dce/rpc "client" api

[Andrew Tridgell]

> what happens when we decide to remove some of those global variables???

If the shared library used that variable and you remove it then the
shared library will no longer load. Bad luck.

> what is wrong with loading smb.conf?
> 
> it is far better, if you are asking my opinion, to use smb.conf as the
> common point of reference instead of some global variables and even
> functions that may or may not exist, be modified etc from time to time.

I was not referring to the lp_*() functions and their associated
data. I was referring to global variables. Most of these variiables
have no existance in smb.conf.

You also seem to be worried about changing interfaces. I'm afraid we
are always going to have dependencies between the various components
of Samba, it is just completely unavoidable. The database records in
all our tdb's is perhaps the most obvious case, but that is not the
limit of it. 

I can't tell you that a change in smbd won't break one of these shared
libraries, but I can tell you that it won't break if the library does
not refer to the data structure or function that has changed. Thus it
will be possible to write very simple shim pipe handlers that call to
an external daemon and do not rely on anything in smbd, although I
don't really expect that this will be how it is done.

Cheers, Tridge