system-config-samba in opensuse 11.4?

Hello all, im new to opensuse (i come from ubuntu and fedora).
Im wondering if theres a way to use the standard “Samba configuration tool” (package system-config-samba) instead of the yast one in opensuse 11.4?

Im used to working with system-config-samba, and tbh, i find the yast one doesnt fit my needs.
Yet if i do a search for it on the yast add remove programs, search comes back empty.

Is this package availabe for opensuse 11.4? anyone use it? if so, can you please tell me where can i get it?
thanks!

Hello all, im new to opensuse (i come from ubuntu and fedora).
Im wondering if theres a way to use the standard “Samba configuration tool” (package system-config-samba) instead of the yast one in opensuse 11.4?

Im used to working with system-config-samba, and tbh, i find the yast one doesnt fit my needs.
Yet if i do a search for it on the yast add remove programs, search comes back empty.

Is this package availabe for opensuse 11.4? anyone use it? if so, can you please tell me where can i get it?
thanks!
I would say no to using system-config-samba unless you could compile the source code into openSUSE. I actually use samba SWAT myself which I like better than YaST, but it is some trouble to setup. First, you need to fix an issue with nmb and openSUSE 11.4 if you have not already done so. Here is a link on the subject:

Samba set up : nmb is not starting

Here is a good resource on using Samba here:

openSUSE SuSE Linux HOWTOs and Tutorials by Swerdna

To use SWAT, you need to go into YaST, search on Samba, then install the samba-doc file if not installed.

YaST / Software / Software Management and search on samba and install samba-doc

Next, you need to edit three text files as root in the folder /etc/xinetd.d and edit them as so:

/etc/xinetd.d/servers

# default: off
# description: An internal xinetd service, listing active servers.

service servers
{
    type        = INTERNAL UNLISTED
    port        = 9099
    socket_type    = stream
    protocol    = tcp
    wait        = no
    disable        = no
#    only_from    = 127.0.0.1
    FLAGS        = IPv6 IPv4

/etc/xinetd.d/services

# default: off
# description: An internal xinetd service, listing active services.

service services
{
    type        = INTERNAL UNLISTED
    port        = 9098
    socket_type    = stream
    protocol    = tcp
    wait        = no
    disable        = no
#    only_from    = 127.0.0.1
    FLAGS        = IPv6 IPv4
}              

/etc/xinetd.d/swat

# SWAT is the Samba Web Administration Tool.
service swat
{
    socket_type     =  stream
    protocol        =  tcp
    wait            =  no
    user            =  root
    server          =  /usr/sbin/swat
#    only_from       =  127.0.0.1
    log_on_failure  += USERID
    disable         =  no
}

Once this task is complete, you need to start some services. Goto …

YaST / System / System Service (Runlevel) / Select Expert Mode Bullet at Top Then Highlight each of the following services with your mouse, select the Set/Reset button on the button right and pick Enable Service. Then, select the Start/Stop/Refresh button on the bottom left and pick Start Now…

xinetd
smb
nmb

Then Slect OK on the bottom right again to finish this task. Finally, to start/use SWAT, open up Firefox and enter the URL of:

http://localhost:901

Once you start it up, you must enter the root user name and password to configure Samba using SWAT. Give it a try and let me know what you think of it.

Thank You,

Thank your for your help :slight_smile:
You know, i have used swat in the past, i find it to be the best tool for configuring samba, if youre running a “dedicated” network samba server. However for my needs its an “overkill”, i only want to share a couple of directories on my netbook, one in public R/W passwordless access, and a RO one with optional RW access to certain users, and set security = share. This is the reason i wanted to use system-config-swat.
But since its not available in opensuse, i think ill just manually edit the smb.conf file im comfortable doing it (at a basic level), and i only need to do it once.

About the problem with nmb not starting, for what i read in the link you provide, the problem is caused by AppArmor, right? Im planning to disable AppArmor completely once i install opensuse. IMHO Those extra-security packages like AppArmor and SELinux are great if youre running a network server, but for my needs, i find they allways give me more problems than they help me. I think that my fully encrypted (LVM) drive setup, properly configured firewall, and strong passwords, are enough security for my setup.
So considering i wont use swat, and that ill disable AppArmor, the only things i need to do are—
1.- make shure samba is installed
2.- configure samba itself, (edit my smb.conf file, add samba users, create shared folders and set permissions, etc.)
3.- make shure the services are started automatically. Like you tell me (YaST / System / System Service (Runlevel)
Is this correct?

Thank your for your help :slight_smile:
You know, i have used swat in the past, i find it to be the best tool for configuring samba, if youre running a “dedicated” network samba server. However for my needs its an “overkill”, i only want to share a couple of directories on my netbook, one in public R/W passwordless access, and a RO one with optional RW access to certain users, and set security = share. This is the reason i wanted to use system-config-swat.
But since its not available in opensuse, i think ill just manually edit the smb.conf file im comfortable doing it (at a basic level), and i only need to do it once.

