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diff --git a/docs/history b/docs/history deleted file mode 100644 index a86160e854d..00000000000 --- a/docs/history +++ /dev/null @@ -1,196 +0,0 @@ -Contributor: Andrew Tridgell and the Samba Team -Date: June 27, 1997 -Satus: Always out of date! (Would not be the same without it!) - -Subject: A bit of history and a bit of fun -============================================================================ - -This is a short history of this project. It's not supposed to be -comprehensive, just enough so that new users can get a feel for where -this project has come from and maybe where it's going to. - -The whole thing really started in December 1991. I was (and still am) -a PhD student in the Computer Sciences Laboratory at the Australian -National University, in Canberra, Australia. We had just got a -beta copy of eXcursion from Digital, and I was testing it on my PC. At -this stage I was a MS-DOS user, dabbling in windows. - -eXcursion ran (at the time) only with Dec's `Pathworks' network for -DOS. I had up till then been using PC-NFS to connect to our local sun -workstations, and was reasonably happy with it. In order to run -pathworks I had to stop using PC-NFS and try using pathworks to mount -disk space. Unfortunately pathworks was only available for digital -workstations running VMS or Ultrix so I couldn't mount from the suns -anymore. - -I had access to a a decstation 3100 running Ultrix that I used to -administer, and I got the crazy notion that the protocol that -pathworks used to talk to ultrix couldn't be that hard, and maybe I -could work it out. I had never written a network program before, and -certainly didn't know what a socket was. - -In a few days, after looking at some example code for sockets, I -discovered it was pretty easy to write a program to "spy" on the file -sharing protocol. I wrote and installed this program (the sockspy.c -program supplied with this package) and captured everything that the -pathworks client said to the pathworks server. - -I then tried writing short C programs (using Turbo C under DOS) to do -simple file operations on the network drive (open, read, cd etc) and -looked at the packets that the server and client exchanged. From this -I worked out what some of the bytes in the packets meant, and started -to write my own program to do the same thing on a sun. - -After a day or so more I had my first successes and actually managed -to get a connection and to read a file. From there it was all -downhill, and a week later I was happily (if a little unreliably) -mounting disk space from a sun to my PC running pathworks. The server -code had a lot of `magic' values in it, which seemed to be always -present with the ultrix server. It was not till 2 years later that I -found out what all these values meant. - -Anyway, I thought other people might be interested in what I had done, -so I asked a few people at uni, and noone seemed much interested. I -also spoke to a person at Digital in Canberra (the person who had -organised a beta test of eXcursion) and asked if I could distribute -what I'd done, or was it illegal. It was then that I first heard the -word "netbios" when he told me that he thought it was all covered by a -spec of some sort (the netbios spec) and thus what I'd done was not -only legal, but silly. - -I found the netbios spec after asking around a bit (the RFC1001 and -RFC1002 specs) and found they looked nothing like what I'd written, so -I thought maybe the Digital person was mistaken. I didn't realise RFCs -referred to the name negotiation and packet encapsulation over TCP/IP, -and what I'd written was really a SMB implementation. - -Anyway, he encouraged me to release it so I put out "Server 0.1" in -January 1992. I got quite a good response from people wanting to use -pathworks with non-digital unix workstations, and I soon fixed a few -bugs, and released "Server 0.5" closely followed by "Server 1.0". All -three releases came out within about a month of each other. - -At this point I got an X Terminal on my desk, and I no longer needed eXcursion -and I prompty forgot about the whole project, apart from a few people -who e-mailed me occasionally about it. - -Nearly two years then passed with just occasional e-mails asking about -new versions and bugs. I even added a note to the ftp site asking for -a volunteer to take over the code as I no longer used it. No one -volunteered. - -During this time I did hear from a couple of people who said it should -be possible to use my code with Lanmanager, but I never got any -definite confirmation. - -One e-mail I got about the code did, however, make an impression. It -was from Dan Shearer at the university of South Australia, and he said -this: - - - I heard a hint about a free Pathworks server for Unix in the - Net channel of the Linux list. After quite a bit of chasing - (and lots of interested followups