can't run programs from directories > 8 chars

Colin_Everett at fp.cibc.com Colin_Everett at fp.cibc.com
Mon Jun 29 10:53:48 GMT 1998


     Hi Jeremy,
     
     I kinda feel guilty to keep hassling you with questions. It's very 
     much appreciated.
     
     Okay, now I've done a bit of crawling! I experience the problem with 
     all programs in directories over eight characters, even true 32bit 
     apps. Is this to be expected on non-NT servers until the samba mod?
     
     The sym link is gonna be a pain 'cos there's so many programs in so 
     many directories. I guess I'll have to script it.
     
     Kind regards,
     
     -Colin Everett
     CIBC


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: can't run programs from directories > 8 chars
Author:  jallison (jallison at whistle.com) at Internet
Date:    25/06/98 19:36


Colin,
     
I recently added this FAQ to our bug tracking system.
     
     
     
Running 16 bit programs from Windows NT on a Samba mapped drive 
---------------------------------------------------------------
     
The Windows NT redirector has a bug when running against a 
Samba or Windows 95 mapped drive and attempting to run a 
16 bit executable.
     
The problem occurs when the pathname to a 16 bit executable 
contains a non 8.3 filename complient directory component, 
Windows NT will fail to load the program and complain it 
cannot find the path to the program.
     
It can be verified that this is a bug in Windows NT and 
not Samba as the same problem can be reproduced exactly 
when attempting to run the same program with the same 
pathname from a Windows 95 server (ie. the problem still 
exists even with no Samba server involved).
     
Microsoft have been made aware of this problem, it is 
unknown if they regard it as serious enough to provide 
a fix for this.
     
One of the reasons this problem is reported frequently
is that InstallShield setup.exe executables are frequently 
written as 16 bit programs, and so hit this problem.
     
As a workaround, you may create (on a Samba server at 
least) a symbolic link with an 8.3 complient name to 
the non 8.3 complient directory name, and then the 16 
bit program will run. Alternatively, use the 8.3 
complient mangled name to specify the path to run
the binary.
     
This will be fixed when Samba adds the NT-specific 
SMB calls (currently targeted for the next major 
Samba release), as once the NT SMB calls are used 
this problem no longer occurs (which is why the 
problem doesn't occur when running against a drive 
mapped to a Windows NT server).
     
Regards,
     
        Jeremy Allison.
        Samba Team.
-- 
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a self-assembly Space Shuttle with no instructions. 
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