Chapter 19. CUPS Printing Support in Samba 3.0

+ The Common Unix Print System (CUPS) has become very popular. All + big Linux distributions now ship it as their default printing + system. But to many it is still a very mystical tool. Normally it + "just works" (TM). People tend to regard it as a sort of "black box", + which they don't want to look into, as long as it works OK. But once + there is a little problem, they are in trouble to find out where to + start debugging it. Also, even the most recent and otherwise excellent + printed Samba documentation has only limited attention paid to CUPS + printing, leaving out important pieces or even writing plain wrong + things about it. This demands rectification. But before you dive into + this chapter, make sure that you don't forget to refer to the + "Classical Printing" chapter also. It contains a lot of information + that is relevant for CUPS too. +

+ CUPS sports quite a few unique and powerful features. While their + basic functions may be grasped quite easily, they are also + new. Because they are different from other, more traditional printing + systems, it is best to try and not apply any prior knowledge about + printing upon this new system. Rather try to start understand CUPS + from the beginning. This documentation will lead you here to a + complete understanding of CUPS, if you study all of the material + contained. But lets start with the most basic things first. Maybe this + is all you need for now. Then you can skip most of the other + paragraphs. +

Overview

+ CUPS is more than just a print spooling system. It is a complete + printer management system that complies with the new IPP + (Internet Printing Protocol). IPP is an industry + and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) + standard for network printing. Many of its functions can be managed + remotely (or locally) via a web browser (giving you a + platform-independent access to the CUPS print server). In addition it + has the traditional commandline and several more modern GUI interfaces + (GUI interfaces developed by 3rd parties, like KDE's + overwhelming KDEPrint). +

+ CUPS allows creation of "raw" printers (ie: NO print file + format translation) as well as "smart" printers (i.e. CUPS does + file format conversion as required for the printer). In many ways + this gives CUPS similar capabilities to the MS Windows print + monitoring system. Of course, if you are a CUPS advocate, you would + argue that CUPS is better! In any case, let us now move on to + explore how one may configure CUPS for interfacing with MS Windows + print clients via Samba. +

Basic Configuration of CUPS support

+ Printing with CUPS in the most basic smb.conf + setup in Samba 3.0 (as was true for 2.2.x) only needs two + settings: printing = cups and printcap + = cups. CUPS itself doesn't need a printcap file + anymore. However, the cupsd.conf configuration + file knows two related directives: they control if such a file should + be automatically created and maintained by CUPS for the convenience of + third party applications (example: Printcap + /etc/printcap and PrintcapFormat + BSD). These legacy programs often require the existence of + printcap file containing printernames or they will refuse to + print. Make sure CUPS is set to generate and maintain a printcap! For + details see man cupsd.conf and other CUPS-related + documentation, like the wealth of documents on your CUPS server + itself: http://localhost:631/documentation.html. +

Linking of smbd with `libcups.so`

+ Samba has a very special relationship to CUPS. The reason is: Samba + can be compiled with CUPS library support. Most recent installations + have this support enabled, and per default CUPS linking is compiled + into smbd and other Samba binaries. Of course, you can use CUPS even + if Samba is not linked against libcups.so -- but + there are some differences in required or supported configuration + then. +

+ If SAMBA is compiled against libcups, then printcap = + cups uses the CUPS API to list printers, submit jobs, + query queues, etc. Otherwise it maps to the System V commands with an + additional -oraw option for printing. On a Linux + system, you can use the ldd utility to find out + details (ldd may not be present on other OS platforms, or its function + may be embodied by a different command): +

+				transmeta:/home/kurt # ldd `which smbd`
+				libssl.so.0.9.6 => /usr/lib/libssl.so.0.9.6 (0x4002d000)
+				libcrypto.so.0.9.6 => /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.6 (0x4005a000)
+				libcups.so.2 => /usr/lib/libcups.so.2 (0x40123000)
+				[....]
+

+ The line libcups.so.2 => /usr/lib/libcups.so.2 + (0x40123000) shows there is CUPS support compiled + into this version of Samba. If this is the case, and printing = cups + is set, then any otherwise manually set print command in + smb.conf is ignored. This is an + important point to remember! +

Tip

Should you require -- for any reason -- to set your own + print commands, you can still do this by setting printing = + sysv. However, you'll loose all the benefits from the + close CUPS/Samba integration. You are on your own then to manually + configure the rest of the printing system commands (most important: + print command; other commands are + lppause command, lpresume command, lpq command, lprm + command, queuepause command and queue resume + command).

Simple `smb.conf` Settings for CUPS

+ To summarize, here is the simplest printing-related setup + forsmb.conf to enable basic CUPS support: +

+
+				[global]
+				load printers = yes
+				printing = cups
+				printcap name = cups
+
+				[printers]
+				comment = All Printers
+				path = /var/spool/samba
+				browseable = no
+				public = yes
+				guest ok = yes
+				writable = no
+				printable = yes
+				printer admin = root, @ntadmins
+
+

+ This is all you need for basic printing setup for CUPS. It will print + all Graphic, Text, PDF and PostScript file submitted from Windows + clients. However, most of your Windows users would not know how to + send these kind of files to print without opening a GUI + application. Windows clients tend to have local printer drivers + installed. And the GUI application's print buttons start a printer + driver. Your users also very rarely send files from the command + line. Unlike UNIX clients, they hardly submit graphic, text or PDF + formatted files directly to the spooler. They nearly exclusively print + from GUI applications, with a "printer driver" hooked in between the + applications native format and the print data stream. If the backend + printer is not a PostScript device, the print data stream is "binary", + sensible only for the target printer. Read on to learn which problem + this may cause and how to avoid it. +

More complex `smb.conf` Settings for +CUPS

+Here is a slightly more complex printing-related setup +forsmb.conf. It enables general CUPS printing +support for all printers, but defines one printer share which is set +up differently. +

+
+ [global]
+         printing = cups
+         printcap name = cups
+         load printers = yes
+
+ [printers]
+         comment = All Printers
+         path = /var/spool/samba
+         public = yes
+         guest ok = yes
+         writable = no
+         printable = yes
+         printer admin = root, @ntadmins
+ 
+ [special_printer]
+         comment = A special printer with his own settings
+         path = /var/spool/samba-special
+         printing = sysv
+         printcap = lpstat
+         print command = echo "NEW: `date`: printfile %f" >> /tmp/smbprn.log ;\
+                         echo "     `date`: p-%p s-%s f-%f" >> /tmp/smbprn.log ;\
+                         echo "     `date`: j-%j J-%J z-%z c-%c" >> /tmp/smbprn.log :\
+                         rm %f
+         public = no
+         guest ok = no
+         writeable = no
+         printable = yes
+         printer admin = kurt
+         hosts deny = 0.0.0.0
+         hosts allow = turbo_xp, 10.160.50.23, 10.160.51.60
+
+

+This special share is only there for my testing purposes. It doesn't +even write the printjob to a file. It just logs the job parameters +known to Samba into the /tmp/smbprn.log file and +deletes the jobfile. Moreover, the printer +admin of this share is "kurt" (not the "@ntadmins" group); +guest access is not allowed; the share isn't announced in Network +Neighbourhood (so you need to know it is there), and it is only +allowing access from three hosts. To prevent CUPS kicking in and +taking over the print jobs for that share, we need to set +printing = sysv and printcap = +lpstat. +

Advanced Configuration

+Before we dive into all the configuration options, let's clarify a few +points. Network printing needs to be organized and setup +correctly. Often this is not done correctly. Legacy systems +or small LANs in business environments often lack a clear design and +good housekeeping. +

Central spooling vs. "Peer-to-Peer" printing

+Many small office or home networks, as well as badly organized larger +environments, allow each client a direct access to available network +printers. Generally, this is a bad idea. It often blocks one client's +access to the printer when another client's job is printing. It also +might freeze the first client's application while it is waiting to get +rid of the job. Also, there are frequent complaints about various jobs +being printed with their pages mixed with each other. A better concept +is the usage of a "print server": it routes all jobs through one +central system, which responds immediately, takes jobs from multiple +concurrent clients at the same time and in turn transfers them to the +printer(s) in the correct order. +

CUPS/Samba as a "spooling-only" Print Server; "raw" printing +with Vendor Drivers on Windows Clients

+Most traditionally configured Unix print servers acting on behalf of +Samba's Windows clients represented a really simple setup. Their only +task was to manage the "raw" spooling of all jobs handed to them by +Samba. This approach meant that the Windows clients were expected to +prepare the printjob file in such a way that it became fit to be fed to +the printing device. Here a native (vendor-supplied) Windows printer +driver for the target device needed to be installed on each and every +client. +

+Of course you can setup CUPS, Samba and your Windows clients in the +same, traditional and simple way. When CUPS printers are configured +for RAW print-through mode operation it is the responsibility of the +Samba client to fully render the print job (file). The file must be +sent in a format that is suitable for direct delivery to the +printer. Clients need to run the vendor-provided drivers to do +this. In this case CUPS will NOT do any print file format conversion +work. +

Driver Installation Methods on Windows Clients

+The printer drivers on the Windows clients may be installed +in two functionally different ways: +

manually install the drivers locally on each client, +one by one; this yields the old LanMan style +printing; it uses a \\sambaserver\printershare +type of connection.
deposit and prepare the drivers (for later download) on +the print server (Samba); this enables the clients to use +"Point'n'Print" to get drivers semi-automatically installed the +first time they access the printer; with this method NT/2K/XP +clients use the SPOOLSS/MS-RPC +type printing calls.

+The second method is recommended for use over the first. +

Explicitly enable "raw" printing for +application/octet-stream!

+If you use the first option (drivers are installed on the client +side), there is one setting to take care of: CUPS needs to be told +that it should allow "raw" printing of deliberate (binary) file +formats. The CUPS files that need to be correctly set for RAW mode +printers to work are: +

/etc/cups/mime.types +
/etc/cups/mime.convs

+Both contain entries (at the end of the respective files) which must +be uncommented to allow RAW mode operation. +In/etc/cups/mime.types make sure this line is +present: +

+
+ application/octet-stream
+
+

+In /etc/cups/mime.convs, +have this line: +

+
+ application/octet-stream   application/vnd.cups-raw   0   - 
+
+

+If these two files are not set up correctly for raw Windows client +printing, you may encounter the dreaded Unable to +convert file 0 in your CUPS error_log file. +

Note

editing the mime.convs and the +mime.types file does not +enforce "raw" printing, it only +allows it. +

Background. +CUPS being a more security-aware printing system than traditional ones +does not by default allow a user to send deliberate (possibly binary) +data to printing devices. This could be easily abused to launch a +"Denial of Service" attack on your printer(s), causing at the least +the loss of a lot of paper and ink. "Unknown" data are tagged by CUPS +as MIME type: application/octet-stream and not +allowed to go to the printer. By default, you can only send other +(known) MIME types "raw". Sending data "raw" means that CUPS does not +try to convert them and passes them to the printer untouched (see next +chapter for even more background explanations). +

+This is all you need to know to get the CUPS/Samba combo printing +"raw" files prepared by Windows clients, which have vendor drivers +locally installed. If you are not interested in background information about +more advanced CUPS/Samba printing, simply skip the remaining sections +of this chapter. +

Three familiar Methods for driver upload plus a new one

+If you want to use the MS-RPC type printing, you must upload the +drivers onto the Samba server first ([print$] +share). For a discussion on how to deposit printer drivers on the +Samba host (so that the Windows clients can download and use them via +"Point'n'Print") please also refer to the previous chapter of this +HOWTO Collection. There you will find a description or reference to +three methods of preparing the client drivers on the Samba server: +

the GUI, "Add Printer Wizard" +upload-from-a-Windows-client +method;
the commandline, "smbclient/rpcclient" +upload-from-a-UNIX-workstation +method;
the Imprints Toolset +method.

