I'm getting a strange error in the Samba logs when I restart the service:

[2005/02/01 22:16:26, 1] param/params.c:Parameter(368)
params.c:Parameter() - Ignoring badly formed line in configuration file: s is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the

(yes that's it, it doesn't tell me what I should read!)

My smb.conf looks like this:

[global]
workgroup = BSD
server string = blah File Server
dns proxy = no
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
security = user
encrypt passwords = yes
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
os level = 50
username map = /etc/samba/user.map
max log size = 50
wins support = no

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = no
read only = no

It seems to be working OK, ie I can read and write files from the windoze clients. So does anyone know what this error means and if it's important?

Does testparm produce the same error? Does your post include the smb.conf in it's entirety or just the relevant parts?
good luck.

Yes, I get the same error from testparm, and yes, that is my complete smb.conf.

One other thing, which may or may not be relevant - when testparm dumps the parameters on screen, it doesn't include the line about encrypted passwords. Is this normal? Or is this the "badly formed line" that it's ignoring?

Could you post the entire smb.conf as copied and pasted from the terminal into code tags? I ask because I had similar problem, which turned out not to be a problem at all. One line of my smb.conf actually ran into the next line, "as in the return line on a printer", and the cause was the editor and font I was using.

As luck would have it, the line in my smb.conf was fine, samba worked without problems. Testparm, however, returned an error. As described above one line "ran over, so to speak". I'm thinking this may be the same case as your problem.
good luck.

Yes that seems to be it. I retyped my smb.conf from scratch in vi and the error message has gone away! Thank you for the tip!

Glad you got it sorted.
good luck.