What support was added in Samba 3.0 for filenames in international character sets?

Samba 3.0 introduced support for Unicode, which allows it to handle filenames in various international character sets seamlessly. This is significant because Unicode is a universal character encoding standard that encompasses a wide array of characters from different languages and scripts, making Samba capable of correctly interpreting and processing files with names that include characters from global languages.

In the context of mixed environments where multiple operating systems and languages are used, having Unicode support ensures that file sharing and management across different systems can be done without running into issues related to character representation. This is crucial for users operating in multilingual environments, as it allows for a consistent experience regardless of the character sets involved.

While locale settings can also support internationalization efforts in some scenarios, it does not provide the same level of broad compatibility and consistency that Unicode does. Additionally, the concepts of valid characters and specific code pages, such as Code Page 850, are more limited in scope and don't address the full range of international character representation that Unicode covers.