFS servers.</P> 39<P>SMB has been implemented over many protocols, including XNS, NBT, IPX, 40NetBEUI and TCP/IP. Samba only uses TCP/IP. This is not likely to change 41although there have been some requests for NetBEUI support.</P> 42<P>Many users report that compared to other SMB implementations Samba is 43more stable, faster, and compatible with more clients. Administrators of 44some large installations say that Samba is the only SMB server available 45which will scale to many tens of thousands of users without crashing. 46The easy way to test these claims is to download it and try it for 47yourself!</P> 48<P>The suite is supplied with full source code under the 49<A HREF="../COPYING">GNU Public License</A>. The GPL means that you can 50use Samba for whatever purpose you wish (including changing the source 51or selling it for money) but under all circumstances the source code 52must be made freely available. A copy of the GPL must always be included 53in any copy of the package.</P> 54<P>The primary creator of the Samba suite is Andrew Tridgell. Later 55versions incorporate much effort by many net.helpers. The man pages 56and this FAQ were originally written by Karl Auer.</P> 57 58 59<H2><A NAME="ss2.2">2.2 What is the current version of Samba?</A></H2> 60 61<P> 62<A NAME="current_version"></A> 63</P> 64<P>At time of writing, the current version was 1.9.17. If you want to be 65sure check the bottom of the change-log file. 66<A HREF="ftp://samba.org/pub/samba/alpha/change-log">ftp://samba.org/pub/samba/alpha/change-log</A></P> 67<P>For more information see 68<A HREF="#version_nums">What do the version numbers mean?</A></P> 69 70 71<H2><A NAME="ss2.3">2.3 Where can I get it? </A></H2> 72 73<P> 74<A NAME="WhereFrom"></A> 75</P> 76<P>The Samba suite is available via anonymous ftp from samba.org and 77many 78<A HREF="../MIRRORS">mirror</A> sites. You will get much 79faster performance if you use a mirror site. The latest and greatest 80versions of the suite are in the directory:</P> 81<P>/pub/samba/</P> 82<P>Development (read "alpha") versions, which are NOT necessarily stable 83and which do NOT necessarily have accurate documentation, are available 84in the directory:</P> 85<P>/pub/samba/alpha</P> 86<P>Note that binaries are NOT included in any of the above. Samba is 87distributed ONLY in source form, though binaries may be available from 88other sites. Most Linux distributions, for example, do contain Samba 89binaries for that platform. The VMS, OS/2, Netware and Amiga and other 90ports typically have binaries made available.</P> 91<P>A special case is vendor-provided binary packages. Samba binaries and 92default configuration files are put into packages for a specific 93operating system. RedHat Linux and Sun Solaris (Sparc and x86) is 94already included, and others such as OS/2 may follow. All packages are 95in the directory:</P> 96<P>/pub/samba/Binary_Packages/"OS_Vendor"</P> 97 98 99<H2><A NAME="ss2.4">2.4 What do the version numbers mean?</A></H2> 100 101<P> 102<A NAME="version_nums"></A> 103</P> 104<P>It is not recommended that you run a version of Samba with the word 105"alpha" in its name unless you know what you are doing and are willing 106to do some debugging. Many, many people just get the latest 107recommended stable release version and are happy. If you are brave, by 108all means take the plunge and help with the testing and development - 109but don't install it on your departmental server. Samba is typically 110very stable and safe, and this is mostly due to the policy of many 111public releases.</P> 112<P>How the scheme works:</P> 113<P> 114<OL> 115<LI>When major changes are made the version number is increased. For 116example, the transition from 1.9.16 to 1.9.17. However, this version 117number will not appear immediately and people should continue to use 1181.9.15 for production systems (see next point.) 119</LI> 120<LI>Just after major changes are made the software is considered 121unstable, and a series of alpha releases are distributed, for example 1221.9.16alpha1. These are for testing by those who know what they are 123doing. The "alpha" in the filename will hopefully scare off those who 124are just looking for the latest version to install. 125</LI> 126<LI>When Andrew thinks that the alphas have stabilised to the point 127where he would recommend new users install it, he renames it to the 128same version number without the alpha, for example 1.9.17. 129</LI> 130<LI>Inevitably bugs are found in the "stable" releases and minor patch 131levels are released which give us the pXX series, for example 1.9.17p2. 