[Samba] files or directories ending with dots or white spaces on a samba share

[Ahmed RAHAL]

Hi Samba Team & Users,

I recently found "THE" problem with files ending with a white space or a 
dot.
After searching and finding very few pointers (ok, I do not know that 
much about the smb protocol), I found myself a bit disappointed. (I 
didn't RTFM however, I beg pardon.).
It seems that files ending with whitespaces or dots cannot be correctly 
shared through a windows network.
This popped out whan browsing a samba share from MacOS X.
It amazed me at first, and I supposed there was a good reason. Obviously 
there was.
After testing this a (very little) bit, and for the peace of mind of 
others that may be seeking the anser to this (non-)issue:
If you try to create a file ending with dots on a windows system, the 
dots will disappear ! the operating system forbids creation of such a 
file or directory (silently removing dots and barring space ending 
filenames). Therefore, the problem that I found with 
dot-ending-filenames on my linux box cannot exist in the windows world !
The same applies to space-ending-filenames.
Samba, "solved" the problem by showing a strange and random-looking 
filename while browsing the samba share.
This being a "non-problem", I just wanted to sort it out for anyone too 
lazy to RTFM ;)

If I happen to be wrong here, please, correct this :)

May Samba live long & prosper .\\//

-- 
Ahmed RAHAL