1 Announcing Samba version 1.9
2 ============================
7 Samba is a SMB file server that runs on Unix and other operating systems.
8 It allows these operating systems (currently Unix, Netware, OS/2 and
9 AmigaDOS) to act as a file and print server for SMB clients. There are many
10 Lan-Manager compatible clients such as LanManager for DOS, Windows for
11 Workgroups, Windows NT, Windows 95, OS/2, Pathworks and many more.
13 The package also includes a SMB client for accessing other SMB servers
14 and a netbios nameserver for browsing support.
16 What can it do for me?
17 ----------------------
19 If you have any PCs running SMB clients, such as a PC running Windows
20 for Workgroups, then you can mount file space or printers on a Samba
21 host, so that directories, files and printers on the host are
24 The client part of the package will also allow you to attach to other
25 SMB-based servers (such as windows NT and windows for workgroups) so
26 that you can copy files to and from your unix host. The client also
27 allows you to access a SMB printer (such as one attached to an OS/2 or
28 WfWg server) from Unix, using an entry in /etc/printcap, or by
29 explicitly specifying the command used to print files.
31 What are it's features?
32 ------------------------
34 Samba supports many features that are not supported in other SMB
35 implementations (all of which are commercial). Some of it's features
36 include host as well as username/password security, a client,
37 automatic home directory exporting, automatic printer exporting, dead
38 connection timeouts, umask support, guest connections, name mangling
39 and hidden and system attribute mapping. Look at the man pages
40 included with the package for a full list of features.
45 Lots of stuff. See the change log and man pages for details.
47 Where can I get a client for my PC?
48 -----------------------------------
50 There is a free client for MS-DOS based PCs available from
51 ftp.microsoft.com in the directory bussys/Clients/MSCLIENT/. Please
52 read the licencing information before downloading. The built in
53 Windows for Workgroups client is also very good.
55 What network protocols are supported?
56 -------------------------------------
58 Currently only TCP/IP is supported. There has been some discussion
59 about ports to other protocols but nothing is yet available.
61 There is a free TCP/IP implementation for Windows for Workgroups
62 available from ftp.microsoft.com (it's small, fast and quite reliable).
64 How much does it cost?
65 ----------------------
67 Samba software is free software. It is available under the
68 GNU Public licence in source code form at no cost. Please read the
69 file COPYING that comes with the package for more information.
71 What operating systems does it support?
72 ---------------------------------------
74 The code has been written to be as portable as possible. It has been
75 "ported" to many unixes, which mostly required changing only a few
76 lines of code. It has been run (to my knowledge) on at least these
79 Linux, SunOS, Solaris, SVR4, Ultrix, OSF1, AIX, BSDI, NetBSD,
80 Sequent, HP-UX, SGI, FreeBSD, NeXT, ISC, A/UX, SCO, Intergraph,
83 Some of these have received more testing than others. If it doesn't
84 work with your unix then it should be easy to fix. It has also been ported
85 to Netware, OS/2 and the Amiga. A VMS port is underway. See the web site
91 Many people on the internet have contributed to the development of
92 Samba. The maintainer and original author is Andrew Tridgell, but
93 large parts of the package were contributed by several people from all
94 over the world. Please look at the file `change-log' for information
100 The package is available via anonymous ftp from samba.anu.edu.au in
101 the directory pub/samba/.
103 What about SMBServer?
104 ---------------------
106 Samba used to be known as SMBServer, until it was pointed out that
107 Syntax, who make a commercial Unix SMB based server, have trademarked
108 that name. The name was then changed to Samba. Also, in 1992 a very
109 early incarnation of Samba was distributed as nbserver.
111 If you see any copies of nbserver or smbserver on ftp sites please let
112 me or the ftp archive maintainer know, as I want to get them deleted.
114 Where can I get more info?
115 ---------------------------
117 Please join the mailing list if you want to discuss the development or
118 use of Samba. To join the mailing list send mail to
119 listproc@listproc.anu.edu.au with a body of "subscribe samba Your
122 There is also an announcement mailing list for new version
123 announcements. Subscribe as above but with "subscribe samba-announce
126 There is also often quite a bit of discussion about Samba on the
127 newsgroup comp.protocols.smb.
129 A WWW site with lots of Samba info can be found at
130 http://samba.canberra.edu.au/pub/samba/
132 The Samba Team (Contact: samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au)