Summary of [Re: Default encrypted passwords = yes?]

David Lee t.d.lee at durham.ac.uk
Fri Sep 28 02:01:04 GMT 2001


On Thu, 27 Sep 2001, Gerald (Jerry) Carter wrote:

> As Shirish has suggested, a wiard type install script
> which gathered information from the admin to create a customized default
> smb.conf for their server would remove my concerns. :-)

and in an earlier message, Jerry had written:

> My sole point (and I will stop saying it after this) is
> that configuring Samba is hard enough without adding this
> default.

There is a danger that Jerry's two ideas might conflict with each other.

In the lower message, Jerry emphasises that a sample default configuration
should be as useable as is reasonably possible for an absolute beginner
who is struggling.  And I remember that experience, and sympathise, and
so would encourage us always to keep that well in view.

But if we follow the wi[z]ard-type install script (upper message) there
is the danger of asking the struggling, absolute beginner a variety of
questions about which he/she has no idea, and it could be intimidating.
Which, of course, runs directly counter to the "keep it simple" message.


So if there were such a script, I would urge that it be very, very simple,
and ask only a very few, very basic, questions.  There is a good case for
"encryption" to be one such.  (There could, of course, be a "Advanced" 
question, whose affirmative could take a much longer, more tortuous path.) 


-- 

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