To release Samba 4.0 'as is'

[Gémes Géza]

See bellow:
> I would like to propose that we proceed to making a pre-release of Samba
> 4.0 in the next month (ie, before Christmas), and that we propose to
> release Samba 4.0 'as is' regarding major features.
>
> To be clear, I propose that the DNS server work continue, and we seek a
> resolution of the best approach here over the time between now and a
> release, but we do not block a release on this point.  (I am confident
> however that those involved will have a good solution, and even the
> current flat file is clearly good enough for our many users). 
>
> I also propose that we do not make the major architectural changes
> between now and the release to change file server or winbind
> implementations for the AD DC.  Instead, we continue to build on the
> massive efforts already made here over the next few months, but we will
> not change the default behaviour for a 4.0 release.
>
> This will give the vendors (Univention and Resara) and our numerous
> users who are building on top of Samba 4.0 alpha releases a stable
> release to move to, based on the current architecture, before we make
> the change to a common file server for Samba 4.1.  
>
> This will mean we continue to ship smbd, nmbd, winbindd, samba etc as
> found in the current alpha releases. 
>
> With this plan, and with the quality brought about by our continuous
> integration approach, I think we can make a Samba 4.0 release in a
> reasonable time-frame, perhaps with a final release in about three
> months time.  
>
> I do wish to be clear that I'm certainly not abandoning the idea of a
> single file server, and I know many others on the team have also
> invested great amounts of their own time in this effort.  It is
> important not only for NAS vendors who wish to add AD to the NAS (an
> idea I raise with every NAS vendor I get the chance to speak to), but
> also our users who still regularly ask for a combined release with the
> AD server, file server and print server all present in the same runtime
> installation.  
>
> What do others think?
>
> Andrew Bartlett
>
IMHO the user visible blocking bugs (missing features) can be grouped in
the following groups:

1. Problems from the point of view of a Windows sysadmin:
    a. FRS
    b. Incomplete forest support (Could be explained: Roadmap for 4.x)
    c. File serving/printing (can be explained: This is just the AD
part, for file/print: Samba3)
2. Problems from the point of view of a *nix sysadmin:
    a. The KDC is quite hard to manage (no per principal keytab export
utility (I've wrote one, but it doesn't take spns into account)) (Today
I'll start to try implementing (at least parts of) kadmin into Samba4)
    b. Winbind is ignoring any msfu/rfc attributes for uid/gid (that
makes having Samba4's winbind an undesirable solution for networks with
existing *nix services) (Can be mitigated: Use samba3's winbind)
3. Common problems:
    a. Fragility of schema extension operations
    b. Incomplete support for adding/removing application partitions
(for example integrating ISC DCP servers now officially supported LDAP
backend, and lots of other custom applications)

This is just my very humble opinion, but I think, that releasing Samba4
as it is now without a very clear BEWARE: MISSING FEATURES + POSSIBLE
WORKAROUNDS + ROADMAP will not benefit the project, just generating lots
of unhappy users.

Cheers

Geza