from other Linux people) I - got hold of a release news article from you, posted in Jan 92, - from someone in the UK. - - Can you tell me what the latest status is? I think you might - suddenly find a whole lot of interested hackers in the Linux - world at least, which is a place where things tend to happen - fast (and even some reliable code gets written, BION!) - -I asked him what Linux was, and he told me it was a free Unix for PCs. -This was in November 1992 and a few months later I was a Linux -convert! I still didn't need a pathworks server though, so I didn't do -the port, but I think Dan did. - -At about this time I got an e-mail from Digital, from a person working -on the Alpha software distribution. He asked if I would mind if they -included my server with the "contributed" cd-rom. This was a bit of a -shock to me as I never expected Dec to ask me if they could use my -code! I wrote back saying it was OK, but never heard from him again. I -don't know if it went on the cd-rom. - -Anyway, the next big event was in December 1993, when Dan again sent -me an e-mail saying my server had "raised it's ugly head" on -comp.protocols.tcpip.ibmpc. I had a quick look on the group, and was -surprised to see that there were people interested in this thing. - -At this time a person from our computer center offered me a couple of -cheap ethernet cards (3c505s for $15 each) and coincidentially someone -announced on one of the Linux channels that he had written a 3c505 -driver for Linux. I bought the cards, hacked the driver a little and -setup a home network between my wifes PC and my Linux box. I then -needed some way to connect the two, and I didn't own PC-NFS at home, -so I thought maybe my server could be useful. On the newsgroup among -the discussions of my server someone had mentioned that there was a -free client that might work with my server that Microsoft had put up -for ftp. I downloaded it and found to my surprise that it worked first -time with my `pathworks' server! - -Well, I then did a bit of hacking, asked around a bit and found (I -think from Dan) that the spec I needed was for the "SMB" protocol, and -that it was available via ftp. I grabbed it and started removing all -those ugly constants from the code, now that all was explained. - -On December 1st 1993 I announced the start of the "Netbios for Unix" -project, seeding the mailing list with all the people who had e-mailed -me over the years asking about the server. - -About 35 versions (and two months) later I wrote a short history of -the project, which you have just read. There are now over a hundred -people on the mailing list, and lots of people report that they use -the code and like it. In a few days I will be announcing the release -of version 1.6 to some of the more popular (and relevant) newsgroups. - - -Andrew Tridgell -6th February 1994 - ---------------------- - -It is now May 1995 and there are about 1400 people on the mailing -list. I got downloads from the main Samba ftp site from around 5000 -unique hosts in a two month period. There are several mirror -sites as well. The current version number is 1.9.13. - ---------------------- - - ---------------------- -It's now March 1996 and version 1.9.16alpha1 has just been -released. There have been lots of changes recently with master browser -support and the ability to do domain logons etc. Samba has also been -ported to OS/2, the amiga and NetWare. There are now 3000 people on -the samba mailing list. ---------------------- - - ---------------------- -It's now June 1997 and samba-1.9.17 is due out soon. My how time passes! -Please refer to the WHATSNEW.txt for an update on new features. Just when -you think you understand what is happening the ground rules change - this -is a real world after all. Since the heady days of March 1996 there has -been a concerted effort within the SMB protocol using community to document -and standardize the protocols. The CIFS initiative has helped a long way -towards creating a better understood and more interoperable environment. -The Samba Team has grown in number and have been very active in the standards -formation and documentation process. - -The net effect has been that we have had to do a lot of work to bring Samba -into line with new features and capabilities in the SMB protocols. - -The past year has been a productive one with the following releases: - 1.9.16, 1.9.16p2, 1.9.16p6, 1.9.16p9, 1.9.16p10, 1.9.16p11 - -There are some who believe that 1.9.15p8 was the best release and others -who would not want to be without the latest. Whatever your perception we -hope that 1.9.17 will close the gap and convince you all that the long -wait and the rolling changes really were worth it. Here is functionality -and a level of code maturity that ..., well - you can be the judge! - -Happy SMB networking! -Samba Team - -ps: The bugs are ours, so please report any you find. ---------------------- |