[Samba] Upgrading Samba: minimum requirements for Samba wrt Solaris and gcc

[Troy.A Johnson]

Greetings list!

I have a older Samba (v 2.0.7) server compiled with 
an older gcc (v 2.8.1) running on an older Solaris 
(v 2.5.1).

I would like to upgrade to a newer version of Samba.

I have had trouble compiling Samba version 3.0.1 
with gcc version 2.8.1 on Solaris 2.5.1:

$ ./configure
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output... cat: cannot open conftest.c
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

an on Solaris 8, the 'configure' step completes 
successfully, but 'make' seems to hang early:

% make
Using FLAGS =  -O -I./popt -Iinclude
-I/home/troy/src/samba/samba-3.0.1/source/include
-I/home/troy/src/samba/samba-3.0.1/source/ubiqx
-I/home/troy/src/samba/samba-3.0.1/source/smbwrapper  -I.
-D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64
-I/home/troy/src/samba/samba-3.0.1/source    
      LIBS = -lsec -lgen -lresolv -lsocket -lnsl -ldl
      LDSHFLAGS = -G 
      LDFLAGS = 
Building include/proto.h
creating /home/troy/src/samba/samba-3.0.1/source/include/proto.h
[it hangs here for hours if I let it]

I have successfully compiled Samba version 
2.2.8a with gcc version 2.8.1 on Solaris 2.5.1,
but I cannot successfully join the NT4 domain.
The 'smbpasswd -j' command returns the text:

Broken pipe

and does the same on Solaris 8 (and gcc 
2.8.1).

I need to be able to join the NT4 domain right 
now, but I will want Samba to take over PDC 
duties soon. The current Samba here (2.0.7) 
doesn't provide group membership information 
to the two W2KS Citrix boxes here, so it isn't 
used as a PDC.

Do I have to get a newer version of gcc to 
compile on Solaris 2.5.1? If so, what version 
would be best to move to? 

Or, do I have to upgrade Solaris to compile and 
run a newer Samba stably? If so, what would 
be the best choice right now. Does Solaris 9 
have any advantage over 8 with regard to 
Samba serving?

Thanks much for reading,

Troy Johnson
Samba Fan