132</LI> 133</OL> 134</P> 135<P>So the progression goes:</P> 136<P> 137<PRE> 138 1.9.16p10 (production) 139 1.9.16p11 (production) 140 1.9.17alpha1 (test sites only) 141 : 142 1.9.17alpha20 (test sites only) 143 1.9.17 (production) 144 1.9.17p1 (production) 145</PRE> 146</P> 147<P>The above system means that whenever someone looks at the samba ftp 148site they will be able to grab the highest numbered release without an 149alpha in the name and be sure of getting the current recommended 150version.</P> 151 152 153<H2><A NAME="ss2.5">2.5 Where can I go for further information?</A></H2> 154 155<P> 156<A NAME="more"></A> 157</P> 158<P>There are a number of places to look for more information on Samba, 159including:</P> 160<P> 161<UL> 162<LI>Two mailing lists devoted to discussion of Samba-related matters. 163See below for subscription information. 164</LI> 165<LI>The newsgroup comp.protocols.smb, which has a great deal of 166discussion about Samba. 167</LI> 168<LI>The WWW site 'SAMBA Web Pages' at 169<A HREF="http://samba.org/samba/">http://samba.org/samba/</A> includes: 170 171<UL> 172<LI>Links to man pages and documentation, including this FAQ</LI> 173<LI>A comprehensive survey of Samba users</LI> 174<LI>A searchable hypertext archive of the Samba mailing list</LI> 175<LI>Links to Samba source code, binaries, and mirrors of both</LI> 176<LI>This FAQ and the rest in its family</LI> 177</UL> 178 179</LI> 180</UL> 181</P> 182 183 184<H2><A NAME="ss2.6">2.6 How do I subscribe to the Samba Mailing Lists?</A></H2> 185 186<P> 187<A NAME="mailinglist"></A> 188</P> 189<P>Send email to 190<A HREF="mailto:listproc@samba.org">listproc@samba.org</A>. Make sure the subject line is blank, 191and include the following two lines in the body of the message:</P> 192<P> 193<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE> 194<PRE> 195subscribe samba Firstname Lastname 196subscribe samba-announce Firstname Lastname 197</PRE> 198</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE> 199</P> 200<P>Obviously you should substitute YOUR first name for "Firstname" and 201YOUR last name for "Lastname"! Try not to send any signature, it 202sometimes confuses the list processor.</P> 203<P>The samba list is a digest list - every eight hours or so it sends a 204single message containing all the messages that have been received by 205the list since the last time and sends a copy of this message to all 206subscribers. There are thousands of people on this list.</P> 207<P>If you stop being interested in Samba, please send another email to 208<A HREF="mailto:listproc@samba.org">listproc@samba.org</A>. Make sure the subject line is blank, and 209include the following two lines in the body of the message:</P> 210<P> 211<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE> 212<PRE> 213unsubscribe samba 214unsubscribe samba-announce 215</PRE> 216</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE> 217</P> 218<P>The <B>From:</B> line in your message <EM>MUST</EM> be the same 219address you used when you subscribed.</P> 220 221 222<H2><A NAME="ss2.7">2.7 Something's gone wrong - what should I do?</A></H2> 223 224<P> 225<A NAME="wrong"></A> 226</P> 227<P><B><F>#</F> *** IMPORTANT! *** <F>#</F></B></P> 228 229<P>DO NOT post messages on mailing lists or in newsgroups until you have 230carried out the first three steps given here!</P> 231<P> 232<OL> 233<LI> See if there are any likely looking entries in this FAQ! 234If you have just installed Samba, have you run through the checklist in 235<A HREF="ftp://samba.org/pub/samba/DIAGNOSIS.txt">DIAGNOSIS.txt</A>? It can save you a lot of time and effort. 236DIAGNOSIS.txt can also be found in the docs directory of the Samba 237distribution. 238</LI> 239<LI> Read the man pages for smbd, nmbd and smb.conf, looking for 240topics that relate to what you are trying to do. 241</LI> 242<LI> If there is no obvious solution to hand, try to get a look at 243the log files for smbd and/or nmbd for the period during which you 244were having problems. You may need to reconfigure the servers to 245provide more extensive debugging information - usually level 2 or 246level 3 provide ample debugging info. Inspect these logs closely, 247looking particularly for the string "Error:". 248</LI> 249<LI> If you need urgent help and are willing to pay for it see 250<A HREF="#PaidSupport">Paid Support</A>. 251</LI> 252</OL> 253</P> 254<P>If you still haven't got anywhere, ask the mailing list or newsgroup. In 255general nobody minds answering questions provided you have followed the 256preceding steps. It might be a good idea to scan the archives of the 257mailing list, which are available through the Samba web site described 258in the previous section. When you post be sure to include a good 259description of your environment and your problem.</P> 260<P>If you successfully solve a problem, please mail the FAQ maintainer a 261succinct description of the symptom, the problem and the solution, so 262that an explanation can be incorporated into the next version.