+These 3 methods apply to CUPS all the same. A new and more +convenient way to load the Windows drivers into Samba is provided +provided if you use CUPS: +

the cupsaddsmb +utility.

+cupsaddsmb is discussed in much detail further below. But we will +first explore the CUPS filtering system and compare the Windows and +UNIX printing architectures. +

Using CUPS/Samba in an advanced Way -- intelligent printing +with PostScript Driver Download

+Still reading on? Good. Let's go into more detail then. We now know +how to set up a "dump" printserver, that is, a server which is spooling +printjobs "raw", leaving the print data untouched. +

+Possibly you need to setup CUPS in a more smart way. The reasons could +be manifold: +

Maybe your boss wants to get monthly statistics: Which +printer did how many pages? What was the average data size of a job? +What was the average print run per day? What are the typical hourly +peaks in printing? Which departments prints how +much?
Maybe you are asked to setup a print quota system: +users should not be able to print more jobs, once they have surpassed +a given limit per period?
Maybe your previous network printing setup is a mess +and shall be re-organized from a clean beginning?
Maybe you have experiencing too many "Blue Screens", +originating from poorly debugged printer drivers running in NT "kernel +mode"?

+These goals cannot be achieved by a raw print server. To build a +server meeting these requirements, you'll first need to learn about +how CUPS works and how you can enable its features. +

+What follows is the comparison of some fundamental concepts for +Windows and Unix printing; then is the time for a description of the +CUPS filtering system, how it works and how you can tweak it. +

GDI on Windows -- PostScript on Unix

+Network printing is one of the most complicated and error-prone +day-to-day tasks any user or an administrator may encounter. This is +true for all OS platforms. And there are reasons for this. +

+You can't expect for most file formats to just throw them towards +printers and they get printed. There needs to be a file format +conversion in between. The problem is: there is no common standard for +print file formats across all manufacturers and printer types. While +PostScript (trademark held by Adobe), and to an +extendPCL (trademark held by HP), have developed +into semi-official "standards", by being the most widely used PDLs +(Page Description Languages), there are still +many manufacturers who "roll their own" (their reasons may be +unacceptable license fees for using printer-embedded PostScript +interpreters, etc.). +

Windows Drivers, GDI and EMF

+In Windows OS, the format conversion job is done by the printer +drivers. On MS Windows OS platforms all application programmers have +at their disposal a built-in API, the GDI (Graphical Device +Interface), as part and parcel of the OS itself, to base +themselves on. This GDI core is used as one common unified ground, for +all Windows programs, to draw pictures, fonts and documents +on screen as well as on +paper (=print). Therefore printer driver developers can +standardize on a well-defined GDI output for their own driver +input. Achieving WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") is +relatively easy, because the on-screen graphic primitives, as well as +the on-paper drawn objects, come from one common source. This source, +the GDI, produces often a file format called EMF (Enhanced +MetaFile). The EMF is processed by the printer driver and +converted to the printer-specific file format. +

Note

+To the GDI foundation in MS Windows, Apple has chosen to +put paper and screen output on a common foundation for their +(BSD-Unix-based, did you know??) Mac OS X and Darwin Operating +Systems.Their Core Graphic Engine uses a +PDF derivate for all display work. +

+ +

Figure 19.1. Windows Printing to a local Printer

Unix Printfile Conversion and GUI Basics

+In Unix and Linux, there is no comparable layer built into the OS +kernel(s) or the X (screen display) server. Every application is +responsible for itself to create its print output. Fortunately, most +use PostScript. That gives at least some common ground. Unfortunately, +there are many different levels of quality for this PostScript. And +worse: there is a huge difference (and no common root) in the way how +the same document is displayed on screen and how it is presented on +paper. WYSIWYG is more difficult to achieve. This goes back to the +time decades ago, when the predecessors of X.org, +designing the UNIX foundations and protocols for Graphical User +Interfaces refused to take over responsibility for "paper output" +also, as some had demanded at the time, and restricted itself to +"on-screen only". (For some years now, the "Xprint" project has been +under development, attempting to build printing support into the X +framework, including a PostScript and a PCL driver, but it is not yet +ready for prime time.) You can see this unfavorable inheritance up to +the present day by looking into the various "font" directories on your +system; there are separate ones for fonts used for X display and fonts +to be used on paper. +

Background. +The PostScript programming language is an "invention" by Adobe Inc., +but its specifications have been published to the full. Its strength +lies in its powerful abilities to describe graphical objects (fonts, +shapes, patterns, lines, curves, dots...), their attributes (color, +linewidth...) and the way to manipulate (scale, distort, rotate, +shift...) them. Because of its open specification, anybody with the +skill can start writing his own implementation of a PostScript +interpreter and use it to display PostScript files on screen or on +paper. Most graphical output devices are based on the concept of +"raster images" or "pixels" (one notable exception are pen +plotters). Of course, you can look at a PostScript file in its textual +form and you will be reading its PostScript code, the language +instructions which need to be interpreted by a rasterizer. Rasterizers +produce pixel images, which may be displayed on screen by a viewer +program or on paper by a printer. +

PostScript and Ghostscript

+So, Unix is lacking a common ground for printing on paper and +displaying on screen. Despite this unfavorable legacy for Unix, basic +printing is fairly easy: if you have PostScript printers at your +disposal! The reason is: these devices have a built-in PostScript +language "interpreter", also called a Raster Image +Processor (RIP), (which makes them more expensive than +other types of printers); throw PostScript towards them, and they will +spit out your printed pages. Their RIP is doing all the hard work of +converting the PostScript drawing commands into a bitmap picture as +you see it on paper, in a resolution as done by your printer. This is +no different to PostScript printing of a file from a Windows origin. +

Note

Traditional Unix programs and printing systems -- while +using PostScript -- are largely not PPD-aware. PPDs are "PostScript +Printer Description" files. They enable you to specify and control all +options a printer supports: duplexing, stapling, punching... Therefore +Unix users for a long time couldn't choose many of the supported +device and job options, unlike Windows or Apple users. But now there +is CUPS.... ;-) +

Figure 19.2. Printing to a Postscript Printer

+However, there are other types of printers out there. These don't know +how to print PostScript. They use their own Page Description +Language (PDL, often proprietary). To print to them is much +more demanding. Since your Unix applications mostly produce +PostScript, and since these devices don't understand PostScript, you +need to convert the printfiles to a format suitable for your printer +on the host, before you can send it away. +

Ghostscript -- the Software RIP for non-PostScript Printers

+Here is whereGhostscript kicks in. Ghostscript is +the traditional (and quite powerful) PostScript interpreter used on +Unix platforms. It is a RIP in software, capable to do a +lot of file format conversions, for a very broad +spectrum of hardware devices as well as software file formats. +Ghostscript technology and drivers is what enables PostScript printing +to non-PostScript hardware. +

Figure 19.3. Ghostscript as a RIP for non-postscript printers

Tip

+Use the "gs -h" command to check for all built-in "devices" of your +Ghostscript version. If you specify e.g. a parameter of +-sDEVICE=png256 on your Ghostscript command +line, you are asking Ghostscript to convert the input into a PNG +file. Naming a "device" on the commandline is the most important +single parameter to tell Ghostscript how exactly it should render the +input. New Ghostscript versions are released at fairly regular +intervals, now by artofcode LLC. They are initially put under the +"AFPL" license, but re-released under the GNU GPL as soon as the next +AFPL version appears. GNU Ghostscript is probably the version +installed on most Samba systems. But it has got some +deficiencies. Therefore ESP Ghostscript was developed as an +enhancement over GNU Ghostscript, with lots of bug-fixes, additional +devices and improvements. It is jointly maintained by developers from +CUPS, Gimp-Print, MandrakeSoft, SuSE, RedHat and Debian. It includes +the "cups" device (essential to print to non-PS printers from CUPS). +

PostScript Printer Description (PPD) Specification

+While PostScript in essence is a Page Description +Language (PDL) to represent the page layout in a +device independent way, real world print jobs are +always ending up to be output on a hardware with device-specific +features. To take care of all the differences in hardware, and to +allow for innovations, Adobe has specified a syntax and file format +for PostScript Printer Description (PPD) +files. Every PostScript printer ships with one of these files. +

+PPDs contain all information about general and special features of the +given printer model: Which different resolutions can it handle? Does +it have a Duplexing Unit? How many paper trays are there? What media +types and sizes does it take? For each item it also names the special +command string to be sent to the printer (mostly inside the PostScript +file) in order to enable it. +

+Information from these PPDs is meant to be taken into account by the +printer drivers. Therefore, installed as part of the Windows +PostScript driver for a given printer is the printer's PPD. Where it +makes sense, the PPD features are presented in the drivers' UI dialogs +to display to the user as choice of print options. In the end, the +user selections are somehow written (in the form of special +PostScript, PJL, JCL or vendor-dependent commands) into the PostScript +file created by the driver. +

Warning

+A PostScript file that was created to contain device-specific commands +for achieving a certain print job output (e.g. duplexed, stapled and +punched) on a specific target machine, may not print as expected, or +may not be printable at all on other models; it also may not be fit +for further processing by software (e.g. by a PDF distilling program). +

CUPS can use all Windows-formatted Vendor PPDs

+CUPS can handle all spec-compliant PPDs as supplied by the +manufacturers for their PostScript models. Even if a +Unix/Linux-illiterate vendor might not have mentioned our favorite +OS in his manuals and brochures -- you can safely trust this: +if you get hold of the Windows NT version of the PPD, you +can use it unchanged in CUPS and thus access the full +power of your printer just like a Windows NT user could! +

Tip

+To check the spec compliance of any PPD online, go to http://www.cups.org/testppd.php +and upload your PPD. You will see the results displayed +immediately. CUPS in all versions after 1.1.19 has a much more strict +internal PPD parsing and checking code enabled; in case of printing +trouble this online resource should be one of your first pitstops. +

Warning

+For real PostScript printers don't use the +Foomatic or cupsomatic +PPDs from Linuxprinting.org. With these devices the original +vendor-provided PPDs are always the first choice! +

Tip

+If you are looking for an original vendor-provided PPD of a specific +device, and you know that an NT4 box (or any other Windows box) on +your LAN has the PostScript driver installed, just use +smbclient //NT4-box/print\$ -U username to +access the Windows directory where all printer driver files are +stored. First look in the W32X86/2 subdir for +the PPD you are seeking. +

CUPS also uses PPDs for non-PostScript Printers

+CUPS also uses specially crafted PPDs to handle non-PostScript +printers. These PPDs are usually not available from the vendors (and +no, you can't just take the PPD of a Postscript printer with the same +model name and hope it works for the non-PostScript version too). To +understand how these PPDs work for non-PS printers we first need to +dive deeply into the CUPS filtering and file format conversion +architecture. Stay tuned. +

The CUPS Filtering Architecture

+The core of the CUPS filtering system is based on +Ghostscript. In addition to Ghostscript, CUPS +uses some other filters of its own. You (or your OS vendor) may have +plugged in even more filters. CUPS handles all data file formats under +the label of various MIME types. Every incoming +printfile is subjected to an initial +auto-typing. The auto-typing determines its given +MIME type. A given MIME type implies zero or more possible filtering +chains relevant to the selected target printer. This section discusses +how MIME types recognition and conversion rules interact. They are +used by CUPS to automatically setup a working filtering chain for any +given input data format. +

+If CUPS rasterizes a PostScript file natively to +a bitmap, this is done in 2 stages: +

the first stage uses a Ghostscript device named "cups" +(this is since version 1.1.15) and produces a generic raster format +called "CUPS raster". +
the second stage uses a "raster driver" which converts +the generic CUPS raster to a device specific raster.

