readline support in samba

[Simo Sorce]

On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Andrew Tridgell wrote:

> I'm about to remove all the readline support in Samba again as it is
> badly broken. I've done this once before but it was (erroneously)
> restored by someone else.
>
> If you want readline support in Samba then either volunteer to fix it
> or find someone willing to fix/maintain it. Problems with the current
> code include:
>
> - it links in the readline library to all progs. It is ridiculous for
>   smbd to have readline linked in.
>
> - it fails to link other necessary libraries. On my box it fails to
>   add ncurses, so Samba doesn't build without manual Makefile editing.
>
> - it fails to handle keepalive packets. This is the hard point. It is
>   solveable, but you will need to do creative things with timers and
>   signals. This *must* be solved for readline support to be in
>   Samba. If you don't know what a keepalive packet is then do some
>   reading before sending a patch.

Well, I don't know for the first 2 point (a configure and Makefile
triggering is needed obviously), but I solved the last point in another
software using the provided rl_callback_handler_install() and a
select/rl_callback_read_char() on stdin, it think it may apply there
eliminating the need of timers and signals.

>
> - the patch is ugly. It should abstract out functionality not have a
>   big #ifdef in client.c
>
> speak up now if you want to save this feature. Anyone just saying how
> important the feature is but not actually offering to solve the
> problems will be ignored.

Readline is pretty nice, if the solution above is good enough I hope you
will consider to save readline.

bye,
Simo.

-- 
Simo Sorce - Linux Systems Consultant
E-mail: simo.sorce at polimi.it
Tel: +39 0348 7149179 - Fax: +39 02 700442399
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Be happy, use Linux!