About the problem with nmb not starting, for what i read in the link you provide, the problem is caused by AppArmor, right? Im planning to disable AppArmor completely once i install opensuse. IMHO Those extra-security packages like AppArmor and SELinux are great if youre running a network server, but for my needs, i find they allways give me more problems than they help me. I think that my fully encrypted (LVM) drive setup, properly configured firewall, and strong passwords, are enough security for my setup.
So considering i wont use swat, and that ill disable AppArmor, the only things i need to do are—
1.- make shure samba is installed
2.- configure samba itself, (edit my smb.conf file, add samba users, create shared folders and set permissions, etc.)
3.- make shure the services are started automatically. Like you tell me (YaST / System / System Service (Runlevel)
Is this correct?
No (as far as nmb goes), I think you need to follow the procedure spelled out in the link for nmb. It is some kind of regression with the kernel version 2.6.37 which can also be fixed by upgrading to kernel 2.6.38 or 2.6.39 I have found. As for a manual edit of smb.conf go fo it, but really, using SWAT is not over kill in my opinion.

Thank You,

Thanks again for your help :slight_smile:
If youd see the smb.conf file on my other (debian 6) box, and how simple it is, youd see why i think swat is an overkill :slight_smile:

As for the nmb problem, i understand this happens in previous kernel versions only? if so, once i run software upgrade and it installs the latest .desktop kernel (i dont use “standard” i use desktop), i wont have this problem?

As a side note, i am so puzzled about if i should install opensuse or debian on my other netbook. Been using debian on another netbook for a few days, and the thing i like about it is that the number of bugs/hangs/errors it has given me so far is: ZERO. Its the most stable and trouble free distro ibe ever used.
The cons of debian (as i see it) is that its a bit too “raw”, it has very little tools to help you configure it, and its (not hard but) “elavorated” to install software like firefox4, thunderbird, etc.
i tried opensuse briefly, i liked it, but the main thing i did not like, is that for some reason the fonts look TERRIBLE on my netbook, sometimes you cant every read what the dialogs / windows say.

About ubuntu and fedora… well, i have given up on those for good. ubuntu is goin in a way i ABSOLUTELY do not like (the unity way) plus it has was too many bugs. And fedora, im tired of bein RedHat´s “crash test dummy”.

Thanks again for your help :slight_smile:
If youd see the smb.conf file on my other (debian 6) box, and how simple it is, youd see why i think swat is an overkill :slight_smile:

As for the nmb problem, i understand this happens in previous kernel versions only? if so, once i run software upgrade and it installs the latest .desktop kernel (i dont use “standard” i use desktop), i wont have this problem?

As a side note, i am so puzzled about if i should install opensuse or debian on my other netbook. Been using debian on another netbook for a few days, and the thing i like about it is that the number of bugs/hangs/errors it has given me so far is: ZERO. Its the most stable and trouble free distro ibe ever used.
The cons of debian (as i see it) is that its a bit too “raw”, it has very little tools to help you configure it, and its (not hard but) “elavorated” to install software like firefox4, thunderbird, etc.
i tried opensuse briefly, i liked it, but the main thing i did not like, is that for some reason the fonts look TERRIBLE on my netbook, sometimes you cant every read what the dialogs / windows say.

About ubuntu and fedora… well, i have given up on those for good. ubuntu is goin in a way i ABSOLUTELY do not like (the unity way) plus it has was too many bugs. And fedora, im tired of bein RedHat´s “crash test dummy”.
I think that all kernel versions 2.6.37 will have the nmb bug and must be fixed with the procedure I linked you to or you need to update the kernel to 2.6.38 or 39 (which I am using). As for what Linux you should use, well that is up to you. You really should use the version you know the most about and feel the most comfortable with. There could be many reasons to use a certain Linux Distro, but if the choice is solely up to you, then pick the one that best serves you. For me, that choice was openSUSE, but it is not so for everyone. Do consider the help you have gotten here as I think it can be pretty good. But in the end, the choice is back up to you…

Thank You,

ErnestoRD wrote:

> As a side note, i am so puzzled about if i should install opensuse or
> debian on my other netbook. Been using debian on another netbook for a
> few days, and the thing i like about it is that the number of
> bugs/hangs/errors it has given me so far is: ZERO. Its the most stable
> and trouble free distro ibe ever used.
If you like it just go for debian at the end whatever linux distribution you
use it has to satisfy you and not anyone else.

> The cons of debian (as i see it) is that its a bit too “raw”, it has
> very little tools to help you configure it, and its (not hard but)
Install webmin (http://www.webmin.com/) on debian and use that for
administration, it makes life easier even if you only use it for local
administration.

