The Samba team at SerNet has reached the fourth milestone in the Sovereign Tech Agency-funded project: Regression tests and server adjustments for SMB3 UNIX Extensions have been successfully completed and integrated.
This milestone supports Samba’s goal to deliver local filesystem semantics over SMB – especially for Linux clients, but with future potential for broader adoption (e.g., macOS). The extended SMB3 UNIX feature set improves handling of symbolic links, file permissions, and Unix-specific metadata when accessing files over a network. This closes the gap between traditional Unix behavior and the SMB protocol, enhancing cross-platform compatibility. Extensive regression testing ensures that recent enhancements don't introduce unintended side effects.
With this milestone, Samba moves closer to providing seamless UNIX-like behavior over SMB3. All developments are available via the public Samba repositories. Learn more about the full project and all milestones: https://samba.plus/stf-project
The project and the ongoing development is made possible through funding by the Sovereign Tech Agency, which supports critical open-source infrastructure. The STA’s broader mission is to strengthen digital sovereignty, security, and resilience by enabling long-term development and maintenance of critical technologies. SerNet has secured the funding for Samba and manages the milestones.