+Make sure your Ghostscript version has the "cups" device compiled in +(check with gs -h | grep cups). Otherwise you +may encounter the dreaded Unable to convert file +0 in your CUPS error_log file. To have "cups" as a +device in your Ghostscript, you either need to patch GNU +Ghostscript and re-compile or use ESP Ghostscript. The +superior alternative is ESP Ghostscript: it supports not just CUPS, +but 300 other devices too (while GNU Ghostscript supports only about +180). Because of this broad output device support, ESP Ghostscript is +the first choice for non-CUPS spoolers too. It is now recommended by +Linuxprinting.org for all spoolers. +

+CUPS printers may be setup to use external +rendering paths. One of the most common ones is provided by the +Foomatic/cupsomatic concept, from Linuxprinting.org. This +uses the classical Ghostscript approach, doing everything in one +step. It doesn't use the "cups" device, but one of the many +others. However, even for Foomatic/cupsomatic usage, best results and +broadest printer model support is provided by ESP Ghostscript (more +about cupsomatic/Foomatic, particularly the new version called now +foomatic-rip, follows below). +

MIME types and CUPS Filters

+CUPS reads the file /etc/cups/mime.types +(and all other files carrying a *.types suffix +in the same directory) upon startup. These files contain the MIME +type recognition rules which are applied when CUPS runs its +auto-typing routines. The rule syntax is explained in the man page +for mime.types and in the comments section of the +mime.types file itself. A simple rule reads +like this: +

+
+ application/pdf         pdf string(0,%PDF)
+
+

+This means: if a filename has either a +.pdf suffix, or if the magic +string %PDF is right at the +beginning of the file itself (offset 0 from the start), then it is +a PDF file (application/pdf). +Another rule is this: +

+
+ application/postscript  ai eps ps string(0,%!) string(0,<04>%!)
+
+

+Its meaning: if the filename has one of the suffixes +.ai, .eps, +.ps or if the file itself starts with one of the +strings %! or <04>%!, it +is a generic PostScript file +(application/postscript). +

Note

+There is a very important difference between two similar MIME type in +CUPS: one is application/postscript, the other is +application/vnd.cups-postscript. While +application/postscript is meant to be device +independent (job options for the file are still outside the PS file +content, embedded in commandline or environment variables by CUPS), +application/vnd.cups-postscript may have the job +options inserted into the PostScript data itself (were +applicable). The transformation of the generic PostScript +(application/postscript) to the device-specific version +(application/vnd.cups-postscript) is the responsibility of the +CUPS pstops filter. pstops uses information +contained in the PPD to do the transformation. +

Warning

+Don't confuse the other mime.types file your system might be using +with the one in the /etc/cups/ directory. +

+CUPS can handle ASCII text, HP-GL, PDF, PostScript, DVI and a +lot of image formats (GIF. PNG, TIFF, JPEG, Photo-CD, SUN-Raster, +PNM, PBM, SGI-RGB and some more) and their associated MIME types +with its filters. +

MIME type Conversion Rules

+CUPS reads the file /etc/cups/mime.convs +(and all other files named with a *.convs +suffix in the same directory) upon startup. These files contain +lines naming an input MIME type, an output MIME type, a format +conversion filter which can produce the output from the input type +and virtual costs associated with this conversion. One example line +reads like this: +

+
+ application/pdf         application/postscript   33   pdftops
+
+

+This means that the pdftops filter will take +application/pdf as input and produce +application/postscript as output, the virtual +cost of this operation is 33 CUPS-$. The next filter is more +expensive, costing 66 CUPS-$: +

+
+ application/vnd.hp-HPGL application/postscript   66   hpgltops
+
+

+This is the hpgltops, which processes HP-GL +plotter files to PostScript. +

+
+ application/octet-stream
+
+

+Here are two more examples: +

+
+ application/x-shell     application/postscript   33    texttops
+ text/plain              application/postscript   33    texttops
+
+

+The last two examples name the texttops filter +to work on "text/plain" as well as on "application/x-shell". (Hint: +this differentiation is needed for the syntax highlighting feature of +"texttops"). +

Filter Requirements

+There are many more combinations named in mime.convs. However, you +are not limited to use the ones pre-defined there. You can plug in any +filter you like into the CUPS framework. It must meet, or must be made +to meet some minimal requirements. If you find (or write) a cool +conversion filter of some kind, make sure it complies to what CUPS +needs, and put in the right lines in mime.types +and mime.convs, then it will work seamlessly +inside CUPS! +

Tip

+The mentioned "CUPS requirements" for filters are simple. Take +filenames or stdin as input and write to +stdout. They should take these 5 or 6 arguments: +printer job user title copies options [filename] +

Printer: The name of the printer queue (normally this is the +name of the filter being run)
job: The numeric job ID for the job being +printed
Printer: The string from the originating-user-name +attribute
Printer: The string from the job-name attribute
Printer: The numeric value from the number-copies +attribute
Printer: The job options
Printer: (Optionally) The print request file (if missing, +filters expected data fed through stdin). In most +cases it is very easy to write a simple wrapper script around existing +filters to make them work with CUPS.

Prefilters

+As was said, PostScript is the central file format to any Unix based +printing system. From PostScript, CUPS generates raster data to feed +non-PostScript printers. +

+But what is happening if you send one of the supported non-PS formats +to print? Then CUPS runs "pre-filters" on these input formats to +generate PostScript first. There are pre-filters to create PS from +ASCII text, PDF, DVI or HP-GL. The outcome of these filters is always +of MIME type application/postscript (meaning that +any device-specific print options are not yet embedded into the +PostScript by CUPS, and that the next filter to be called is +pstops). Another pre-filter is running on all supported image formats, +the imagetops filter. Its outcome is always of +MIME type application/vnd.cups-postscript +(not application/postscript), meaning it has the +print options already embedded into the file. +

Figure 19.4. Prefiltering in CUPS to form Postscript

pstops

+pstopsis the filter to convert +application/postscript to +application/vnd.cups-postscript. It was said +above that this filter inserts all device-specific print options +(commands to the printer to ask for the duplexing of output, or +stapling an punching it, etc.) into the PostScript file. +

Figure 19.5. Adding Device-specific Print Options

+This is not all: other tasks performed by it are: +

+selecting the range of pages to be printed (if you choose to +print only pages "3, 6, 8-11, 16, 19-21", or only the odd numbered +ones) +
+putting 2 or more logical pages on one sheet of paper (the +so-called "number-up" function) +
counting the pages of the job to insert the accounting +information into the /var/log/cups/page_log +

pstoraster

+pstoraster is at the core of the CUPS filtering +system. It is responsible for the first stage of the rasterization +process. Its input is of MIME type application/vnd.cups-postscript; +its output is application/vnd.cups-raster. This output format is not +yet meant to be printable. Its aim is to serve as a general purpose +input format for more specialized raster drivers, +that are able to generate device-specific printer data. +

Figure 19.6. Postscript to intermediate Raster format

+CUPS raster is a generic raster format with powerful features. It is +able to include per-page information, color profiles and more to be +used by the following downstream raster drivers. Its MIME type is +registered with IANA and its specification is of course completely +open. It is designed to make it very easy and inexpensive for +manufacturers to develop Linux and Unix raster drivers for their +printer models, should they choose to do so. CUPS always takes care +for the first stage of rasterization so these vendors don't need to care +about Ghostscript complications (in fact, there is currently more +than one vendor financing the development of CUPS raster drivers). +

Figure 19.7. CUPS-raster production using Ghostscript

+CUPS versions before version 1.1.15 were shipping a binary (or source +code) standalone filter, named "pstoraster". pstoraster was derived +from GNU Ghostscript 5.50, and could be installed besides and in +addition to any GNU or AFPL Ghostscript package without conflicting. +

+From version 1.1.15, this has changed. The functions for this has been +integrated back into Ghostscript (now based on GNU Ghostscript version +7.05). The "pstoraster" filter is now a simple shell script calling +gs with the -sDEVICE=cups +parameter. If your Ghostscript doesn't show a success on asking for +gs -h |grep cups, you might not be able to +print. Update your Ghostscript then! +

imagetops and imagetoraster

+Above in the section about prefilters, we mentioned the prefilter +that generates PostScript from image formats. The imagetoraster +filter is used to convert directly from image to raster, without the +intermediate PostScript stage. It is used more often than the above +mentioned prefilters. Here is a summarizing flowchart of image file +filtering: +

Figure 19.8. Image format to CUPS-raster format conversion

rasterto [printerspecific]

+CUPS ships with quite some different raster drivers processing CUPS +raster. On my system I find in /usr/lib/cups/filter/ these: +rastertoalps, rastertobj, rastertoepson, rastertoescp, +rastertopcl, rastertoturboprint, rastertoapdk, rastertodymo, +rastertoescp, rastertohp and +rastertoprinter. Don't worry if you have less +than this; some of these are installed by commercial add-ons to CUPS +(like rastertoturboprint), others (like +rastertoprinter) by 3rd party driver +development projects (such as Gimp-Print) wanting to cooperate as +closely as possible with CUPS. +

Figure 19.9. Raster to Printer Specific formats

CUPS Backends

+The last part of any CUPS filtering chain is a "backend". Backends +are special programs that send the print-ready file to the final +device. There is a separate backend program for any transfer +"protocol" of sending printjobs over the network, or for every local +interface. Every CUPS printqueue needs to have a CUPS "device-URI" +associated with it. The device URI is the way to encode the backend +used to send the job to its destination. Network device-URIs are using +two slashes in their syntax, local device URIs only one, as you can +see from the following list. Keep in mind that local interface names +may vary much from my examples, if your OS is not Linux: +

usb: +This backend sends printfiles to USB-connected printers. An +example for the CUPS device-URI to use is: +usb:/dev/usb/lp0 +
serial: +This backend sends printfiles to serially connected printers. +An example for the CUPS device-URI to use is: +serial:/dev/ttyS0?baud=11500 +
parallel: +This backend sends printfiles to printers connected to the +parallel port. An example for the CUPS device-URI to use is: +parallel:/dev/lp0 +
scsi: +This backend sends printfiles to printers attached to the +SCSI interface. An example for the CUPS device-URI to use is: +scsi:/dev/sr1 +
lpd: +This backend sends printfiles to LPR/LPD connected network +printers. An example for the CUPS device-URI to use is: +lpd://remote_host_name/remote_queue_name +
AppSocket/HP JetDirect: +This backend sends printfiles to AppSocket (a.k.a. "HP +JetDirect") connected network printers. An example for the CUPS +device-URI to use is: +socket://10.11.12.13:9100 +
ipp: +This backend sends printfiles to IPP connected network +printers (or to other CUPS servers). Examples for CUPS device-URIs +to use are: +ipp:://192.193.194.195/ipp +(for many HP printers) or +ipp://remote_cups_server/printers/remote_printer_name +
http: +This backend sends printfiles to HTTP connected printers. +(The http:// CUPS backend is only a symlink to the ipp:// backend.) +Examples for the CUPS device-URIs to use are: +http:://192.193.194.195:631/ipp +(for many HP printers) or +http://remote_cups_server:631/printers/remote_printer_name +
smb: +This backend sends printfiles to printers shared by a Windows +host. An example for CUPS device-URIs to use are: +smb://workgroup/server/printersharename +Or +Smb://server/printersharename +or +smb://username:password@workgroup/server/printersharename +or +smb://username:password@server/printersharename. +The smb:// backend is a symlink to the Samba utility +smbspool (doesn't ship with CUPS). If the +symlink is not present in your CUPS backend directory, have your +root user create it: ln -s `which smbspool` +/usr/lib/cups/backend/smb. +

+It is easy to write your own backends as Shell or Perl scripts, if you +need any modification or extension to the CUPS print system. One +reason could be that you want to create "special" printers which send +the printjobs as email (through a "mailto:/" backend), convert them to +PDF (through a "pdfgen:/" backend) or dump them to "/dev/null" (In +fact I have the system-wide default printer set up to be connected to +a "devnull:/" backend: there are just too many people sending jobs +without specifying a printer, or scripts and programs which don't name +a printer. The system-wided default deletes the job and sends a polite +mail back to the $USER asking him to alsways specify a correct +printername). +

+Not all of the mentioned backends may be present on your system or +usable (depending on your hardware configuration). One test for all +available CUPS backends is provided by the lpinfo +utility. Used with the -v parameter, it lists +all available backends: +

+
+ lpinfo -v
+
+

cupsomatic/Foomatic -- how do they fit into the Picture?

