--- title: Longtime Linux CIFS/SMB3 Maintainer Steps Down | daily.dev description: Steve French, the longtime maintainer of the Linux CIFS/SMB2/SMB3 code and Samba team member, has stepped down from his kernel maintainer role citing... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/longtime-linux-cifs-smb3-maintainer-steps-down-0cpxthfrl twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Longtime Linux CIFS/SMB3 Maintainer Steps Down | daily.dev og:description: Steve French, the longtime maintainer of the Linux CIFS/SMB2/SMB3 code and Samba team member, has stepped down from his kernel maintainer role citing... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/longtime-linux-cifs-smb3-maintainer-steps-down-0cpxthfrl og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/0CpXTHfRL.png og:image:alt: Longtime Linux CIFS/SMB3 Maintainer Steps Down og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Longtime Linux CIFS/SMB3 Maintainer Steps Down **[Phoronix](https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Steve French, the longtime maintainer of the Linux CIFS/SMB2/SMB3 code and Samba team member, has stepped down from his kernel maintainer role citing unspecified health reasons. French had contributed to the Linux kernel since 2002, upstreaming the CIFS VFS client, and more recently worked on the KSMBD in-kernel SMB server implementation while employed by Microsoft on Azure Storage. A merged kernel patch names Paulo Alcantara and Namjae Jeon as the new co-maintainers for CIFS/SMB3. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Who is the new maintainer of the Linux kernel CIFS/SMB3 code after Steve French stepped down? Paulo Alcantara and Namjae Jeon have become the new co-maintainers of the CIFS/SMB3 code in the Linux kernel. Steve French, who had maintained the code since 2002 and also worked on the KSMBD in-kernel SMB server, stepped down from the role due to unspecified health reasons, with the transition merged via a kernel patch. _Kernel contributors tracking maintainer changes in filesystem subsystems can follow updates like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Chris Mason Steps Down As Btrfs Co-Maintainer, Departing Meta](https://daily.dev/posts/chris-mason-steps-down-as-btrfs-co-maintainer-departing-meta-p7cunpxxw) · Phoronix · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Samba 4.25 Released With Experimental SMB3 Persistent Handles](https://daily.dev/posts/samba-4-25-released-with-experimental-smb3-persistent-handles-wdtknv3fd) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [FOSS Weekly \#26.16: Kernel 7.0, Essential Terminal Tips, France Linux Move, New Age Verification Bill and More](https://daily.dev/posts/foss-weekly-26-16-kernel-7-0-essential-terminal-tips-france-linux-move-new-age-verification-bil-mfduuvp1x) · It's Foss · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/longtime-linux-cifs-smb3-maintainer-steps-down-0cpxthfrl) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Longtime Linux CIFS/SMB3 Maintainer Steps Down","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/longtime-linux-cifs-smb3-maintainer-steps-down-0cpxthfrl","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/longtime-linux-cifs-smb3-maintainer-steps-down-0cpxthfrl"},"datePublished":"2026-08-22T15:17:34.111Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T13:41:54.769Z","description":"Steve French, the longtime maintainer of the Linux CIFS/SMB2/SMB3 code and Samba team member, has stepped down from his kernel maintainer role citing...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--2-1xRawN--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2011","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--2-1xRawN--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2011","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Phoronix","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phoronix","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/6a26ba379dd64932830aa0c9803dd7ee","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/longtime-linux-cifs-smb3-maintainer-steps-down-0cpxthfrl","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Phoronix","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Longtime Linux CIFS/SMB3 Maintainer Steps Down"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/longtime-linux-cifs-smb3-maintainer-steps-down-0cpxthfrl#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Who is the new maintainer of the Linux kernel CIFS/SMB3 code after Steve French stepped down?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Paulo Alcantara and Namjae Jeon have become the new co-maintainers of the CIFS/SMB3 code in the Linux kernel. Steve French, who had maintained the code since 2002 and also worked on the KSMBD in-kernel SMB server, stepped down from the role due to unspecified health reasons, with the transition merged via a kernel patch. Kernel contributors tracking maintainer changes in filesystem subsystems can follow updates like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```