[Milhouse]

Will changes to smb.conf be preserved through updates to kodi or is it necessary to edit the file after updating?

Will your changes be preserved? Currently yes, but in future, no. The current $HOME/.smb/smb.conf file isn't technically a "kodi owned" file, it's a system file, so updating it is a problem for Kodi. However if it's possible to use a "kodi owned" file (as discussed in the PR12110) then yes the file may be updated during Kodi updates and you'll lose your modifications (though there's a possible way around that, again see PR) however we're hoping that the "client max protocol" option will be supported by Kodi in future which will mean you don't need to worry about it.

Also if you're running a Samba server on your network you might want to see the exploit of the day. Adding "nt pipe support = no" in the server smb.conf is a workaround.