New configuration backends for Samba 3 SoC project

[Raymond Lillard]

Gerald (Jerry) Carter wrote:
> Mingwang,

> I think the first challenge is to abstract the interface
> used by Samba servers and tools to query values from
> the config backend.  To make any move towards a richer
> configuration backend, we will have to continue to
> support a "legacy" smb.conf file.  I'm not as worried
> about actually implementing this legacy support during
> SoC, just keeping the requirements in the back of our
> minds.  The advantage of using a library like libelektra
> is that it abstracts the query/set calls from the actual
> data storage.

Jerry,

I'm just want to make sure the above paragraph is assurance
that a text file based configuration capability is not
going away in Samba-4 and/or in the not just foreseeable
future, but also the imaginable future.

Many of us maintain Samba on servers that are far too
away to travel to.  Furthermore, most of the severs
I build/maintain do not have any graphical h/w or s/w
available by intention.

I don't care whether it is in the present form of smb.conf
or something more structured, losing text based management
of Samba would be nothing short of a travesty.

I pass no judgment on those who want a GUI for Samba, give
it to them  -- but please don't make paranoid curmudgeons
such as myself load X on a Samba server just to manage it.

Regards,
Ray