Microsoft helps develop Samba

The collaboration between Microsoft and the Samba development team has moved to a new stage. Some time ago, many considered impossible any interaction between the Samba Team and Microsoft itself. But times have changed. Samba includes a set of patches created by employees of Microsoft Open Technologies Center developed under the GPLv2 + license and aimed at improving Samba compatibility. They contain the implementation of additional security mechanisms for the NTLM authentication process. Microsoft transferred the rights to the code to the main developer overseeing the Samba project.



Chris Hertel of the Samba Team wrote a note about this:



Perhaps this happened to you ... In what a long journey on the highway, a sleepy voice from behind told you, "We just passed a signpost on which it was written that there was a historical battle." You continued driving the car, and you could have argued how this battle changed history, what efforts were made by the parties to resolve the conflict, and how things have changed now.



If you follow the Samba Technical Mailing List, you may have noticed that a patch was offered on October 10, 2011. As is often the case, several developers at some company have found an opportunity to improve the core Samba code. They were allowed to offer this patch according to the copyright rules and, complying with the requirements of the GPL, and they sent this patch to the mailing list.

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It happened all the time with Samba, and we were always glad about it. The only interesting point in this general ordinary event is that this time the company that developed and offered this patch was Microsoft.



Several years ago, the suggestion of patches from Microsoft programmers was something overwhelmingly unthinkable, but the wars were almost over and the times changed. Of course, we still disagree with some things, such as the role of software patents in the context of creating innovative software, but Microsoft is at the forefront of efforts to create a strong community and improve interaction in the SMB world.



Most people did not even attach importance to the source of this patch. This is how some moments have changed in the last 4 years.



... but some of us look at this as a new stage, and would like to separately mark this event with our attention and appreciation of both the patch itself and the changes we see.



Chris Hertel - Samba Team