There are open source projects in the world that have world class responsiveness. If you have a perl question, you can post to comp.lang.perl.moderated and have an answer (several, after all, because there's more than one way to do it), within a couple hours. For Linux issues, you can post to any of a number of mailing lists or newsgroups, depending on what type of issue it is, and get an answer back lickity-split.
But the folks on the Samba mailing lists have got to be the least responsive people on the face of the planet.
I've asked, over the last several months, a number of "this isn't working, I need help" type questions on the mailing list (samba@lists.samba.org). To date, about the only time I ever get a reply is when I fat-fingered something and it's someone pointing out how dumb I am.
One of the benefits of open source, that we advocates tend to tout, is our responsiveness. We tell people "go out on the net when you have a problem, you'll have an answer in no time"...
... unless, it appears, it's with Samba.
So, given that I asked the Debian package maintainer a question yesterday, and posted that same question to the mailing list this morning, and have yet to see even a peep about it from either, I'm forced to ask myself the question I dread asking:
Is it more efficient to drop a Win2K Server box in there where the Samba server presently sits, and call it a day?
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not implying that somehow the Debian guy is "a bad person" for not replying to me, or that the Samba community owes me some obligation to help me out. I'm simply saying that the perceived benefit - a global network of people to help with support, bugfixes, etc. - is not nearly so beneficial in this particular open source project.
The sad answer is "probably". I have a side project coming up that will undoubtedly ask the same question within hours of kicking things off.
I concur that the Samba team is probably the least helpful of the bunch. I don't know why either, as it's such a prominent project.
Don't look at me. I only got the ball rolling by setting up the original news group. I've done squat with Samba since. I know in the good ol' days, the community was very responsive. I have no idea what it's like now, although from the sounds of it, I can only guess that Tridge gave up and went away.
Behold the Achillies heel of open source, finding folks out there that care.
GO FOR IT DREDD!!!!
I guess the obvious answer is.. 'you get what you pay for' :)
Indeed Kasia!
Nothing is truly *free* in life....
I believe in using technology where appropriate. If it's appropriate to use win2k, you might just be surprised how pleasant it can be.
I've yet to find anyting on xNix that rivals Active Directory... Heck, I've yet to find anything anywhere that rivals AD, but that's another story entirely.
Good luck mate, change is fun (heck, I found myself learning CFML this week...)!
Atleast I'm not the only one having problems with Samba.
Have you tried blogging the problem?
I agree with J. Zawodny. Blog the problem.
There are people who read and enjoy your weblog, like me, who have used Samba in a corporate setting for years but aren't on the Samba mailing lists. I get too much noise for my signal on the list. I am, however, more than happy to offer suggestions and detailed instructions to people, like you, who ask their questions in media I do read.
Maybe one day all these media will comingle in the Great RSS/Atom/RDF/Email/IM convergence. But for now, it's a bit fragmento.
So you're saying maybe the WindowsCIO was right after all?