+"cupsomatic" filters may be the most widely used on CUPS +installations. You must be clear about the fact that these were not +developed by the CUPS people. They are a "Third Party" add-on to +CUPS. They utilize the traditional Ghostscript devices to render jobs +for CUPS. When troubleshooting, you should know about the +difference. Here the whole rendering process is done in one stage, +inside Ghostscript, using an appropriate "device" for the target +printer. cupsomatic uses PPDs which are generated from the "Foomatic" +Printer & Driver Database at Linuxprinting.org. +

+You can recognize these PPDs from the line calling the +cupsomatic filter: +

+
+ *cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript  0  cupsomatic"
+
+

+This line you may find amongst the first 40 or so lines of the PPD +file. If you have such a PPD installed, the printer shows up in the +CUPS web interface with a foomatic namepart for +the driver description. cupsomatic is a Perlscript that runs +Ghostscript, with all the complicated commandline options +auto-constructed from the selected PPD and commandline options give to +the printjob. +

+However, cupsomatic is now deprecated. Its PPDs (especially the first +generation of them, still in heavy use out there) are not meeting the +Adobe specifications. You might also suffer difficulties when you try +to download them with "Point'n'Print" to Windows clients. A better, +and more powerful successor is now in a very stable Beta-version +available: it is called foomatic-rip. To use +foomatic-rip as a filter with CUPS, you need the new-type PPDs. These +have a similar, but different line: +

+
+ *cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript  0  foomatic-rip"
+
+

+The PPD generating engine at Linuxprinting.org has been revamped. +The new PPDs comply to the Adobe spec. On top, they also provide a +new way to specify different quality levels (hi-res photo, normal +color, grayscale, draft...) with a single click (whereas before you +could have required 5 or more different selections (media type, +resolution, inktype, dithering algorithm...). There is support for +custom-size media built in. There is support to switch +print-options from page to page, in the middle of a job. And the +best thing is: the new foomatic-rip now works seamlessly with all +legacy spoolers too (like LPRng, BSD-LPD, PDQ, PPR etc.), providing +for them access to use PPDs for their printing! +

The Complete Picture

+If you want to see an overview over all the filters and how they +relate to each other, the complete picture of the puzzle is at the end +of this document. +

`mime.convs`

+CUPS auto-constructs all possible filtering chain paths for any given +MIME type, and every printer installed. But how does it decide in +favor or against a specific alternative? (There may often be cases, +where there is a choice of two or more possible filtering chains for +the same target printer). Simple: you may have noticed the figures in +the 3rd column of the mime.convs file. They represent virtual costs +assigned to this filter. Every possible filtering chain will sum up to +a total "filter cost". CUPS decides for the most "inexpensive" route. +

Tip

+The setting of FilterLimit 1000 in +cupsd.conf will not allow more filters to +run concurrently than will consume a total of 1000 virtual filter +cost. This is a very efficient way to limit the load of any CUPS +server by setting an appropriate "FilterLimit" value. A FilterLimit of +200 allows roughly 1 job at a time, while a FilterLimit of 1000 allows +approximately 5 jobs maximum at a time. +

"Raw" printing

+You can tell CUPS to print (nearly) any file "raw". "Raw" means it +will not be filtered. CUPS will send the file to the printer "as is" +without bothering if the printer is able to digest it. Users need to +take care themselves that they send sensible data formats only. Raw +printing can happen on any queue if the "-o raw" option is specified +on the command line. You can also set up raw-only queues by simply not +associating any PPD with it. This command: +

+
+ lpadmin -P rawprinter -v socket://11.12.13.14:9100 -E
+
+

+sets up a queue named "rawprinter", connected via the "socket" +protocol (a.k.a. "HP JetDirect") to the device at IP address +11.12.1.3.14, using port 9100. (If you had added a PPD with +-P /path/to/PPD to this command line, you would +have installed a "normal" printqueue. +

+CUPS will automatically treat each job sent to a queue as a "raw" one, +if it can't find a PPD associated with the queue. However, CUPS will +only send known MIME types (as defined in its own mime.types file) and +refuse others. +

"application/octet-stream" printing

+Any MIME type with no rule in the +/etc/cups/mime.types file is regarded as unknown +or application/octet-stream and will not be +sent. Because CUPS refuses to print unknown MIME types per default, +you will probably have experienced the fact that printjobs originating +from Windows clients were not printed. You may have found an error +message in your CUPS logs like: +

+
+ Unable to convert file 0 to printable format for job
+
+

+To enable the printing of "application/octet-stream" files, edit +these two files: +

/etc/cups/mime.convs
/etc/cups/mime.types

+Both contain entries (at the end of the respective files) which must +be uncommented to allow RAW mode operation for +application/octet-stream. In /etc/cups/mime.types +make sure this line is present: +

+
+ application/octet-stream
+
+

+This line (with no specific auto-typing rule set) makes all files +not otherwise auto-typed a member of application/octet-stream. In +/etc/cups/mime.convs, have this +line: +

+
+ application/octet-stream   application/vnd.cups-raw   0   -
+
+

+This line tells CUPS to use the Null Filter +(denoted as "-", doing... nothing at all) on +application/octet-stream, and tag the result as +application/vnd.cups-raw. This last one is +always a green light to the CUPS scheduler to now hand the file over +to the "backend" connecting to the printer and sending it over. +

Note

Editing the mime.convs and the +mime.types file does not +enforce "raw" printing, it only +allows it. +

Background. +CUPS being a more security-aware printing system than traditional ones +does not by default allow one to send deliberate (possibly binary) +data to printing devices. (This could be easily abused to launch a +Denial of Service attack on your printer(s), causing at least the loss +of a lot of paper and ink...) "Unknown" data are regarded by CUPS +asMIME type +application/octet-stream. While you +can send data "raw", the MIME type for these must +be one that is known to CUPS and an allowed one. The file +/etc/cups/mime.types defines the "rules" how CUPS +recognizes MIME types. The file +/etc/cups/mime.convs decides which file +conversion filter(s) may be applied to which MIME types. +

PostScript Printer Descriptions (PPDs) for non-PS Printers

+Originally PPDs were meant to be used for PostScript printers +only. Here, they help to send device-specific commands and settings +to the RIP which processes the jobfile. CUPS has extended this +scope for PPDs to cover non-PostScript printers too. This was not +very difficult, because it is a standardized file format. In a way +it was logical too: CUPS handles PostScript and uses a PostScript +RIP (=Ghostscript) to process the jobfiles. The only difference is: +a PostScript printer has the RIP built-in, for other types of +printers the Ghostscript RIP runs on the host computer. +

+PPDs for a non-PS printer have a few lines that are unique to +CUPS. The most important one looks similar to this: +

+
+ *cupsFilter: application/vnd.cups-raster  66   rastertoprinter
+
+

+It is the last piece in the CUPS filtering puzzle. This line tells the +CUPS daemon to use as a last filter "rastertoprinter". This filter +should be served as input an "application/vnd.cups-raster" MIME type +file. Therefore CUPS should auto-construct a filtering chain, which +delivers as its last output the specified MIME type. This is then +taken as input to the specified "rastertoprinter" filter. After this +the last filter has done its work ("rastertoprinter" is a Gimp-Print +filter), the file should go to the backend, which sends it to the +output device. +

+CUPS by default ships only a few generic PPDs, but they are good for +several hundred printer models. You may not be able to control +different paper trays, or you may get larger margins than your +specific model supports): +

deskjet.ppd: older HP inkjet printers and compatible +
deskjet2.ppd: newer HP inkjet printers and compatible +
dymo.ppd: label printers +
epson9.ppd: Epson 24pin impact printers and compatible +
epson24.ppd: Epson 24pin impact printers and compatible +
okidata9.ppd: Okidata 9pin impact printers and compatible +
okidat24.ppd: Okidata 24pin impact printers and compatible +
stcolor.ppd: older Epson Stylus Color printers +
stcolor2.ppd: newer Epson Stylus Color printers +
stphoto.ppd: older Epson Stylus Photo printers +
stphoto2.ppd: newer Epson Stylus Photo printers +
laserjet.ppd: all PCL printersFurther below is a discussion +of several other driver/PPD-packages suitable fur use with CUPS. +

Difference between cupsomatic/foomatic-rip and +native CUPS printing

+Native CUPS rasterization works in two steps. +

+First is the "pstoraster" step. It uses the special "cups" +device from ESP Ghostscript 7.05.x as its tool +
+Second comes the "rasterdriver" step. It uses various +device-specific filters; there are several vendors who provide good +quality filters for this step, some are Free Software, some are +Shareware/Non-Free, some are proprietary.

+Often this produces better quality (and has several more +advantages) than other methods. +

Figure 19.10. cupsomatic/foomatic processing versus Native CUPS

+One other method is the cupsomatic/foomatic-rip +way. Note that cupsomatic is not made by the CUPS +developers. It is an independent contribution to printing development, +made by people from Linuxprinting.org (see also http://www.cups.org/cups-help.html). +cupsomatic is no longer developed and maintained and is no longer +supported. It has now been replaced by +foomatic-rip. foomatic-rip is a complete re-write +of the old cupsomatic idea, but very much improved and generalized to +other (non-CUPS) spoolers. An upgrade to foomatic-rip is strongly +adviced, especially if you are upgrading to a recent version of CUPS +too. +

+Both the cupsomatic (old) and the foomatic-rip (new) methods from +Linuxprinting.org use the traditional Ghostscript print file +processing, doing everything in a single step. It therefore relies on +all the other devices built-in into Ghostscript. The quality is as +good (or bad) as Ghostscript rendering is in other spoolers. The +advantage is that this method supports many printer models not +supported (yet) by the more modern CUPS method. +

+Of course, you can use both methods side by side on one system (and +even for one printer, if you set up different queues), and find out +which works best for you. +

+cupsomatic "kidnaps" the printfile after the +application/vnd.cups-postscript stage and +deviates it through the CUPS-external, systemwide Ghostscript +installation: Therefore the printfile bypasses the "pstoraster" filter +(and thus also bypasses the CUPS-raster-drivers +"rastertosomething"). After Ghostscript finished its rasterization, +cupsomatic hands the rendered file directly to the CUPS backend. The +flowchart above illustrates the difference between native CUPS +rendering and the Foomatic/cupsomatic method. +

Examples for filtering Chains

+Here are a few examples of commonly occurring filtering chains to +illustrate the workings of CUPS. +

+Assume you want to print a PDF file to a HP JetDirect-connected +PostScript printer, but you want to print the pages 3-5, 7, 11-13 +only, and you want to print them "2-up" and "duplex": +

your print options (page selection as required, 2-up, +duplex) are passed to CUPS on the commandline;
the (complete) PDF file is sent to CUPS and autotyped as +application/pdf;
the file therefore first must pass the +pdftops pre-filter, which produces PostScript +MIME type application/postscript (a preview here +would still show all pages of the original PDF);
the file then passes the pstops +filter which applies the commandline options: it selects the pages +2-5, 7 and 11-13, creates and imposed layout "2 pages on 1 sheet" and +inserts the correct "duplex" command (as is defined in the printer's +PPD) into the new PostScript file; the file now is of PostScript MIME +type +application/vnd.cups-postscript;
the file goes to the socket +backend, which transfers the job to the printers.

