[Samba] Potential contribution: FUSE client w/ SMB3 encryption support

[David Ramos]

Hello,

My team is in search of a way to mount SMB3/CIFS shares from a Linux client with encryption enabled (and with reasonable performance). After some research, it appears that the kernel CIFS client (mount.cifs) lacks encryption support, while the Samba client library (libsmbclient) doesn't offer mount functionality.

Looking at the recent commit "examples: Add smb2mount" (https://github.com/samba-team/samba/commit/3b97211d1854b208afae711cc8804dd28ff1e532), it seems that a FUSE client may be the best avenue for implementing a Samba VFS that is compatible with newer features such as end-to-end encryption.

Is there community interest in supporting such a project (and/or is smb2mount intended to become a full-fledged effort)? My team may have resources to contribute toward this project in a few months.

In the meantime, I would be appreciate any thoughts or suggestions from the Samba team and community. How significant of an undertaking would this be? Are there any major pitfalls I should be aware of up front?

Thanks,
-David