</P> 263 264 265<H2><A NAME="ss2.8">2.8 How do I submit patches or bug reports?</A></H2> 266 267 268<P>If you make changes to the source code, <EM>please</EM> submit these patches 269so that everyone else gets the benefit of your work. This is one of 270the most important aspects to the maintainence of Samba. Send all 271patches to 272<A HREF="mailto:samba@samba.org">samba@samba.org</A>. Do not send patches to Andrew Tridgell or any 273other individual, they may be lost if you do.</P> 274<P>Patch format 275------------</P> 276<P>If you are sending a patch to fix a problem then please don't just use 277standard diff format. As an example, samba received this patch from 278someone:</P> 279<P>382a 280#endif 281.. 282381a 283#if !defined(NEWS61)</P> 284<P>How are we supposed to work out what this does and where it goes? These 285sort of patches only work if we both have identical files in the first 286place. The Samba sources are constantly changing at the hands of multiple 287developers, so it doesn't work.</P> 288<P>Please use either context diffs or (even better) unified diffs. You 289get these using "diff -c4" or "diff -u". If you don't have a diff that 290can generate these then please send manualy commented patches to I 291know what is being changed and where. Most patches are applied by hand so 292the info must be clear.</P> 293<P>This is a basic guideline that will assist us with assessing your problem 294more efficiently :</P> 295<P>Machine Arch: 296Machine OS: 297OS Version: 298Kernel:</P> 299<P>Compiler: 300Libc Version:</P> 301<P>Samba Version:</P> 302<P>Network Layout (description):</P> 303<P>What else is on machine (services, etc):</P> 304<P>Some extras :</P> 305<P> 306<UL> 307<LI> what you did and what happened 308</LI> 309<LI> relevant parts of a debugging output file with debuglevel higher. 310If you can't find the relevant parts, please ask before mailing 311huge files. 312</LI> 313<LI> anything else you think is useful to trace down the bug 314</LI> 315</UL> 316</P> 317 318 319<H2><A NAME="ss2.9">2.9 What if I have an URGENT message for the developers?</A></H2> 320 321 322<P>If you have spotted something very serious and believe that it is 323important to contact the developers quickly send a message to 324samba-urgent@samba.org. This will be processed more quickly than 325mail to samba. Please think carefully before using this address. An 326example of its use might be to report a security hole.</P> 327<P>Examples of things <EM>not</EM> to send to samba-urgent include problems 328getting Samba to work at all and bugs that cannot potentially cause damage.</P> 329 330 331<H2><A NAME="ss2.10">2.10 What if I need paid-for support?</A></H2> 332 333<P> 334<A NAME="PaidSupport"></A> 335</P> 336<P>Samba has a large network of consultants who provide Samba support on a 337commercial basis. The list is included in the package in 338<A HREF="../Support.txt">../Support.txt</A>, and the latest version will always be on the main 339samba ftp site. Any company in the world can request that the samba team 340include their details in Support.txt so we can give no guarantee of 341their services.</P> 342 343 344<H2><A NAME="ss2.11">2.11 Pizza supply details</A></H2> 345 346<P> 347<A NAME="pizza"></A> 348 349Those who have registered in the Samba survey as "Pizza Factory" will 350already know this, but the rest may need some help. Andrew doesn't ask 351for payment, but he does appreciate it when people give him 352pizza. This calls for a little organisation when the pizza donor is 353twenty thousand kilometres away, but it has been done.</P> 354<P> 355<OL> 356<LI> Ring up your local branch of an international pizza chain 357and see if they honour their vouchers internationally. Pizza Hut do, 358which is how the entire Canberra Linux Users Group got to eat pizza 359one night, courtesy of someone in the US. 360</LI> 361<LI>Ring up a local pizza shop in Canberra and quote a credit 362card number for a certain amount, and tell them that Andrew will be 363collecting it (don't forget to tell him.) One kind soul from Germany 364did this. 365</LI> 366<LI>Purchase a pizza voucher from your local pizza shop that has 367no international affiliations and send it to Andrew. It is completely 368useless but he can hang it on the wall next to the one he already has 369from Germany :-) 370</LI> 371<LI>Air freight him a pizza with your favourite regional 372flavours. It will probably get stuck in customs or torn apart by 373hungry sniffer dogs but it will have been a noble gesture. 374</LI> 375</OL> 376</P> 377 378 379<HR> 380<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-1.html">Previous</A> 381<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-3.html">Next</A> 382<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ.html#toc2">Table of Contents</A> 383</BODY> 384</HTML> 385