RedHat/SaMBa package distribution hassles.

[Max TenEyck Woodbury]

1) I understand you may package your product any way you want to...
2) I understand Red Hat may package your product any way they want to...
3) I understand that RedHat has to test your product before they include
   it in their official updates, and that hasn't happened yet.

However, If you put out a package that is supposed to be a drop in 
replacement for the Red Hat package(s), you will get fewer complains
if it has the same structure as the Red Hat package(s).

I believe you (i.e. someone on the SaMBa team) asked that Red Hat make 
their .spec files available, but I didn't find the message when I did
a search for it, so I could have mis-remembered the 'conversation'.
Red Hat released a samba-2.2.1a-4.src.rpm that includes the .spec file.
They have also released a 'rawhide' samba-2.2.3a-1.src.rpm that you
could use to build replacement packages for their different 
distributions. (Their, i.e. Red Hat's, rawhide binary packages require
other rawhide packages be installed, which prevents the rawhide packages
from being drop in replacements for their normal distribution
packages.) Isn't that close enough to what you asked for to let you
build real drop-in replacements?

For what it's worth, I have taken the samba-2.2.3a-1.src.rpm and
done an 'rpmbuild --rebuild' of it on a fully patched RH 7.2 system
and installed the resulting packages on another patched RH 7.2
system successfully. I'll try an 'upgrade' from 2.2.1a tonight.
If it works, and you (i.e. the SaMBa team) are interested, I could
email you the packages so you can check them out and post them on
your web-site.

mtew at cds.duke.edu