[Samba] inotify error and a file opened 1000+ times on a Samba share

[Jonathan Bennett]

I service a small office with 6 XP computers. I just installed a server 
running CentOS 5.4 and Samba 3.0.33. They use a program called 
"On-screen Takeoff". This program accesses a couple database files that 
live on the shared drive. "Projects.ldb" and "Projects.mdb" On-screen 
takeoff stays open all day, and maintains access to it's database files 
all day.

The folks at the office complained that On-screen Takeoff would 
occasionally lose access to the database. I came in and found a couple 
strange symptoms. First, in /var/log/messages, Samba is spewing dozens 
of times per second:

Mar  3 17:18:30 localhost smbd[5556]: [2010/03/03 17:18:30, 0] 
smbd/notify_inotify.c:inotify_handler(249)
Mar  3 17:18:30 localhost smbd[5556]:   No data on inotify fd?!

Second, lsof shows over a thousand concurrent connections to 
"Projects.ldb".

 From what I can see, this looks like the same problem that Excel 
occasionally causes.

I have included "kernel change notify = no" "notify:inotify = no" under 
global in smb.conf, and still see the inotify errors in /var/log/messages.

What is happening here? Is this a Samba bug? Why does turning off 
inotify in smb.conf not stop the error messages?

Thanks for any help,
Jonathan Bennett

smb.conf

[global]
kernel change notify = no
notify:inotify = no
workgroup = ENDEX
netbios name = ENDEX1
printcap name = cups
disable spoolss = Yes
show add printer wizard = No
printing = cups
wins support = yes
name resolve order = wins lmhosts hosts bcast

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
valid users = %S
read only = No
browseable = No
[public]
notify:inotify = no
kernel change notify = no
comment = Data
path = /export
force user = [removed]
force group = users
read only = No
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
printer admin = root, [removed]
create mask = 0600
guest ok = Yes
printable = Yes
use client driver = Yes
browseable = No