		NETBIOS FOR UNIX PROJECT
		========================

This is an announcement of a project to produce a free implementation
of netbios for unix. The project has been underway for about a week,
but builds on a implementation that was released almost two years ago.

The project aims to produce a set of netbios modules for unix. In
particular a file/print server, a unix client and a netbios
nameserver. These modules will operate with the many commercial
netbios client implementations that exist.

You should only really join this project if you are interested in
contributing or at least giving the developers some feedback on what
does/doesn't work for you. This isn't a "final" release.

If you are interested in this project then join the project mailing
list. To do this send some mail to netbios-request@arvidsjaur.anu.edu.au. 
This is currently serviced by a human (me) but will be automated shortly.

To send mail to everyone on the list mail to netbios@arvidsjaur.anu.edu.au. 

The current release of the software is available via anonymous ftp on
nimbus.anu.edu.au in the directory pub/tridge/server/. The current
version is 1.5.15 and is described below.


CURRENT STATUS
==============

Currently I am working on version 1.5 of the software. It now includes
both a client and server for unix, and has been confirmed to work with
the Lanmanager for DOS client (that's what I'm using). If you don't know about
Lanmanager for DOS then you can ftp the whole package from
ftp.microsoft.com in Advsys/MSclient. Please read the licensing
information in the directory before downloading.

It has also been reported to work with Windows NT, Windows for
Workgroups and Novells Lanworkplace for DOS. I would also expect it to
work with Pathworks for TCP/IP, as that was what the very first
version was written to talk to.

The server currently implements (at least partially) all the smb calls
except the "message" calls. I haven't implemented the message calls as
I don't really know what to do with them. Maybe someone will offer to
to work on a "messaging server"?

Using the lanmanager for DOS software you can mount drives and
printers, copy files, print files and generally do what you expect to
be able to do on a file/print server.

If you are using my old version (first put out nearly two years ago)
then it's probably worth grabbing the new one. The first one was
written without a spec and had LOTS of bugs. The new one supports a
lot more calls (for example printing, locking etc) and it should be
much more reliable.

The nameserver is still fairly simple, but is sufficient to keep the
various clients happy. It can recognise all the possible nameservice
packets in rfc1002, but only responds to the essential ones.

Both the client and server support changing the port number, and the
server can run as a daemon or from inetd. There are also some other
command line switches for debugging and other things.

The client is still pretty simple. It implements a `ftp' style
interface and currently supports the following commands:

get,put,cd,dir,mkdir,rmdir and del.

It certainly needs some more work on it. 

PROTOCOLS
=========

Currently the software is known to work with TCP/IP, following rfc1001
and rfc1002. One person has got it working with decnet using a
pathworks for dos client. Other protocols may be possible.

OS SUPPORT
==========

I am developing under Linux and Sunos, but it should work with at
least the following as well:

Sequent, Ultrix, AIX, BSDI and Solaris.

TRYING IT OUT
=============

If you want to try it out with your current netbios client and don't
want to have to compile it then try connecting using your favourite
netbios software to \\arvidsjaur.anu.edu.au\public. This is probably
the worlds first "anonymous smb" site :-)

You should be able to mount this service as a drive and copy the
source files using nornal copy commands. This service does not require
a password.

Some clients won't allow connections to other subnets, so they won't
be able to connect to arvidsjaur. I know lanmanager for DOS will allow
connections of this type if you define the name "arvidsjaur" in both
\lanman.dos\etc\hosts and \lanman.dos\etc\lmhosts. You also have to
add a router in the protocol.ini file so the network can see the rest
of the world. To test if you have done this right you can try to ping
arvidsjaur with the command "ping arvidsjaur". If you son't get a
response then you've got something setup wrong on the DOS machine.


TO DO
=====

Some of the things I plan to do, but would love some help with from a
few volunteers:

1) write man pages
2) VFS client implementation
3) messaging and datagram services
4) fix bugs :-)
5) completely free DOS client
6) Xenix extensions
7) anything else??

If you want to help with any of these things then mail
netbios@arvidsjaur.anu.edu.au or me and let us know!


Help make this project a success!


Andrew Tridgell
December 1993


-- 
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Andrew Tridgell (Tridge on ICS) CSLab, Research School of Physical Sciences
Andrew.Tridgell@anu.edu.au      Australian National University (x3064)
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