VFS Implementation and user authentication

[David Lee]

On Thu, 7 Sep 2000, Andrew Tridgell wrote:

> > Tim - this is why I don't want to ship vfs in 2.2.x, as
> > we still need more implementation experience with it before
> > we can freeze a first version of a vfs interface.
> 
> I think this is a reason why we should ship it! We just don't claim
> that this will be the final version of the API. I don't think we
> should ever "freeze" the interface really hard - I don't want it to
> become our responsibility to remain compatible with every module that
> people writes. We won't go out of our way to break it but we don't
> want to get stuck with bad designs.
> 
> anyway, I think the VFS code has had enough testing for us to be
> pretty confident that it doesn't break any existing functionality, so
> I think that getting it in wider use would be a good idea.

Isn't this largely what the "--with-XYZ" functionality is all about? 

My own experience with the recent (2.0.7) "utmp" stuff indicated that
although a few enthusiasts picked it up before release, it was only after
release that many others came across it and helped further improve it. 
This was done as "--with-utmp", and warnings about "experimental" etc., to
protect the main Samba code, whilst allowing typical non-CVS, end-user
administrators, presumably the big majority of us, _easily_ to opt in if
they so choose. 

Yes, I agree with Jeremy's caution about stability before release.

But I also agree with Andrew's thought that it needs to be shipped.

Could it be wrapped inside a "--with-vfs" option, accompanied by suitable
warnings?

[ Note: I am not a VFS person.  But I have been involved with the ideas of
a few new features, such as "inherit permissions", Veritas quotas, "utmp" 
and "preexec close", which has shown me the merits of both points of view
and the importance of the "ship, with care" model. ]


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