WARNING: This information has not been updated since October, 1997!

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INDEX ENTRY FOR SAMBA:
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Name: Samba - Server Message Block server and client

Version: 1.9.17p1

Author(s): Andrew Tridgell and the Samba Team
           <samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au>

Ftp source: samba.anu.edu.au:/pub/samba
Web page: http://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/samba/

Description:

    Samba is a suite of programs that work together to allow clients
    to access a server's filespace and printers via the SMB (Server
    Message Block) and CIFS (Common Internet Filesystem) protocols.
    Initially written for Unix, Samba now also runs on Netware, OS/2,
    VMS, StratOS and AmigaOS. Ports to BeOS and other operating
    systems are underway.

    Samba allows these operating systems to behave much like a
    Windows NT Server, LAN Server or Pathworks Server, but with added
    functionality and flexibility designed to make life easier for
    administrators. This means that using Samba you can share a
    server's disks and printers to many sorts of network clients,
    including Lan Manager, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT,
    Windows 95, Linux, OS/2, and AIX. These operating systems provide
    built-in support for SMB; you do not need to install any
    additional client-side software to make them work with Samba.

    There is also a generic client program supplied as part of the
    Samba suite which gives a user on the server an ftp-like interface
    to access filespace and printers on any other SMB/CIFS servers. 

    Samba has many features that are not supported in other CIFS and
    SMB implementations, all of which are commercial. Some of its
    features include:
    
        + extremely dynamic runtime configuration
        + host as well as username/password security
        + scriptable SMB client
        + automatic home directory exporting
        + automatic printer exporting
        + intelligent dead connection timeouts
        + guest connections
    
    Many users report that compared to other SMB implementations
    Samba is more stable, faster, and compatible with more clients.
    Administrators of some large installations say that Samba is the
    only SMB server available which will scale to many tens of
    thousands of users without crashing. The easy way to test these
    claims is to download it and try it for yourself!

    SMB has been implemented over many protocols, including XNS, NBT,
    IPX, NetBEUI and TCP/IP. Samba only uses TCP/IP. This is not
    likely to change although there have been some requests for
    NetBEUI support.

    DON'T neglect to read the documentation - you will save a great
    deal of time!

    The primary creator of the Samba suite is Andrew Tridgell. The
    suite is distributed with full source code and is covered by the
    GNU Public License.
    
    -- Adapted from the Samba server FAQ and meta FAQ

Advertised architectures:

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

    The Makefile claims support for various versions of SunOS, Linux,
    Solaris, SVR4, Ultrix, OSF/1, AIX, BSDI, NetBSD, Sequent, HP-UX,
    IRIX, FreeBSD, NEXTSTEP, ISC SVR3V4, A/UX, SCO, Intergraph,
    DG/UX, and Domain/OS.       

Prerequisites: 

    ANSI C compiler (gcc 2.7.2 or higher suggested)

    NOTE: Binaries for many different systems are available via the
    primary distribution site listed above; however, this CD-ROM
    includes only source code. No compiler is needed to use the 
    binary distributions.