does smbpasswd -r <host> need conf file?

[Andy Smith]

If I copy the binary for smbpasswd to some unix workstation not running
samba and arrange for the user to invoke it as 'smbpasswd -r <host>'
where <host> is the unix server running samba as a pdc, it objects that
it cant find it's configuration file.

However, if I supply an empty configuration file (eg touch
/usr/local/lib/samba/smbd.conf) it will quite happily change the
encrypted passwd on the pdc, so would there be any implications if the
requirement to successfully read a config file were relaxed when using
the -r option?

Incidently, I have noticed when testing this that the encrypted version
of the passwd is always the same for the same clear text passwd (ie,
when I return my smb passwd to the same value as my unix passwd, the
string in private/smbpasswd is the same as it was originally)  I
presume this a shortcoming of the using encrypted passwords?

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