Samba 4 is the ambitious next version of the Samba suite that is being
developed in parallel to the stable 3.0 series. The main emphasis in
this branch is support for the Active Directory logon protocols used
by Windows 2000 and above.

Samba 4 is currently not yet in a state where it is usable in
production environments. Note the WARNINGS below, and the STATUS file,
which aims to document what should and should not work.

With 3 years of development under our belt since Tridge first proposed
a new Virtual File System (VFS) layer for Samba3 (a project which
eventually lead to our Active Directory efforts), it was felt that we
should create something we could 'show off' to our users.  This is a
Technology Preview (TP), aimed at allowing users, managers and
developers to see how we have progressed, and to invite feedback and
support.

WARNINGS
========

Samba4 TP is currently a pre-alpha technology.  It may eat your cat, but
is far more likely to choose to munch on your password database. We
recommend against upgrading any production servers from Samba 3 to
Samba 4 at this stage.  If you are upgrading an experimental server,
you should backup all configuration and data.

We expect that format changes will require that the user database be
rebuilt from scratch a number of times before we make a final release,
losing password data each time.

Samba 4 Technology Preview includes basic Access Control List (ACL)
protection on the main user database, but due to time constraints,
none on the registry at this stage.  We also do not currently have
ACLs on the SWAT web-based management tool. This means that Samba 4
Technology Preview is not secure.

File system access should occur as the logged in user, much as Samba3
does.

Again, we strongly recommend against use in a production environment
at this stage.

NEW FEATURES
============

Samba4 supports the server-side of the Active Directory logon environment
used by Windows 2000 and later, so we can do full domain join
and domain logon operations with these clients.

Our Domain Controller (DC) implementation includes our own built-in
LDAP server and Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) as well as the
Samba3-like logon services provided over CIFS.  We correctly generate
the infamous Kerberos PAC, and include it with the Kerberos tickets we
issue.

SWAT is now integrated into Samba 4 as the user-friendly interface to
Samba server management. SWAT provides easy access to our
setup and migration tools.  Using SWAT, you can migrate windows
domains in Samba 4, allowing easy setup of initial user databases, and
upgrades from Samba 3.

The new VFS features in Samba 4 adapts the filesystem on the server to
match the Windows client semantics, allowing Samba 4 to better match
windows behaviour and application expectations.  This includes file
annotation information (in streams) and NT ACLs in particular.  The
VFS is backed with an extensive automated test suite.

A new scripting interface has been added to Samba 4, allowing
JavaScript programs to interface to Samba's internals.

The Samba 4 architecture is based around an LDAP-like database that
can use a range of modular backends.  One of the backends supports
standards compliant LDAP servers (including OpenLDAP), and we are
working on modules to map between AD-like behaviours and this backend.
We are aiming for Samba 4 to be powerful frontend to large
directories.

CHANGES
=======

Those familiar with Samba 3 can find a list of user-visible changes
since that release series in the NEWS file.

 - An optional password is no longer supported as the second argument to 
   smbclient.

 - The default location of smb.conf in non-FHS builds has changed from the 
   PREFIX/lib directory to the PREFIX/etc directory.

KNOWN ISSUES
============

- Standalone server and domain member roles are not currently
  supported.  While we have much of the infrastructure required, we
  have not collected these pieces together. 

- There is no printing support in the current release.

- SWAT can be painful with <TAB> and forms.  Just use the mouse, as
  the JavaScript layer doing this will change.

- Domain logons (using Kerberos) from windows clients incorrectly
  state that the password expires today.

RUNNING Samba4
==============

A short guide to setting up Samba 4 can be found in the howto.txt file
in root of the tarball.

DEVELOPMENT and FEEDBACK
========================
Bugs can be filed at https://bugzilla.samba.org/. Please
look at the STATUS file before filing a bug to see if a particular
is supposed to work yet.

Development and general discussion about Samba 4 happens mainly on
the #samba-technical IRC channel (on irc.freenode.net) and
the samba-technical mailing list (see http://lists.samba.org/ for
details).