1.9.19 when?

[Dana Canfield]

Just a couple of questions (somewhat related to my earlier message).
I'm sure we all realize it's a bad idea, but there are several of us
using the PDC code in production.  Even with it's current basic
functionality it does what we (meaning my campus) need to get us by for
now.  So the questions I have are:

1) 1.9.19 will still contain the current level of NTPDC functionality,
right?
2) Assuming 1), is it safe to assume that whatever NTDOM functionality
exists at the point of 1.9.19's release will be of "release" quality
(except for the fact that user/group methodologies may get a major
overhaul)?
3) From a developer's point of view, do you forsee any major problems
being encountered for us who are using in production (particularly as of
the 1.9.19 release).

As before, I don't mean to sound like I'm asking you to rush things
along or anything, I'm just trying to discern the lesser of two evils:
Buying, installing, and licensing several WinNT Servers to get us
through our first year, or going production with alpha-ish software on
our existing Linux Alpha.  Personally, I have a terrible habit of going
with the "it works now, why shouldn't it keep working?" philosphy when
it comes to software.

It's impressive how far the NTDOM stuff has come in just a few months.
It seems to provide the basic services of authentication and home
directory/profile service pretty well.  Personally, I'd be happy with
the code as it stands as a "first release," and the only thing I'm
really anxious for is seeing how the user/group stuff matures.

BTW, am I the only one who thinks commentable, scriptable, controllable
configuration files really rock compared to graphical interfaces that
require you to point and click to enter everything?  (Just a quick NT
Server dig.) ;-)

Thanks guys,

Dana

Jeremy Allison wrote:

> Vladimir Senkov wrote:
> > Do you know when 1.9.19 alphas will be avail?
> > And will it contain NT PDC functionality at this time?
> >
>
> Ok - current plans for releases.
>
> 1.9.19 alpha's will contain two major new things
> - the SWAT GUI config tool, still being worked on
> by Andrew, and a new security type, security=domain.
>
> The security=domain will allow Samba servers to
> be full NT domain members (not PDCs) and allow
> them to transparently authenticate to an NT PDC
> in the same way that NT does - moving closer to
> the 'one account database' holy grail.
>
> Now there is one technical detail that is still
> being worked on to make this work (machine account
> password changing), once it does I'll start coding
> up the new security type.
>
> All this will probably take a month or two, so
> expect new alpha releases sometime after that.
>
> In the meantime, work will continue on the real
> PDC functionality, but this work is much harder,
> mainly as once you announce you have PDC functions
> to NT machines, they start changing the way they
> talk to you in doing *everything* (browsing,
> printing etc.).
>
> Once we have a stable PDC in test we'll start
> announcing Samba-2 alpha releases.
>
> The reason we're doing it this way is that
> getting the full PDC functionality will take
> a while, and we have to do the domain client
> functionality anyway, so it's easier to get
> that done first, and release it to people
> who already have NT PDCs to use, than sit
> on it all for months awaiting full PDC
> functionality.
>
> Hope you agree with the plan, let us know
> what you think.
>
> Cheers,
>
>         Jeremy Allison,
>         Samba Team.
>
> --
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Buying an operating system without source is like buying
> a self-assembly Space Shuttle with no instructions.
> --------------------------------------------------------