Bugzilla – Bug 287036
Unable to add Samba users
Last modified: 2008-04-11 17:58:26 UTC
+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #227923 +++ This bug has a long story: - I observed it since Suse Linux 10.0 - I reported it since Suse Linux 10.1 - Nothing was ever done, to improve the matter And this is, what I mean: - No way is provided, to enter Samba users via a graphical interface: Yast does not provide any means to do it The second way, via Personal Settings -> Samba -> users, does not work - Of course, one can add users via smbpasswd -a ..., but I think, that Linux should become an alternative to buying MS's Vista. Therefore, Linux should absolutely try to simplify the installation procedures for small networks, as they become more and more common use. As per now, it is still very complex, installing such small networks. Another problem for instance, I'm trying to solve, is to make my hp officejet d125xi available to other network users - with no success up to now. Most users I know, even IT personal, just revert to a window solution, and leave Linux behind them - maybe for ever. This is really to bad!
This Bug was terminated and the reason was "not eneugh resources". Obviously the people responsible do not realise the importance of the problem. I know many IT people, also from my work as an scientifical collaborator at the university of Luzern. Even the easiest configuration of samba requires a lot of specific know how, it is allmost impossible for a normal user of Linux, to configure it so that printers and user access work propperly. Of course, now I know how I can add users through the console. But also this took quite a while. Please do not terminate this bug so quickly, and take a serious effort to fix it. Even better, it would be, to implement a user interface, that controls all aspects of configuring a Network (samba, printers, scanners, users, remote destop control, etc.)
The "Personal Settings -> Samba -> users" way problem is reported upstream: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94828 Without being a KDE or C++ developer, to fix the KDE config doesn't looks very difficult. The problem seems to be that old versions of smbpasswd accepted a password for argument, so SmbPasswdFile::addUser() is using KProcess to execute "smbpasswd -a <user> <password>". Today versions of smbpasswd expect just "smbpasswd -a <user>" and _after_ they ask for the password (two times). smbpasswd has the option "-s" to accept the passwords via stdin and KProcess has the method writeStdin(), so... SmbPasswdFile::addUser() is ten lines long. If someone could give it a look would make life easier to us.
After some discussion internally this enhancement still is from our perspective a low priority thing.