+The resulting filter chain therefore is: +

+pdftops --> pstops --> socket
+

+Assume your want to print the same filter to an USB-connected +Epson Stylus Photo printer, installed with the CUPS +stphoto2.ppd. The first few filtering stages +are nearly the same: +

your print options (page selection as required, 2-up, +duplex) are passed to CUPS on the commandline;
the (complete) PDF file is sent to CUPS and autotyped as +application/pdf;
the file therefore first must pass the +pdftops pre-filter, which produces PostScript +MIME type application/postscript (a preview here +would still show all pages of the original PDF);
the file then passes the "pstops" filter which applies +the commandline options: it selects the pages 2-5, 7 and 11-13, +creates and imposed layout "2 pages on 1 sheet" and inserts the +correct "duplex" command... (OOoops -- this printer and his PPD +don't support duplex printing at all -- this option will be ignored +then) into the new PostScript file; the file now is of PostScript +MIME type +application/vnd.cups-postscript;
the file then passes the +pstoraster stage and becomes MIME type +application/cups-raster;
finally, the rastertoepson filter +does its work (as is indicated in the printer's PPD), creating the +printer-specific raster data and embedding any user-selected +print-options into the print data stream;
the file goes to the usb backend, +which transfers the job to the printers.

+The resulting filter chain therefore is: +

+pdftops --> pstops --> pstoraster --> rastertoepson --> usb
+

Sources of CUPS drivers / PPDs

+On the internet you can find now many thousand CUPS-PPD files +(with their companion filters), in many national languages, +supporting more than 1000 non-PostScript models. +

ESP +PrintPro (http://wwwl.easysw.com/printpro/) (commercial, +non-Free) is packaged with more than 3000 PPDs, ready for +successful use "out of the box" on Linux, Mac OS X, IBM-AIX, +HP-UX, Sun-Solaris, SGI-IRIX, Compaq Tru64, Digital Unix and some +more commercial Unices (it is written by the CUPS developers +themselves and its sales help finance the further development of +CUPS, as they feed their creators).
the Gimp-Print-Project +(http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/) (GPL, Free Software) +provides around 140 PPDs (supporting nearly 400 printers, many driven +to photo quality output), to be used alongside the Gimp-Print CUPS +filters;
TurboPrint +(http://www.turboprint.com/) (Shareware, non-Free) supports +roughly the same amount of printers in excellent +quality;
OMNI +(http://www-124.ibm.com/developerworks/oss/linux/projects/omni/) +(LPGL, Free) is a package made by IBM, now containing support for more +than 400 printers, stemming from the inheritance of IBM OS/2 KnowHow +ported over to Linux (CUPS support is in a Beta-stage at +present);
HPIJS +(http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/) (BSD-style licenses, Free) +supports around 150 of HP's own printers and is also providing +excellent print quality now (currently available only via the Foomatic +path);
Foomatic/cupsomatic +(http://www.linuxprinting.org/) (LPGL, Free) from +Linuxprinting.org are providing PPDs for practically every Ghostscript +filter known to the world (including Omni, Gimp-Print and +HPIJS).

Note

+The cupsomatic/Foomatic trick from Linuxprinting.org works +differently from the other drivers. This is explained elsewhere in this +document. +

Printing with Interface Scripts

+CUPS also supports the usage of "interface scripts" as known from +System V AT&T printing systems. These are often used for PCL +printers, from applications that generate PCL print jobs. Interface +scripts are specific to printer models. They have a similar role as +PPDs for PostScript printers. Interface scripts may inject the Escape +sequences as required into the print data stream, if the user has +chosen to select a certain paper tray, or print landscape, or use A3 +paper, etc. Interfaces scripts are practically unknown in the Linux +realm. On HP-UX platforms they are more often used. You can use any +working interface script on CUPS too. Just install the printer with +the -i option: +

+
+ lpadmin -p pclprinter -v socket://11.12.13.14:9100 -i /path/to/interface-script
+
+

+Interface scripts might be the "unknown animal" to many. However, +with CUPS they provide the most easy way to plug in your own +custom-written filtering script or program into one specific print +queue (some information about the traditional usage of interface scripts is +to be found at http://playground.sun.com/printing/documentation/interface.html). +

Network printing (purely Windows)

+Network printing covers a lot of ground. To understand what exactly +goes on with Samba when it is printing on behalf of its Windows +clients, let's first look at a "purely Windows" setup: Windows clients +with a Windows NT print server. +

From Windows Clients to an NT Print Server

+Windows clients printing to an NT-based print server have two +options. They may +

execute the driver locally and render the GDI output +(EMF) into the printer specific format on their own, +or
send the GDI output (EMF) to the server, where the +driver is executed to render the printer specific +output.

+Both print paths are shown in the flowcharts below. +

Driver Execution on the Client

+In the first case the print server must spool the file as "raw", +meaning it shouldn't touch the jobfile and try to convert it in any +way. This is what traditional Unix-based print server can do too; and +at a better performance and more reliably than NT print server. This +is what most Samba administrators probably are familiar with. One +advantage of this setup is that this "spooling-only" print server may +be used even if no driver(s) for Unix are available it is sufficient +to have the Windows client drivers available and installed on the +clients. +

Figure 19.11. Print Driver execution on the Client

Driver Execution on the Server

+The other path executes the printer driver on the server. The clients +transfers print files in EMF format to the server. The server uses the +PostScript, PCL, ESC/P or other driver to convert the EMF file into +the printer-specific language. It is not possible for Unix to do the +same. Currently there is no program or method to convert a Windows +client's GDI output on a Unix server into something a printer could +understand. +

Figure 19.12. Print Driver execution on the Server

+However, there is something similar possible with CUPS. Read on... +

Network Printing (Windows clients -- UNIX/Samba Print +Servers)

+Since UNIX print servers cannot execute the Win32 +program code on their platform, the picture is somewhat +different. However, this doesn't limit your options all that +much. In the contrary, you may have a way here to implement printing +features which are not possible otherwise. +

From Windows Clients to a CUPS/Samba Print Server

+Here is a simple recipe showing how you can take advantage of CUPS +powerful features for the benefit of your Windows network printing +clients: +

Let the Windows clients send PostScript to the CUPS +server.
Let the CUPS server render the PostScript into device +specific raster format.

+This requires the clients to use a PostScript driver (even if the +printer is a non-PostScript model. It also requires that you have a +"driver" on the CUPS server. +

+Firstly, to enable CUPS based printing through Samba the +following options should be set in your smb.conf file [globals] +section: +

printing = CUPS
printcap = CUPS

+When these parameters are specified, all manually set print directives +(like print command =..., or lppause +command =...) in smb.conf (as well as +in samba itself) will be ignored. Instead, Samba will directly +interface with CUPS through it's application program interface (API) - +as long as Samba has been compiled with CUPS library (libcups) +support. If Samba has NOT been compiled with CUPS support, and if no +other print commands are set up, then printing will use the +System V AT&T command set, with the -oraw +option automatically passing through (if you want your own defined +print commands to work with a Samba that has CUPS support compiled in, +simply use printing = sysv). +

Figure 19.13. Printing via CUPS/samba server

Samba receiving Jobfiles and passing them to CUPS

+Sambamust use its own spool directory (it is set +by a line similar to path = /var/spool/samba, +in the [printers] or +[printername] section of +smb.conf). Samba receives the job in its own +spool space and passes it into the spool directory of CUPS (the CUPS +spooling directory is set by the RequestRoot +directive, in a line that defaults to RequestRoot +/var/spool/cups). CUPS checks the access rights of its +spool dir and resets it to healthy values with every re-start. We have +seen quite some people who had used a common spooling space for Samba +and CUPS, and were struggling for weeks with this "problem". +

+A Windows user authenticates only to Samba (by whatever means is +configured). If Samba runs on the same host as CUPS, you only need to +allow "localhost" to print. If they run on different machines, you +need to make sure the Samba host gets access to printing on CUPS. +

Network PostScript RIP: CUPS Filters on Server -- clients use +PostScript Driver with CUPS-PPDs

+PPDs can control all print device options. They are usually provided +by the manufacturer; if you own a PostScript printer, that is. PPD +files (PostScript Printer Descriptions) are always a component of +PostScript printer drivers on MS Windows or Apple Mac OS systems. They +are ASCII files containing user-selectable print options, mapped to +appropriate PostScript, PCL or PJL commands for the target +printer. Printer driver GUI dialogs translate these options +"on-the-fly" into buttons and drop-down lists for the user to select. +

+CUPS can load, without any conversions, the PPD file from any Windows +(NT is recommended) PostScript driver and handle the options. There is +a web browser interface to the print options (select http://localhost:631/printers/ +and click on one Configure Printer button to see +it), or a commandline interface (see man lpoptions +or see if you have lphelp on your system). There are also some +different GUI frontends on Linux/UNIX, which can present PPD options +to users. PPD options are normally meant to be evaluated by the +PostScript RIP on the real PostScript printer. +

PPDs for non-PS Printers on UNIX

+CUPS doesn't limit itself to "real" PostScript printers in its usage +of PPDs. The CUPS developers have extended the scope of the PPD +concept, to also describe available device and driver options for +non-PostScript printers through CUPS-PPDs. +

+This is logical, as CUPS includes a fully featured PostScript +interpreter (RIP). This RIP is based on Ghostscript. It can process +all received PostScript (and additionally many other file formats) +from clients. All CUPS-PPDs geared to non-PostScript printers contain +an additional line, starting with the keyword +*cupsFilter . This line tells the CUPS print +system which printer-specific filter to use for the interpretation of +the supplied PostScript. Thus CUPS lets all its printers appear as +PostScript devices to its clients, because it can act as a PostScript +RIP for those printers, processing the received PostScript code into a +proper raster print format. +

PPDs for non-PS Printers on Windows

+CUPS-PPDs can also be used on Windows-Clients, on top of a +"core" PostScript driver (now recommended is the "CUPS PostScript +Driver for WindowsNT/2K/XP"; you can also use the Adobe one, with +limitations). This feature enables CUPS to do a few tricks no other +spooler can do: +

act as a networked PostScript RIP (Raster Image +Processor), handling printfiles from all client platforms in a uniform +way;
act as a central accounting and billing server, since +all files are passed through the pstops filter and are therefore +logged in the CUPS page_log file. +NOTE: this can not happen with "raw" print jobs, +which always remain unfiltered per definition;
enable clients to consolidate on a single PostScript +driver, even for many different target printers.

