Samba FAQ
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Chapter 1. General Information

1.1. Where can I get it?

The Samba suite is available at the samba website.

1.2. What do the version numbers mean?

It is not recommended that you run a version of Samba with the word +"alpha" in its name unless you know what you are doing and are willing +to do some debugging. Many, many people just get the latest +recommended stable release version and are happy. If you are brave, by +all means take the plunge and help with the testing and development - +but don't install it on your departmental server. Samba is typically +very stable and safe, and this is mostly due to the policy of many +public releases.

How the scheme works: +

When major changes are made the version number is increased. For +example, the transition from 1.9.15 to 1.9.16. However, this version +number will not appear immediately and people should continue to use +1.9.15 for production systems (see next point.)

Just after major changes are made the software is considered +unstable, and a series of alpha releases are distributed, for example +1.9.16alpha1. These are for testing by those who know what they are +doing. The "alpha" in the filename will hopefully scare off those who +are just looking for the latest version to install.

When Andrew thinks that the alphas have stabilised to the point +where he would recommend new users install it, he renames it to the +same version number without the alpha, for example 1.9.16.

Inevitably bugs are found in the "stable" releases and minor patch +levels are released which give us the pXX series, for example 1.9.16p2.

So the progression goes: + +

1.9.15p7	(production)
+1.9.15p8	(production)
+1.9.16alpha1	(test sites only)
+:
+1.9.16alpha20	(test sites only)
+1.9.16		(production)
+1.9.16p1	(production)

The above system means that whenever someone looks at the samba ftp +site they will be able to grab the highest numbered release without an +alpha in the name and be sure of getting the current recommended +version.

1.3. What platforms are supported?

Many different platforms have run Samba successfully. The platforms +most widely used and thus best tested are Linux and SunOS.

At time of writing, there is support (or has been support for in earlier +versions):

A/UX 3.0

AIX

Altos Series 386/1000

Amiga

Apollo Domain/OS sr10.3

BSDI

B.O.S. (Bull Operating System)

Cray, Unicos 8.0

Convex

DGUX.

DNIX.

FreeBSD

HP-UX

Intergraph.

Linux with/without shadow passwords and quota

LYNX 2.3.0

MachTen (a unix like system for Macintoshes)

Motorola 88xxx/9xx range of machines

NetBSD

NEXTSTEP Release 2.X, 3.0 and greater (including OPENSTEP for Mach).

OS/2 using EMX 0.9b

OSF1

QNX 4.22

RiscIX.

RISCOs 5.0B

SEQUENT.

SCO (including: 3.2v2, European dist., OpenServer 5)

SGI.

SMP_DC.OSx v1.1-94c079 on Pyramid S series

SONY NEWS, NEWS-OS (4.2.x and 6.1.x)

SUNOS 4

SUNOS 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 (Solaris 2.2, 2.3, and '2.4 and later')

Sunsoft ISC SVR3V4

SVR4

System V with some berkely extensions (Motorola 88k R32V3.2).

ULTRIX.

UNIXWARE

UXP/DS

1.4. How do I subscribe to the Samba Mailing Lists?

Look at the samba mailing list page

1.5. Pizza supply details

Those who have registered in the Samba survey as "Pizza Factory" will +already know this, but the rest may need some help. Andrew doesn't ask +for payment, but he does appreciate it when people give him +pizza. This calls for a little organisation when the pizza donor is +twenty thousand kilometres away, but it has been done.

Method 1: Ring up your local branch of an international pizza chain +and see if they honour their vouchers internationally. Pizza Hut do, +which is how the entire Canberra Linux Users Group got to eat pizza +one night, courtesy of someone in the US.

Method 2: Ring up a local pizza shop in Canberra and quote a credit +card number for a certain amount, and tell them that Andrew will be +collecting it (don't forget to tell him.) One kind soul from Germany +did this.

Method 3: Purchase a pizza voucher from your local pizza shop that has +no international affiliations and send it to Andrew. It is completely +useless but he can hang it on the wall next to the one he already has +from Germany :-)

Method 4: Air freight him a pizza with your favourite regional +flavours. It will probably get stuck in customs or torn apart by +hungry sniffer dogs but it will have been a noble gesture.

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