[Bug 1038197] Re: samba changes in system-config-samba or /etc/smb.conf do not affect server

[Clint Byrum]

Hello koanhead, thank you for taking the time to file a bug report and
help make Ubuntu better!

The workgroup name is not handled by smbd, but by nmbd. So in order to
enact changes in it, you must restart the nmbd service. There is, in
fact, a bug in system-config-samba, because it does this to detect if
samba is a service:


    def nmbIsService (self):
        # Check if nmb is its own service
        s = os.system ('/sbin/chkconfig --list nmb >& /dev/null')
        if s == 0:
            return True
        else:
            return False

This will fail on Ubuntu because chkconfig does not exist. Thus, changes
which affect nmbd will not be picked up in system-config-samba. I'll
open a task against that package for that fix. For samba, everything is
working correctly (I just verified this), you just have to restart nmbd
with

sudo service nmbd restart

As to your other question, I have no problem setting up a globally
readable guest-capable read-only share in smb.conf like this:

[readall]
	path = /mnt/readall
	guest ok = Yes
	locking = No


** Package changed: samba (Ubuntu) => system-config-samba (Ubuntu)

** Changed in: system-config-samba (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided => High

** Changed in: system-config-samba (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Triaged

** Summary changed:

- samba changes in system-config-samba or /etc/smb.conf do not affect server
+ changes in system-config-samba do not affect nmbd

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1038197

Title:
  changes in system-config-samba do not affect nmbd

Status in “system-config-samba” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Using system-config-samba to change the Workgroup name does not affect
  the Workgroup name displayed on remote computers. Tested on remote
  WinXP and remote Debian Wheezy.

  According to the help page for system-config-samba:
  "After clicking OK, the changes are written to the configuration file and the daemon is restarted; thus, the changes take effect immediately."
  In fact the changes never take effect at all.
  Changing the workgroup name manually in /etc/smbd.conf and then restarting smbd (once with service smbd restart and then with service smbd stop followed by service smbd start) has no effect on the workgroup displayed on remote computers.

  Thus it is IMPOSSIBLE to change the server's workgroup.

  It is also impossible to create a globally readable read-only share. I
  have been trying for three years to do this in Ubuntu and it has NEVER
  WORKED.

  The response of the server to clients' connection attempts are apparently random, regardless of server settings. Sometimes the attempt gives an auth dialog, but refuses any password. Sometimes it fails silently. Sometimes it gives a permissions error such as "$SHARE is not accessible. You may not have permissions to access this volume.
  The network path was not found."
  on WinXP or
  "Unable to mount location
  Failed to mount Windows share."
  on Debian or Ubuntu. This last error message, by the way, is utterly useless. If there is no indication of why the error arose then the message is no good for debugging and the process might just as well fail silently.

  These things make Samba effectively unable to serve a read-only
  globally readable share. Sometimes user-level auth works, but not
  reliably- and if I want user-level access I'd use sshfs anyway. When
  user-level auth fails it gives the same cryptic error message as
  above.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
  Package: samba 2:3.5.8~dfsg-1ubuntu2.5
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-15.65-generic 2.6.38.8
  Uname: Linux 2.6.38-15-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  Architecture: amd64
  BothFailedConnect: Yes
  CheckboxSubmission: 71dcdffc611aa0b506f8503de91b9e83
  CheckboxSystem: edda5d4f616ca792bf437989cb597002
  Date: Fri Aug 17 10:44:28 2012
  EcryptfsInUse: Yes
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
  NmbdLog:
   
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=en_US:en
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SambaServerRegression: No
  SmbConfIncluded: Yes
  SmbLog:
   
  SourcePackage: samba
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2012-02-19 (179 days ago)

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