UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

I've had some recent success compiling some simple programs to my home directory without root access (wget, screen, less).

My Question is this: Can I compile a complex program like Samba WITHOUT root access to my home directory? Or are the multiple library dependencies going to cause an issue? (I should be able to compile those too and create library folders in my home directory too... right?) Or just the general complexity of the program? Will I have limited functionality?

I'm trying to get our Unix server at work to be able to access the network drives we have without having root access... are there other ways to do this besides Samba?

Thanks,
GoldFish

You certainly can compile it in your home directory if you know what you are doing but you will not be able to configure and use it.

If all he needs is access to OTHER systems, he can compile smbclient and use it. But, yeah, you can't use samba server without starting it as root.

All smbclient is going to get you is ftp-like access to other CIFS shares. If you need to mount something you're going to need CIFS (or smb) filesystem support in your kernel.

HTH