+Using CUPS PPDs on Windows clients enables these to control +all print job settings just as a UNIX client can do too. +

Windows Terminal Servers (WTS) as CUPS Clients

+This setup may be of special interest to people experiencing major +problems in WTS environments. WTS need often a multitude of +non-PostScript drivers installed to run their clients' variety of +different printer models. This often imposes the price of much +increased instability. +

Printer Drivers running in "Kernel Mode" cause many +Problems

+The reason is that in Win NT printer drivers run in "Kernel +Mode", this introduces a high risk for the stability of the system +if the driver is not really stable and well-tested. And there are a +lot of bad drivers out there! Especially notorious is the example +of the PCL printer driver that had an additional sound module +running, to notify users via soundcard of their finished jobs. Do I +need to say that this one was also reliably causing "Blue Screens +of Death" on a regular basis? +

+PostScript drivers generally are very well tested. They are not known +to cause any problems, even though they run in Kernel Mode too. This +might be because there have so far only been 2 different PostScript +drivers the ones from Adobe and the one from Microsoft. Both are +very well tested and are as stable as you ever can imagine on +Windows. The CUPS driver is derived from the Microsoft one. +

Workarounds impose Heavy Limitations

+In many cases, in an attempt to work around this problem, site +administrators have resorted to restrict the allowed drivers installed +on their WTS to one generic PCL- and one PostScript driver. This +however restricts the clients in the amount of printer options +available for them; often they can't get out more than simplex +prints from one standard paper tray, while their devices could do much +better, if driven by a different driver! ) +

CUPS: a "Magical Stone"?

+Using a PostScript driver, enabled with a CUPS-PPD, seems to be a very +elegant way to overcome all these shortcomings. There are, depending +on the version of Windows OS you use, up to 3 different PostScript +drivers available: Adobe, Microsoft and CUPS PostScript drivers. None +of them is known to cause major stability problems on WTS (even if +used with many different PPDs). The clients will be able to (again) +chose paper trays, duplex printing and other settings. However, there +is a certain price for this too: a CUPS server acting as a PostScript +RIP for its clients requires more CPU and RAM than when just acting as +a "raw spooling" device. Plus, this setup is not yet widely tested, +although the first feedbacks look very promising. +

PostScript Drivers with no major problems -- even in Kernel +Mode

+More recent printer drivers on W2K and XP don't run in Kernel mode +(unlike Win NT) any more. However, both operating systems can still +use the NT drivers, running in Kernel mode (you can roughly tell which +is which as the drivers in subdirectory "2" of "W32X86" are "old" +ones). As was said before, the Adobe as well as the Microsoft +PostScript drivers are not known to cause any stability problems. The +CUPS driver is derived from the Microsoft one. There is a simple +reason for this: The MS DDK (Device Development Kit) for Win NT (which +used to be available at no cost to licensees of Visual Studio) +includes the source code of the Microsoft driver, and licensees of +Visual Studio are allowed to use and modify it for their own driver +development efforts. This is what the CUPS people have done. The +license doesn't allow them to publish the whole of the source code. +However, they have released the "diff" under the GPL, and if you are +owner of an "MS DDK for Win NT", you can check the driver yourself. +

Setting up CUPS for driver Download

+As we have said before: all previously known methods to prepare client +printer drivers on the Samba server for download and "Point'n'Print" +convenience of Windows workstations are working with CUPS too. These +methods were described in the previous chapter. In reality, this is a +pure Samba business, and only relates to the Samba/Win client +relationship. +

cupsaddsmb: the unknown Utility

+The cupsaddsmb utility (shipped with all current CUPS versions) is an +alternative method to transfer printer drivers into the Samba +[print$] share. Remember, this share is where +clients expect drivers deposited and setup for download and +installation. It makes the sharing of any (or all) installed CUPS +printers very easy. cupsaddsmb can use the Adobe PostScript driver as +well as the newly developed CUPS PostScript Driver for +WinNT/2K/XP. Note, that cupsaddsmb does +not work with arbitrary vendor printer drivers, +but only with the exact driver files that are +named in its man page. +

+The CUPS printer driver is available from the CUPS download site. Its +package name is cups-samba-[version].tar.gz . It +is prefered over the Adobe drivers since it has a number of +advantages: +

it supports a much more accurate page +accounting;
it supports banner pages, and page labels on all +printers;
it supports the setting of a number of job IPP +attributes (such as job-priority, page-label and +job-billing)

+However, currently only Windows NT, 2000, and XP are supported by the +CUPS drivers. You will need to get the respective part of Adobe driver +too if you need to support Windows 95, 98, and ME clients. +

Prepare your `smb.conf` for +cupsaddsmb

+Prior to running cupsaddsmb, you need the following settings in +smb.conf: +

+
+ [global]
+         load printers = yes
+         printing = cups
+         printcap name = cups
+
+ [printers]
+         comment = All Printers
+         path = /var/spool/samba
+         browseable = no
+         public = yes
+         guest ok = yes           # setting depends on your requirements
+         writable = no
+         printable = yes
+         printer admin = root
+
+ [print$]
+         comment = Printer Drivers
+         path = /etc/samba/drivers
+         browseable = yes
+         guest ok = no
+         read only = yes
+         write list = root  
+
+

CUPS Package of "PostScript Driver for WinNT/2k/XP"

+CUPS users may get the exactly same packages fromhttp://www.cups.org/software.html. +It is a separate package from the CUPS base software files, tagged as +CUPS 1.1.x Windows NT/2k/XP Printer Driver for SAMBA +(tar.gz, 192k). The filename to download is +cups-samba-1.1.x.tar.gz. Upon untar-/unzip-ing, +it will reveal these files: +

+
+# tar xvzf cups-samba-1.1.19.tar.gz 
+
+   cups-samba.install
+   cups-samba.license
+   cups-samba.readme
+   cups-samba.remove
+   cups-samba.ss
+
+

+These have been packaged with the ESP meta packager software +"EPM". The *.install and +*.remove files are simple shell scripts, which +untars the *.ss (the *.ss is +nothing else but a tar-archive, which can be untar-ed by "tar" +too). Then it puts the content into +/usr/share/cups/drivers/. This content includes 3 +files: +

+
+# tar tv cups-samba.ss
+
+    cupsdrvr.dll
+    cupsui.dll
+    cups.hlp  
+
+

+The cups-samba.install shell scripts is easy to +handle: +

+
+# ./cups-samba.install
+
+   [....]
+   Installing software...
+   Updating file permissions...
+   Running post-install commands...
+   Installation is complete.        
+
+

+The script should automatically put the driver files into the +/usr/share/cups/drivers/ directory. +

Warning

+Due to a bug, one recent CUPS release puts the +cups.hlp driver file +into/usr/share/drivers/ instead of +/usr/share/cups/drivers/. To work around this, +copy/move the file (after running the +./cups-samba.install script) manually to the +right place. +

+
+   cp /usr/share/drivers/cups.hlp /usr/share/cups/drivers/
+
+

+This new CUPS PostScript driver is currently binary-only, but free of +charge. No complete source code is provided (yet). The reason is this: +it has been developed with the help of the Microsoft Driver +Developer Kit (DDK) and compiled with Microsoft Visual +Studio 6. Driver developers are not allowed to distribute the whole of +the source code as Free Software. However, CUPS developers released +the "diff" in source code under the GPL, so anybody with a license of +Visual Studio and a DDK will be able to compile for him/herself. +

Recognize the different Driver Files

+The CUPS drivers don't support the "older" Windows 95/98/ME, but only +the Windows NT/2000/XP client: +

+
+ [Windows NT, 2000, and XP are supported by:]
+         cups.hlp
+         cupsdrvr.dll
+         cupsui.dll
+
+

+Adobe drivers are available for the older Windows 95/98/ME as well as +the Windows NT/2000/XP clients. The set of files is different for the +different platforms. +

+
+ [Windows 95, 98, and Me are supported by:]
+         ADFONTS.MFM
+         ADOBEPS4.DRV
+         ADOBEPS4.HLP
+         DEFPRTR2.PPD
+         ICONLIB.DLL
+         PSMON.DLL
+
+ [Windows NT, 2000, and XP are supported by:]
+         ADOBEPS5.DLL
+         ADOBEPSU.DLL
+         ADOBEPSU.HLP
+
+

Note

+If both, the Adobe driver files and the CUPS driver files for the +support of WinNT/2k/XP are present in , the Adobe ones will be ignored +and the CUPS ones will be used. If you prefer -- for whatever reason +-- to use Adobe-only drivers, move away the 3 CUPS driver files. The +Win95/98/ME clients use the Adobe drivers in any case. +

Acquiring the Adobe Driver Files

+Acquiring the Adobe driver files seems to be unexpectedly difficult +for many users. They are not available on the Adobe website as single +files and the self-extracting and/or self-installing Windows-exe is +not easy to locate either. Probably you need to use the included +native installer and run the installation process on one client +once. This will install the drivers (and one Generic PostScript +printer) locally on the client. When they are installed, share the +Generic PostScript printer. After this, the client's +[print$] share holds the Adobe files, from +where you can get them with smbclient from the CUPS host. A more +detailed description about this is in the next (the CUPS printing) +chapter. +

ESP Print Pro Package of "PostScript Driver for +WinNT/2k/XP"

+Users of the ESP Print Pro software are able to install their "Samba +Drivers" package for this purpose with no problem. Retrieve the driver +files from the normal download area of the ESP Print Pro software +athttp://www.easysw.com/software.html. +You need to locate the link labelled "SAMBA" amongst the +Download Printer Drivers for ESP Print Pro 4.x +area and download the package. Once installed, you can prepare any +driver by simply highlighting the printer in the Printer Manager GUI +and select Export Driver... from the menu. Of +course you need to have prepared Samba beforehand too to handle the +driver files; i.e. mainly setup the [print$] +share, etc. The ESP Print Pro package includes the CUPS driver files +as well as a (licensed) set of Adobe drivers for the Windows 95/98/ME +client family. +

Caveats to be considered

+Once you have run the install script (and possibly manually +moved the cups.hlp file to +/usr/share/cups/drivers/), the driver is +ready to be put into Samba's [print$] share (which often maps to +/etc/samba/drivers/ and contains a subdir +tree with WIN40 and +W32X86 branches): You do this by running +"cupsaddsmb" (see also man cupsaddsmb for +CUPS since release 1.1.16). +

Tip

+You may need to put root into the smbpasswd file by running +smbpasswd; this is especially important if you +should run this whole procedure for the first time, and are not +working in an environment where everything is configured for +Single Sign On to a Windows Domain Controller. +

+Once the driver files are in the [print$] share +and are initialized, they are ready to be downloaded and installed by +the Win NT/2k/XP clients. +

Note

+Win 9x/ME clients won't work with the CUPS PostScript driver. For +these you'd still need to use the ADOBE*.* +drivers as previously. +
+It is not harmful if you still have the +ADOBE*.* driver files from previous +installations in the /usr/share/cups/drivers/ +directory. The new cupsaddsmb (from 1.1.16) will +automatically prefer "its own" drivers if it finds both. +
+Should your Win clients have had the old ADOBE*.* +files for the Adobe PostScript driver installed, the download and +installation of the new CUPS PostScript driver for Windows NT/2k/XP +will fail at first. You need to wipe the old driver from the clients +first. It is not enough to "delete" the printer, as the driver files +will still be kept by the clients and re-used if you try to re-install +the printer. To really get rid of the Adobe driver files on the +clients, open the "Printers" folder (possibly via Start +--> Settings --> Control Panel --> Printers), +right-click onto the folder background and select Server +Properties. When the new dialog opens, select the +Drivers tab. On the list select the driver you +want to delete and click on the Delete +button. This will only work if there is not one single printer left +which uses that particular driver. You need to "delete" all printers +using this driver in the "Printers" folder first. You will need +Administrator privileges to do this. +
+Once you have successfully downloaded the CUPS PostScript driver to a +client, you can easily switch all printers to this one by proceeding +as described elsewhere in the "Samba HOWTO Collection": either change +a driver for an existing printer by running the "Printer Properties" +dialog, or use rpcclient with the +setdriver sub-command. +

What are the Benefits of using the "CUPS PostScript Driver for +Windows NT/2k/XP" as compared to the Adobe Driver?

