Sams Teach Yourself Samba in 24 Hours
Hour 3: Obtaining the Latest Source
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Hour 3: Obtaining the Latest Source |
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If, for some reason, you choose not to compile the source code for yourself or are unable to on your system (say for a lack of a C compiler), now is good time to talk about availability of downloading only the binaries. In Hour 1, "Introduction to Samba," I discussed the basics of the GPL. One stipulation of the license is that the source code doesn't have to be distributed with the binaries, but it must be available on request.
The first job I ever worked as a network administrator was while working on my master's degree. I was flying by the seat of my pants and learning as I went. I had been given the responsibility of building a student-accessible PC lab. One of the things I purchased for the lab was a Sparc Ultra running Solaris 2.5.1. Imagine my surprise when I was getting ready to install software and realized that Sun didn't ship a C compiler with Solaris 2!
That said, binary distributions can be very helpful depending on what your needs are. If you do not plan to modify the compile-time defaults or don't have a particularly unique site, downloading the binaries probably saves you some time. Remember that the source is always available if you decide at a later time you need it.
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Tip - There is a mailing list specifically set up for posting notices about the Samba binary packages. The address is samba-binaries@samba.org. See http://samba.org/listproc for more information about Samba mailing lists. |
Obtaining a Samba binary release is very similar to obtaining a source code release. The first place to look is the Samba home page (http://samba.org); select the FTP or HTTP site closest to you. If you use HTTP to download the files, again follow the download link off the Samba mirror home page and look for information on downloading binary packages. If you use FTP, look for a directory named bin-pkgs or BinaryPackages and then select your operating system.
Binary packages are not available for all platforms that Samba compiles on, nor are they always available for the latest source code release. The reason is the packages are compiled and uploaded on a volunteer basis. If possible, the binaries and associated files, such as an sample smb.conf files, are archived using the tools for the native OS. For example, RedHat binaries are stored using RPM and Solaris binaries and distributed using in the pkgtool format. Discussing the details of using the package distribution tools for various operating systems is beyond the scope of this book. If you need more information on the binary distribution tool for your operating system (for example, Solaris 2.x uses pkgadd and RedHat Linux systems use rpm), please read the man pages for the installation tool most appropriate to your system.
Now that you have the current version of Samba that you want to use and the binaries are ready to go, Hour 4, "Installing and Testing the Configuration," helps you get a sample installation up and running.
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Sams Teach Yourself Samba in 24 Hours |
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Hour 3: Obtaining the Latest Source |
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