All, With the belief that, "given enough eyes all bugs are shallow", I submit the following to the list. I had sent a shorter version to samba-bugs last week, but, given the nature of this problem, I think everyone needs to check this on their own systems. Overview: Pulling files from an NT 4.0 machine to a RedHat 5.0 linux box using 2.0.3 or 2.0.4b smbclient *consistently* results in randomly corrupt files, with no error message to indicate internal file corruption. We are able to recreate this problem on all manners of servers and workstations running NT 4.0, and all manner of linux boxen running kernels 2.2.4 & 2.2.9. Although this subset of servers/clients is far from global, we feel that the nature of the error is such that it demonstrates a serious problem with smbclient in these versions. We're also able to show that smbclient 1.9.18p10 does not demonstrate this flaw. Conclusion: If you use smbclient or smbtar, test your setup using the method outlined below. If you can demonstrate the same problem, use the smbclient 1.9.18p10 binary until a fix is found -- do not trust any backups of files made using smbclient/smbtar versions 2.0.* Testing methodology: A 240 MB directory consisting of 459 files and 51 sub directories, located on an NT server (nts001) was chosen for the test. This directory contains static, archived, reference files. This directory was given it's own share (smbtest). Two directories on the linux server are created (/var/smbtest1, and /var/smbtest2). The following set of commands is executed: cd /var/smbtest1 smbclient \\\\nts001\\smbtest <password> -U administrator -W NT_NET smb: \> recurse smb: \> prompt smb: \> mget * smb: \> exit cd /var/smbtest2 smbclient \\\\nts001\\smbtest <password> -U administrator -W NT_NET smb: \> recurse smb: \> prompt smb: \> mget * smb: \> exit diff -r /var/smbtest1 /var/smbtest2 In every case, using 2.0.3 and 2.0.4b, several (20 to 50) files are found to be different. The procedure would indicate that all files should be identical. Although no errors appear during the transfer process, and file sizes are identical, contents of affected files are radically different. We've been able to demonstrate this happening on directories containing as few as 23 files, 20 MB. Tests using smbclient binary from samba 1.9.18p10 indicate that the 1.9.18p10 version of smbclient does not demonstrate this flaw. Our Setups: Dual PII-450 \ Linux kernel 2.2.9, gcc 2.7.2.3, Intel NIC Dual PII-233 \ Linux kernel 2.2.9, gcc 2.7.2.3, Intel NIC Dual P-133 \ Linux kernel 2.0.36, gcc 2.7.2.3, Intel NIC P-233 \ Linux kernel 2.0.36, gcc 2.7.2.3, 3Com NIC Dual PII-233, NT 4.0 Server, SP3, Intel NIC K6-2 300, NT 4.0 Workstation, SP4, 3Com NIC Dual PPro-180, NT 4.0 Server, SP3, Intel NIC TO WHOEVER MAINTAINS SMBCLIENT: I can send anything you'd like to see, with regards to log files, etc. Contact me if you need more information -- I'm glad to help in any way that I can. Sincerely, Jim Delahanty - jimd@gie.com Sr. Systems Analyst Gulf Interstate Engineering