Re: flexfax: Hylafax future (SAMBA)

[Terry Dwyer 61 8 9491 5161 <tdwyer@io.telstra.com.au>]

I couldn't resist replying to this...

On Wed, 17 Sep 1997, Anthony Green wrote:

> > 
> > | Fortunately, Samba is fairly easy. And it's considerably more secure
> > | than the standard Microsoft based servers, based on my discussions
> > | with network security consultants. I mean, keeping people's passwords
> > | on line in a readable format is not my idea of wise....

I thoroughly agree with this paragraph.

> > 
> > Fully seconded. Those who have never used Samba will probably have some
> > hesitation looking at yet another package for the first time. But it's
> > far more simple than setting up Hylafax, for example. And it seems to
> > work out of the box for almost all Unix flavours, and provides
> > unparalleled robustness at the client end.

This paragraph is accurate.  Samba _is_ easy to setup compared to hylafax 
and an uncooperative modem.   I am not knocking hylafax in any way, just 
my modem.


> > 
> > Shuvam
> > 
> hey all,
> 
> Ive watched the discussion on the windows client / printing thing .. and
> am pretty much against using samba to achieve this ...

Anyone using unix or a unix clone with Windows machines would probably
have samba installed anyway.  I don't know about Linux, but FreeBSD users
can't mount a FreeBSD filesystem on their Win[3.11|95|NT] machines without
samba. 

> 
> Mainly becuase if you want to install HylaFAX its pretty much .. make sure
> you have gs installed plus the fonts and go for it .. pretty straight forward.

As I said before, it's likely that a large percentage of unix users with 
Win95 machines would already have samba installed.  Those who don't 
probably don't know how easy it is to install and get running.

> 
> Now while the addition of a samba server seems straight forward, its like
> adding *another* full package to the system .. ie. not a helper package.
> Adding samba and the configuration that goes along with it is like setting
> up another hylafax server ... it has its own problems, compatibility or
> otherwise and more importantly .. Hylfax would rely heavily on Samba for
> this particular functionality ... If something changes in Samba .. and breaks
> HylaFAX then there not much you can do other than change HylaFAX ...

Then write to the samba mailing list and report it as a bug.  The guys 
who develop samba are not in the business of removing features - they 
keep adding them.  They _will_ respond to a legitimate bug report.

>From the above, I'd guess you haven't had a lot to do with samba.
I'd be more inclined to think that the next release of Windows would be 
more likely to break something than samba.  Where would you be then? No 
source code - no help diagnosing the problem from Microsoft and no 
alternative method of doing the job.

> 
> While the other road of making the dll's or wotever talk to hylafax properly
> is the more difficult solution .. I think its the way to go with this type
> of problem if it is implemented with HylaFAX...

Dont rely on Microsoft's API remaining static.  Just have a look at the
changes file for Speak Freely (for Win95).  The guy who wrote that has
very little that's good to say about MS being consistent with their C
library calls. 

While I don't see it as a waste of time writing a Windows app that will 
do the whole thing, why should that preclude the development of an 
alternative method using samba.

The old saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket" seems pretty 
appropriate. 8-)

> 
> Just some food for thought .. 
> 
> -- 
> ninja@hutch.com.au
> Anthony Green
> 
> Hutchison Internet					Level 1, 40 Pacific Highway
> Technical Sales Consultant				St Leonards NSW 2065
> Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Limited	Phone: +61-2-99644888
> Telecommunications from Hutchison Whampoa Limited	Fax:   +61-2-99644848
> 
> -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
> Version: 3.1
> GCS/IT/O d? s: a-- C++$ ULSC++(++++)$ P+P L++++$>+++++ E+ W+$?>+++ N++$ !o
> K--? w--- O M+$ !V PS PE Y+ PGP !t !5 X++ !R tv b DI D+++ G+ e>++ h r y?
> ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
> 

   _-_|\    Terry Dwyer 	      E-Mail    Work: tdwyer@io.telecom.com.au
  /     \   System Administrator             Private: tdwyer@omen.com.au
  *_.^\_/   Telstra Corporation   Phone: +61 8 9491 5161  Fax: +61 8 9221 2631
       v    Perth  Western Australia   (I do not speak for Telstra or Telecom)