Samba is the standard Windows interoperability suite of programs for Linux and Unix. Samba is Free Software licensed under the GNU General Public License and the Samba project is a member of the Software Freedom Conservancy. Since 1992, Samba has provided secure, stable and fast file and print services for all clients using the SMB/CIFS protocol, such as all versions of DOS and Windows, OS/2, Linux and many others. Samba is an important component to seamlessly integrate Linux/Unix Servers and Desktops into Active Directory environments. It can function both as a domain controller or as a regular domain member.

NOTE: Installation instructions may be found for the file/print server and domain member in: docs/htmldocs/Samba3-HOWTO/install.html

For the AD DC implementation a full HOWTO is provided at: https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Samba4/HOWTO

Community guidelines can be read at: https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/How_to_do_Samba:_Nicely

This software is freely distributable under the GNU public license, a copy of which you should have received with this software (in a file called COPYING).

1. To contribute via GitLab

• fork the official Samba team repository on GitLab
  • see https://gitlab.com/samba-team/samba
• become familiar with the coding standards as described in README.Coding
• make sure you read the Samba copyright policy
  • see https://www.samba.org/samba/devel/copyright-policy.html
• create a feature branch
• make changes
• when committing, be sure to add signed-off-by tags
  • see https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/CodeReview#commit_message_tags
• send a merge request for your branch through GitLab
• this will send an email to everyone registered on GitLab
• discussion happens on the samba-technical mailing list as described below
• more info on using Git for Samba development can be found on the Samba Wiki
  • see https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Using_Git_for_Samba_Development

2. If you want to contribute to the development of the software then please join the mailing list. The Samba team accepts patches (preferably in "diff -u" format, see https://www.samba.org/samba/devel/ for more details) and are always glad to receive feedback or suggestions to the address samba@lists.samba.org. More information on the various Samba mailing lists can be found at https://lists.samba.org/.

You can also get the Samba sourcecode straight from the git repository - see https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Using_Git_for_Samba_Development.

If you like a particular feature then look through the git change-log (on the web at https://gitweb.samba.org/?p=samba.git;a=summary) and see who added it, then send them an email.

Remember that free software of this kind lives or dies by the response we get. If no one tells us they like it then we'll probably move onto something else.

There is quite a bit of documentation included with the package, including man pages, and lots of .html files with hints and useful info. This is also available from the webpage. There is a growing collection of information under docs/.

A list of Samba documentation in languages other than English is available on the webpage.

If you would like to help with the documentation, please coordinate on the samba@lists.samba.org mailing list. See the next section for details on subscribing to samba mailing lists.

Please do NOT send subscription/unsubscription requests to the lists!

There is a mailing list for discussion of Samba. For details go to https://lists.samba.org/ or send mail to samba-subscribe@lists.samba.org

There is also an announcement mailing list where new versions are announced. To subscribe go to https://lists.samba.org/ or send mail to samba-announce-subscribe@lists.samba.org. All announcements also go to the samba list, so you only need to be on one.

For details of other Samba mailing lists and for access to archives, see https://lists.samba.org/

A few tips when submitting to this or any mailing list.

1. Make your subject short and descriptive. Avoid the words "help" or "Samba" in the subject. The readers of this list already know that a) you need help, and b) you are writing about samba (of course, you may need to distinguish between Samba PDC and other file sharing software). Avoid phrases such as "what is" and "how do i". Some good subject lines might look like "Slow response with Excel files" or "Migrating from Samba PDC to NT PDC".

2. If you include the original message in your reply, trim it so that only the relevant lines, enough to establish context, are included. Chances are (since this is a mailing list) we've already read the original message.

3. Trim irrelevant headers from the original message in your reply. All we need to see is a) From, b) Date, and c) Subject. We don't even really need the Subject, if you haven't changed it. Better yet is to just preface the original message with "On [date] [someone] wrote:".

4. Please don't reply to or argue about spam, spam filters or viruses on any Samba lists. We do have a spam filtering system that is working quite well thank you very much but occasionally unwanted messages slip through. Deal with it.

5. Never say "Me too." It doesn't help anyone solve the problem. Instead, if you ARE having the same problem, give more information. Have you seen something that the other writer hasn't mentioned, which may be helpful?

6. If you ask about a problem, then come up with the solution on your own or through another source, by all means post it. Someone else may have the same problem and is waiting for an answer, but never hears of it.

7. Give as much relevant information as possible such as Samba release number, OS, kernel version, etc...

8. RTFM. Google.

A Samba website has been setup with lots of useful info. Connect to:

https://www.samba.org/

As well as general information and documentation, this also has searchable archives of the mailing list and links to other useful resources such as the wiki.