[Samba] Read the Docs

[Eric Hines]

John,

This isn't entirely fair.  There are three kinds of newbies, and I'll say 
for the purposes of this thread that newbies also may be new to Linux/UNIX, 
not just to Samba: the first kind is lazy and goes running for help at the 
drop of a bug and doesn't bother to read the docs first.  This kind 
deserves your rant.  The second kind doesn't know documentation 
exists--they don't deserve your rant; they need only a pointer to the 
docs--as you provided below, in addition.  The third kind has read the docs 
and still has a problem, else they wouldn't be on the mailing list looking 
for help.  We don't deserve your rant, either.  And we've read the docs 
despite what seem to be a high error rate in them that confuses the 
diagnostic outcomes.  (For instance, in Chapt 1 of the HOWTO, on connecting 
to a Remote SMB Client, we're told to run "net use d: 
\\servername\service.  When I do that, I simply get the error back that the 
local device is already in use.  Of course--d: is a logical partition on my 
PC.  I have to figure out that you meant "d:" to be generic, in the same 
spirit as "servername."  Maybe I should have recognized that a priori, but 
I didn't.  Newbies make mistakes like that.  In the Samba Checklist, Step 
4, we're told to run "nmblookup - B BIGSERVER_SAMBA_."  This seems to have 
two typos in it, yet as a newbie, I'm unsure.  Using - B (with the space) 
just has nmblookup look for the IP address of the machine B, also, which, 
of course it cannot find.  Or were we supposed to use "-B" -- without the 
space?  But then to what broadcast address, as that's what that switch 
calls for?  Or is "nmblookup - servername" what was truly meant?  And the 
_SAMBA_ suffix appended to our server's name means that that machine cannot 
be found by nmblookup, either--unless someone actually has appended that 
suffix to their machine name.  the "- B", "-B", "-" confusion is repeated 
throughout the checklist.  Further, in step 6, we're told to try "nmblookup 
- d 2 '*' ".  This leads to further error, as nmblookup cannot find either 
machine d or 2.  It turns out we're supposed to use "-d" (no space).)

For all that, we in this third kind of newbie, get lumped in with the first 
kind, and our problems get utterly ignored.  It's true enough that you're 
all volunteers, helping out in addition to your day jobs, and really your 
efforts are appreciated a great deal.  But most of us newbies are trying to 
learn this stuff, also in addition to our own day jobs.

Or are we on the wrong mailing lists?  If there are other Samba mailing 
lists intended for newbies, please point us there.

</rant>

Eric Hines

At 05/06/05 10:08, you wrote:
>Jon,
>
>Please, please use the resources we provide before posting questions like
>this. Did you read the book "Samba-3 by Example" before you asked your
>questions  here? I think you will find a fully working solution in chapter 3.
>
>The latest version (still being edited) can be downloaded from:
>http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/Samba-Guide.pdf
>
>Note: The book uses SUSE Linux as its reference base so you will beed to
>adjust pathes and Samba binary names according to the way Mandrake have named
>the binary files .
>
>- John T.
>
><snip>
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Out of the argument with ourselves comes poetry, out of the argument with 
others comes politics.
         --Yeats