> “elavorated” to install software like firefox4, thunderbird, etc.
> i tried opensuse briefly, i liked it, but the main thing i did not
> like, is that for some reason the fonts look TERRIBLE on my netbook,
> sometimes you cant every read what the dialogs / windows say.
The font appearance in openSUSE can easily be changed by the packages from a
community repository which has cairo and fontconfig packages with improved
subpixel hinting (I use it myself and it improved the look of the fonts for
me on my 12’ machine, your mileage may very, just try it)
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/muzlocker/openSUSE_11.4/
this can be done with a few mouse clicks.
But it is maybe even better if you open a new thread with an appropriate
title to get additional feedback from other users about your font problem.


PC: oS 11.3 64 bit | Intel Core2 Quad Q8300@2.50GHz | KDE 4.6.3 | GeForce
9600 GT | 4GB Ram
Eee PC 1201n: oS 11.4 64 bit | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | KDE 4.6.3 | nVidia
ION | 3GB Ram

I only gave opensuse a very short try (due to the bad font rendering issue i mentioned), so i cant really say that i would like it more (or less) over debian. (i CAN certainly say i like suse a lot better than fedora or ubuntu hehe).
But now that i know that the bad font problem is someting that can be fixed (i tought it was some incompatibility with my netbook hardaware or something), im gonna give opensuse a long try.
I allready have the latest 11.4 DVD, and ill get installing it right away. So expect me buggin you with my questions some more :slight_smile:

I really appreciate your help guys, ill be seing you arround.

The font rendering issue can be fixed easily by installing freetype2 with subpixel hinting enabled and cairo to respect fontconfig settings. In addition, I recommend to copy those fontconfig .conf files from your Debian box, which refers to subpixel hinting style, hinting, and rgb conf ( hinting.conf, subpixel-hinting-{slight,full}.conf, etc - I’m @ work and I don’t remember all the file names right now ).
Or you can install all these from my home project repo. I have there patched freetype2, fontconfig and cairo packages, I made them for myself, so I don’t want to advertise here myself, but anyone can grab them and use them. With that packages, U will get subpixel font rendering and full hinting and beautiful fonts.
Be aware, do NOT install metacity from that repo, I applied some Ubuntu patches to is, and I think it is buggy, but no time to investigate.
Also I recommend to select dejavu or droid fonts, as sans and serif fonts, instead of the default openSUSE settings.
I use both openSUSE and Xubuntu, but I think that the openSUSE fonts, set up as I described here, are a bit nicer than the Ubuntu ones. I use droid on both desktops.

fontconfig and cairo from:
Index of /repositories/home:/inp3dance:/11.4/openSUSE_11.4
patched freetype from:
Index of /repositories/home:/inp3dance:/11.4:/subpixel-font-rendering/openSUSE_11.4

You can add additional repositories from Yast->repositories, it is quite intuitive, or with zypper, which is easy too, if you read the help (zypper help, zypper help ar)

Hi again guys, i am now the happy owner of an openSuse 11.4 netbook :slight_smile:

Did my installation using full disk encryption with LVM (minus the 250mb ext4 boot partition of course), selected gnome as my desktop (i dont like KDE), added extra repos (pacman, contrib, etc), downloaded and configured the driver for my Broadcom 4312 WLAN card (works like a charm), and started my initial tweaking. Everything going great so far.

About the problem with nmb not starting, i disabled AppArmor completely (for the reasons i mentioned earlier), and after configuring samba (i ran the yast samba tool, opened the service ports in the firewall, and then manually edited smb.conf and used smbpasswd to add users). i did a few restarts and tests, i have not experienced the nmb not starting problem at all. Maybe it was AppArmor blocking it? time and time again i reboot my pc, check the status of nmb and smb and there both running. And the other pcs in my LAN have no problem seeing this one or accessing its shares, so i dont seem to have the nmb not starting problem at all. :slight_smile:

About the font issue, thank you for your help guys, here are a couple of screenshots i took to try to ilustrate the problem (text is in spanish, but youll have no trouble seeing what i mean)…

The red circles i added is where the problem is more obvious, you can see some text being “cut off” and some letters not appearing

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/3674/badfonts2.th.jpg](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/638/badfonts2.jpg/)

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8309/badfont1.th.jpg](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/197/badfont1.jpg/)

The solution you gave me about cairo and fontconfig, are those packages i need to install? do i need to add aditional repositories to do it? and after i install them what next?
I would appreciate if you could elavorate a little more on this.

Thanks again for all your help

ErnestoRD wrote:
>
> The solution you gave me about cairo and fontconfig, are those packages
> i need to install? do i need to add aditional repositories to do it? and
> after i install them what next?
> I would appreciate if you could elavorate a little more on this.
>
> Thanks again for all your help
>
This is what I did and so far I am satisfied
http://everydaylht.com/howtos/desktop/font-hinting-on-opensuse-11-4/

inp3dance may have a slightly different way, so you should try both and see
what you like more.


PC: oS 11.3 64 bit | Intel Core2 Quad Q8300@2.50GHz | KDE 4.6.3 | GeForce
9600 GT | 4GB Ram
Eee PC 1201n: oS 11.4 64 bit | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | KDE 4.6.3 | nVidia
ION | 3GB Ram

Thank you!, ill get right on it.