Re: compile-time dependencies on external sources?
Matt,
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2001 at 09:46:30AM -0600, Steve Langasek wrote:
> Which parts of the Samba source does it use? Does it just include header
> files, or does it compile and link with code there?
> There is a module, libpam-smb, which sounds similar to your program, which
> includes a small (216k) SMB library in the smbval/ directory.
> It seems to me that if other programs are using portions of Samba's source code
> in order to compile, those portions should be made into a library. The
> 'libsmb' subdirectory in the Samba source appears to already encapsulate the
> modules that might be more broadly useful. You should file a wishlist bug
> against the samba package and discuss this possibility with the maintainer, but
> judging by Samba's bug list, it may not do any good.
> Maybe it is time for someone to write a small NetBios library capable of
> supplying shared libraries, and meeting the demands of programs like yours.
The key portions of Samba that pam_smbpass uses (yes, it does link against
Samba code) are the pieces responsible for managing the smbpasswd file
(passdb/ subdir) and for loading options from the smb.conf file (params/
subdir). There are also some encryption routines from libsmb/ that get used.
Of course, by way of dependencies, this code also sucks in nearly all of the
files in lib/ and ubiqx/, as well as the winbind client code (nsswitch/) and
the tdb code.
I would love to be able to build this module using only public Samba APIs, but
as you can see, that's not likely to happen in the near future. :) (And I
haven't even mentioned the monolithic include files Samba currently uses
internally... sigh. :) Richard Sharpe is currently working an a libsmbclient,
which will take the Samba source tree a step in the right direction, but
pam_smbpass isn't even an SMB client -- the APIs it needs access to are those
for getting at config files on the local server.
So compiling against public APIs is not currently possible; keeping local
copies of necessary source files is rather unmaintainable (been there, tried
that); and dynamically pulling in the Samba source code, while it allows for
some clever build processes, leaves something of a bad taste in my mouth. I'm
investigating the fourth option of getting pam_smbpass included in the
(upstream) Samba distro, but in the meantime I'd like to get pam_smbpass
packaged if possible.
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer
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