+You are interested in a comparison between the CUPS and the Adobe +PostScript drivers? For our purposes these are the most important +items which weigh in favor of the CUPS ones: +

no hassle with the Adobe EULA
no hassle with the question “Where do I +get the ADOBE*.* driver files from?”
the Adobe drivers (on request of the printer PPD +associated with them) often put a PJL header in front of the main +PostScript part of the print file. Thus the printfile starts with +<1B >%-12345X or +<escape>%-12345X instead +of %!PS). This leads to the +CUPS daemon auto-typing the incoming file as a print-ready file, +not initiating a pass through the "pstops" filter (to speak more +technically, it is not regarded as the generic MIME type +application/postscript, but as +the more special MIME type +application/cups.vnd-postscript), +which therefore also leads to the page accounting in +/var/log/cups/page_log not +receiving the exact mumber of pages; instead the dummy page number +of "1" is logged in a standard setup)
the Adobe driver has more options to "mis-configure" the +PostScript generated by it (like setting it inadvertedly to +Optimize for Speed, instead of +Optimize for Portability, which +could lead to CUPS being unable to process it)
the CUPS PostScript driver output sent by Windows +clients to the CUPS server will be guaranteed to be auto-typed always +as generic MIME type application/postscript, +thusly passing through the CUPS "pstops" filter and logging the +correct number of pages in the page_log for +accounting and quota purposes
the CUPS PostScript driver supports the sending of +additional standard (IPP) print options by Win NT/2k/XP clients. Such +additional print options are: naming the CUPS standard +banner pages (or the custom ones, should they be +installed at the time of driver download), using the CUPS +page-label option, setting a +job-priority and setting the scheduled +time of printing (with the option to support additional +useful IPP job attributes in the future).
the CUPS PostScript driver supports the inclusion of +the new *cupsJobTicket comments at the +beginning of the PostScript file (which could be used in the future +for all sort of beneficial extensions on the CUPS side, but which will +not disturb any other applications as they will regard it as a comment +and simply ignore it).
the CUPS PostScript driver will be the heart of the +fully fledged CUPS IPP client for Windows NT/2K/XP to be released soon +(probably alongside the first Beta release for CUPS +1.2).

Run "cupsaddsmb" (quiet Mode)

+The cupsaddsmb command copies the needed files into your +[print$] share. Additionally, the PPD +associated with this printer is copied from +/etc/cups/ppd/ to +[print$]. There the files wait for convenient +Windows client installations via Point'n'Print. Before we can run the +command successfully, we need to be sure that we can authenticate +towards Samba. If you have a small network you are probably using user +level security (security = user). Probably your +root has already a Samba account. Otherwise, create it now, using +smbpasswd: +

+
+ #  smbpasswd -a root 
+ New SMB password: [type in password 'secret']
+ Retype new SMB password: [type in password 'secret']
+
+

+Here is an example of a successfully run cupsaddsmb command. +

+
+ #  cupsaddsmb -U root infotec_IS2027
+ Password for root required to access localhost via SAMBA: [type in password 'secret']
+
+

+To shareall printers and drivers, use the +-a parameter instead of a printer name. Since +cupsaddsmb "exports" the printer drivers to Samba, it should be +obvious that it only works for queues with a CUPS driver associated. +

Run "cupsaddsmb" with verbose Output

+Probably you want to see what's going on. Use the +-v parameter to get a more verbose output. The +output below was edited for better readability: all "\" at the end of +a line indicate that I inserted an artificial line break plus some +indentation here: +

Warning

+You will see the root password for the Samba account printed on +screen. If you use remote access, the password will go over the wire +unencrypted! +

+
+  # cupsaddsmb -U root -v infotec_2105
+  Password for root required to access localhost via SAMBA:
+  Running command: smbclient //localhost/print\$ -N -U'root%secret' -c 'mkdir W32X86;put   \
+                   /var/spool/cups/tmp/3e98bf2d333b5 W32X86/infotec_2105.ppd;put           \
+                   /usr/share/cups/drivers/cupsdrvr.dll W32X86/cupsdrvr.dll;put            \
+                   /usr/share/cups/drivers/cupsui.dll W32X86/cupsui.dll;put                \
+                   /usr/share/cups/drivers/cups.hlp W32X86/cups.hlp'
+  added interface ip=10.160.51.60 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
+  Domain=[CUPS-PRINT] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 2.2.7a]
+  NT_STATUS_OBJECT_NAME_COLLISION making remote directory \W32X86
+  putting file /var/spool/cups/tmp/3e98bf2d333b5 as \W32X86/infotec_2105.ppd (2328.8 kb/s) \
+               (average 2328.8 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/cupsdrvr.dll as \W32X86/cupsdrvr.dll (9374.3 kb/s)  \
+               (average 5206.6 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/cupsui.dll as \W32X86/cupsui.dll (8107.2 kb/s)      \
+               (average 5984.1 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/cups.hlp as \W32X86/cups.hlp (3475.0 kb/s)          \
+               (average 5884.7 kb/s)
+  
+  Running command: rpcclient localhost -N -U'root%secret' -c 'adddriver "Windows NT x86"   \
+                   "infotec_2105:cupsdrvr.dll:infotec_2105.ppd:cupsui.dll:cups.hlp:NULL:   \
+                   RAW:NULL"'
+  cmd = adddriver "Windows NT x86" "infotec_2105:cupsdrvr.dll:infotec_2105.ppd:cupsui.dll: \
+                   cups.hlp:NULL:RAW:NULL"
+  Printer Driver infotec_2105 successfully installed.
+  
+  Running command: smbclient //localhost/print\$ -N -U'root%secret' -c 'mkdir WIN40;put    \
+                   /var/spool/cups/tmp/3e98bf2d333b5 WIN40/infotec_2105.PPD; put           \
+                   /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADFONTS.MFM WIN40/ADFONTS.MFM;put               \
+                   /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADOBEPS4.DRV WIN40/ADOBEPS4.DRV;put             \
+                   /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADOBEPS4.HLP WIN40/ADOBEPS4.HLP;put             \
+                   /usr/share/cups/drivers/DEFPRTR2.PPD WIN40/DEFPRTR2.PPD;put             \
+                   /usr/share/cups/drivers/ICONLIB.DLL
+  WIN40/ICONLIB.DLL;put /usr/share/cups/drivers/PSMON.DLL WIN40/PSMON.DLL;'
+  added interface ip=10.160.51.60 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
+  Domain=[CUPS-PRINT] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 2.2.7a]
+  NT_STATUS_OBJECT_NAME_COLLISION making remote directory \WIN40
+  putting file /var/spool/cups/tmp/3e98bf2d333b5 as \WIN40/infotec_2105.PPD (2328.8 kb/s)  \
+               (average 2328.8 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADFONTS.MFM as \WIN40/ADFONTS.MFM (9368.0 kb/s)     \
+               (average 6469.6 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADOBEPS4.DRV as \WIN40/ADOBEPS4.DRV (9958.2 kb/s)   \
+               (average 8404.3 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADOBEPS4.HLP as \WIN40/ADOBEPS4.HLP (8341.5 kb/s)   \
+               (average 8398.6 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/DEFPRTR2.PPD as \WIN40/DEFPRTR2.PPD (2195.9 kb/s)   \
+               (average 8254.3 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/ICONLIB.DLL as \WIN40/ICONLIB.DLL (8239.9 kb/s)     \
+               (average 8253.6 kb/s)
+  putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/PSMON.DLL as \WIN40/PSMON.DLL (6222.2 kb/s)         \
+               (average 8188.5 kb/s)
+  
+  Running command: rpcclient localhost -N -U'root%secret' -c 'adddriver "Windows 4.0"      \
+                   "infotec_2105:ADOBEPS4.DRV:infotec_2105.PPD:NULL:ADOBEPS4.HLP:          \
+                   PSMON.DLL:RAW:ADOBEPS4.DRV,infotec_2105.PPD,ADOBEPS4.HLP,PSMON.DLL,     \
+                   ADFONTS.MFM,DEFPRTR2.PPD,ICONLIB.DLL"'
+  cmd = adddriver "Windows 4.0" "infotec_2105:ADOBEPS4.DRV:infotec_2105.PPD:NULL:          \
+                   ADOBEPS4.HLP:PSMON.DLL:RAW:ADOBEPS4.DRV,infotec_2105.PPD,ADOBEPS4.HLP,  \
+                   PSMON.DLL,ADFONTS.MFM,DEFPRTR2.PPD,ICONLIB.DLL"
+  Printer Driver infotec_2105 successfully installed.
+  
+  Running command: rpcclient localhost -N -U'root%secret'                                  \
+                             -c 'setdriver infotec_2105 infotec_2105'
+  cmd = setdriver infotec_2105 infotec_2105
+  Succesfully set infotec_2105 to driver infotec_2105.
+
+

+If you look closely, you'll discover your root password was transfered +unencrypted over the wire, so beware! Also, if you look further her, +you'll discover error messages like NT_STATUS_OBJECT_NAME_COLLISION in +between. They occur, because the directories WIN40 and W32X86 already +existed in the [print$] driver download share +(from a previous driver installation). They are harmless here. +

Understanding cupsaddsmb

+What has happened? What did cupsaddsmb do? There are five stages of +the procedure +

call the CUPS server via IPP and request the +driver files and the PPD file for the named printer;
store the files temporarily in the local +TEMPDIR (as defined in +cupsd.conf);
connect via smbclient to the Samba server's + [print$] share and put the files into the + share's WIN40 (for Win95/98/ME) and W32X86/ (for WinNT/2k/XP) sub + directories;
connect via rpcclient to the Samba server and +execute the "adddriver" command with the correct +parameters;
connect via rpcclient to the Samba server a second +time and execute the "setdriver" command.

+Note, that you can run the cupsaddsmb utility with parameters to +specify one remote host as Samba host and a second remote host as CUPS +host. Especially if you want to get a deeper understanding, it is a +good idea try it and see more clearly what is going on (though in real +life most people will have their CUPS and Samba servers run on the +same host): +

+
+ # cupsaddsmb -H sambaserver -h cupsserver -v printername
+
+

How to recognize if cupsaddsm completed successfully

+You must always check if the utility completed +successfully in all fields. You need as a minimum these 3 messages +amongst the output: +

Printer Driver infotec_2105 successfully +installed. # (for the W32X86 == WinNT/2K/XP +architecture...)
Printer Driver infotec_2105 successfully +installed. # (for the WIN40 == Win9x/ME +architecture...)
Succesfully set [printerXPZ] to driver +[printerXYZ].

