managing users from smbpasswd rather than /etc/passwd (PR#9932)

[Jeremy Allison]

Tony.Nugent at usq.edu.au wrote:
> 
> Juan Carlos replied:
> 
> > From my experience, Samba needs a login to exist in /etc/passwd in order
> > to be possible to have it in smbpasswd.
> 
> That's the crux of what I was asking.  And the answer that I didn't want to
> hear :-(
> 
> Pity it can't be a (configurable) "either-and-or" situation.
> 
> > The Unix password in /etc/passwd (or shadow) is irrelevant, though. You
> > might even make all Samba users un-loginnable, shell-wise (by assigning
> > then bogus passwords).
> 
> Yes, this part is ok, but with around 200-300 new user accounts about to be
> created - all of who will only have (and need) samba access, managing them
> from /etc/passwd is a real PITA.
> 
> I would much rather manage these people from /etc/smbpasswd (wherever it
> may live) and leave /etc/passwd alone for managing REAL unix accounts.
> 
> I'm not sure if any of the developers are listening (I'm only new to the
> list), but can this be a suggestion to put into the TODO list?

We hear and obey :-).

Actually it's already on the TODO list - called "Applience
mode".

It probably won't make 2.0, but maybe 2.0.x.

Cheers,

	Jeremy Allison,
	Samba Team.
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