+These messages probably not easily recognized in the general +output. If you run cupsaddsmb with the -a +parameter (which tries to prepare all active CUPS +printer drivers for download), you might miss if individual printers +drivers had problems to install properly. Here a redirection of the +output will help you analyze the results in retrospective. +

Note

+It is impossible to see any diagnostic output if you don't run +cupsaddsmb in verbose mode. Therefore we strongly recommend to not +use the default quiet mode. It will hide any problems from you which +might occur. +

cupsaddsmb with a Samba PDC

+You can't get the standard cupsaddsmb command to run on a Samba PDC? +You are asked for the password credential all over again and again and +the command just will not take off at all? Try one of these +variations: +

+
+ # cupsaddsmb -U DOMAINNAME\\root -v printername
+ # cupsaddsmb -H SAMBA-PDC -U DOMAINNAME\\root -v printername
+ # cupsaddsmb -H SAMBA-PDC -U DOMAINNAME\\root -h cups-server -v printername
+
+

+(Note the two backslashes: the first one is required to +"escape" the second one). +

cupsaddsmb Flowchart

+Here is a chart about the procedures, commandflows and +dataflows of the "cupaddsmb" command. Note again: cupsaddsmb is +not intended to, and does not work with, "raw" queues! +

Figure 19.14. cupsaddsmb flowchart

Installing the PostScript Driver on a Client

+After cupsaddsmb completed, your driver is prepared for the clients to +use. Here are the steps you must perform to download and install it +via "Point'n'Print". From a Windows client, browse to the CUPS/Samba +server; +

open the Printers +share of Samba in Network Neighbourhood;
right-click on the printer in +question;
from the opening context-menu select +Install... or +Connect... (depending on the Windows version you +use).

+After a few seconds, there should be a new printer in your +client's local "Printers" folder: On Windows +XP it will follow a naming convention of PrinterName on +SambaServer. (In my current case it is "infotec_2105 on +kde-bitshop"). If you want to test it and send your first job from +an application like Winword, the new printer will appears in a +\\SambaServer\PrinterName entry in the +dropdown list of available printers. +

Note

+cupsaddsmb will only reliably work with CUPS version 1.1.15 or higher +and Samba from 2.2.4. If it doesn't work, or if the automatic printer +driver download to the clients doesn't succeed, you can still manually +install the CUPS printer PPD on top of the Adobe PostScript driver on +clients. Then point the client's printer queue to the Samba printer +share for a UNC type of connection: +

+
+  net use lpt1: \\sambaserver\printershare /user:ntadmin
+
+

+should you desire to use the CUPS networked PostScript RIP +functions. (Note that user "ntadmin" needs to be a valid Samba user +with the required privileges to access the printershare) This would +set up the printer connection in the traditional +LanMan way (not using MS-RPC). +

Avoiding critical PostScript Driver Settings on the +Client

+Soooo: printing works, but there are still problems. Most jobs print +well, some don't print at all. Some jobs have problems with fonts, +which don't look very good. Some jobs print fast, and some are +dead-slow. Many of these problems can be greatly reduced or even +completely eliminated if you follow a few guidelines. Remember, if +your print device is not PostScript-enabled, you are treating your +Ghostscript installation on your CUPS host with the output your client +driver settings produce. Treat it well: +

Avoid the PostScript Output Option: Optimize +for Speed settting. Rather use the Optimize for +Portability instead (Adobe PostScript +driver).
Don't use the Page Independence: +NO setting. Instead use Page Independence +YES (CUPS PostScript Driver)
Recommended is the True Type Font +Downloading Option: Native True Type over +Automatic and Outline; you +should by all means avoid Bitmap (Adobe +PostScript Driver)
Choose True Type Font: Download as Softfont +into Printer over the default Replace by Device +Font (for exotic fonts you may need to change it back to +get a printout at all) (Adobe)
Sometimes you can choose PostScript Language +Level: in case of problems try 2 +instead of 3 (the latest ESP Ghostscript package +handels Level 3 PostScript very well) (Adobe).
Say Yes to PostScript +Error Handler (Adobe)

Installing PostScript Driver Files manually (using +rpcclient)

+Of course you can run all the commands which are embedded into the +cupsaddsmb convenience utility yourself, one by one, and hereby upload +and prepare the driver files for future client downloads. +

prepare Samba (a CUPS printqueue with the name of the +printer should be there. We are providing the driver +now);
copy all files to +[print$]:
run rpcclient adddriver +(for each client architecture you want to support):
run rpcclient +setdriver.

+We are going to do this now. First, read the man page on "rpcclient" +to get a first idea. Look at all the printing related +sub-commands. enumprinters, +enumdrivers, enumports, +adddriver, setdriver are amongst +the most interesting ones. rpcclient implements an important part of +the MS-RPC protocol. You can use it to query (and command) a Win NT +(or 2K/XP) PC too. MS-RPC is used by Windows clients, amongst other +things, to benefit from the "Point'n' Print" features. Samba can now +mimic this too. +

A Check of the rpcclient man Page

+First let's have a little check of the rpcclient man page. Here are +two relevant passages: +

+adddriver <arch> <config> Execute an +AddPrinterDriver() RPC to install the printer driver information on +the server. Note that the driver files should already exist in the +directory returned by getdriverdir. Possible +values for arch are the same as those for the +getdriverdir command. The +config parameter is defined as follows: +

+Long Printer Name:\
+Driver File Name:\
+Data File Name:\
+Config File Name:\
+Help File Name:\
+Language Monitor Name:\
+Default Data Type:\
+Comma Separated list of Files
+

Any empty fields should be enter as the string "NULL".

Samba does not need to support the concept of Print Monitors +since these only apply to local printers whose driver can make use of +a bi-directional link for communication. This field should be "NULL". +On a remote NT print server, the Print Monitor for a driver must +already be installed prior to adding the driver or else the RPC will +fail +

+setdriver <printername> <drivername> +Execute a SetPrinter() command to update the +printer driver associated with an installed printer. The printer +driver must already be correctly installed on the print server. +

See also the enumprinters and enumdrivers commands for +obtaining a list of installed printers and drivers. +

Understanding the rpcclient man Page

+The exact format isn't made too clear by the man +page, since you have to deal with some parameters containing +spaces. Here is a better description for it. We have line-broken the +command and indicated the breaks with "\". Usually you would type the +command in one line without the linebreaks: +

+
+ adddriver "Architecture" \
+           "LongPrinterName:DriverFile:DataFile:ConfigFile:HelpFile:\
+           LanguageMonitorFile:DataType:ListOfFiles,Comma-separated"
+
+

+What the man pages denotes as a simple <config> +keyword, does in reality consist of 8 colon-separated fields. The +last field may take multiple (in some, very insane, cases, even +20 different additional files. This might sound confusing at first. +Note, that what the man pages names the "LongPrinterName" in +reality should rather be called the "Driver Name". You can name it +anything you want, as long as you use this name later in the +rpcclient ... setdriver command. For +practical reasons, many name the driver the same as the +printer. +

+True: it isn't simple at all. I hear you asking: +How do I know which files are "Driver +File", "Data File", "Config File", "Help File" and "Language +Monitor File" in each case? -- For an answer you may +want to have a look at how a Windows NT box with a shared printer +presents the files to us. Remember, that this whole procedure has +to be developed by the Samba Team by overhearing the traffic caused +by Windows computers on the wire. We may as well turn to a Windows +box now, and access it from a UNIX workstation. We will query it +with rpcclient to see what it tells us and +try to understand the man page more clearly which we've read just +now. +

Producing an Example by querying a Windows Box

+We could run rpcclient with a +getdriver or a getprinter +subcommand (in level 3 verbosity) against it. Just sit down at UNIX or +Linux workstation with the Samba utilities installed. Then type the +following command: +

+
+ rpcclient -U'USERNAME%PASSWORD' NT-SERVER-NAME -c 'getdriver printername 3'
+
+

+From the result it should become clear which is which. Here is an +example from my installation: +

+
+# rpcclient -U'Danka%xxxx' W2KSERVER -c'getdriver "DANKA InfoStream Virtual Printer" 3'
+ cmd = getdriver "DANKA InfoStream Virtual Printer" 3
+
+ [Windows NT x86]
+ Printer Driver Info 3:
+         Version: [2]
+         Driver Name: [DANKA InfoStream]
+         Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
+         Driver Path: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\PSCRIPT.DLL]
+         Datafile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\INFOSTRM.PPD]
+         Configfile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\PSCRPTUI.DLL]
+         Helpfile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\PSCRIPT.HLP]
+ 
+         Dependentfiles: []
+         Dependentfiles: []
+         Dependentfiles: []
+         Dependentfiles: []
+         Dependentfiles: []
+         Dependentfiles: []
+         Dependentfiles: []
+ 
+         Monitorname: []
+         Defaultdatatype: []
+
+

+Some printer drivers list additional files under the label +"Dependentfiles": these would go into the last field +ListOfFiles,Comma-separated. For the CUPS +PostScript drivers we don't need any (nor would we for the Adobe +PostScript driver): therefore the field will get a "NULL" entry. +

What is required for adddriver and setdriver to succeed

+From the manpage (and from the quoted output +ofcupsaddsmb, above) it becomes clear that you +need to have certain conditions in order to make the manual uploading +and initializing of the driver files succeed. The two rpcclient +subcommands (adddriver and +setdriver) need to encounter the following +pre-conditions to complete successfully: +

you are connected as "printer admin", or root (note, +that this is not the "Printer Operators" group in +NT, but the printer admin group, as defined in +the [global] section of +smb.conf);
copy all required driver files to +\\sambaserver\print$\w32x86 and +\\sambaserver\print$\win40 as appropriate. They +will end up in the "0" respective "2" subdirectories later -- for now +don't put them there, they'll be automatically +used by the adddriver subcommand.! (if you use +"smbclient" to put the driver files into the share, note that you need +to escape the "$": smbclient //sambaserver/print\$ -U +root);
the user you're connecting as must be able to write to +the [print$] share and create +subdirectories;
the printer you are going to setup for the Windows +clients, needs to be installed in CUPS already;
the CUPS printer must be known to Samba, otherwise the +setdriver subcommand fails with an +NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL error. To check if the printer is known by +Samba you may use the enumprinters subcommand to +rpcclient. A long-standing bug prevented a proper update of the +printer list until every smbd process had received a SIGHUP or was +restarted. Remember this in case you've created the CUPS printer just +shortly ago and encounter problems: try restarting +Samba.

Manual Commandline Driver Installation in 15 little Steps

+We are going to install a printer driver now by manually executing all +required commands. As this may seem a rather complicated process at +first, we go through the procedure step by step, explaining every +single action item as it comes up. +

First Step: Install the Printer on CUPS

+
+# lpadmin -p mysmbtstprn -v socket://10.160.51.131:9100 -E -P /home/kurt/canonIR85.ppd
+
+

+This installs printer with the name mysmbtstprn +to the CUPS system. The printer is accessed via a socket +(a.k.a. JetDirect or Direct TCP/IP) connection. You need to be root +for this step +

Second Step (optional): Check if the Printer is recognized by +Samba

+
+ # rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'enumprinters' localhost | grep -C2 mysmbtstprn
+
+        flags:[0x800000]
+        name:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn]
+        description:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn,,mysmbtstprn]
+        comment:[mysmbtstprn]
+
+

+This should show the printer in the list. If not, stop and re-start +the Samba daemon (smbd), or send a HUP signal: kill -HUP +`pidof smbd`. Check again. Troubleshoot and repeat until +success. Note the "empty" field between the two commas in the +"description" line. Here would the driver name appear if there was one +already. You need to know root's Samba password (as set by the +smbpasswd command) for this step and most of the +following steps. Alternatively you can authenticate as one of the +users from the "write list" as defined in smb.conf for +[print$]. +

Third Step (optional): Check if Samba knows a Driver for the +Printer

+
+#  rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'getprinter mysmbtstprn 2' localhost | grep driver
+         drivername:[]
+ 
+#  rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'getprinter mysmbtstprn 2' localhost | grep -C4 driv
+        servername:[\\kde-bitshop]
+        printername:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn]
+        sharename:[mysmbtstprn]
+        portname:[Samba Printer Port]
+        drivername:[]
+        comment:[mysmbtstprn]
+        location:[]
+        sepfile:[]
+        printprocessor:[winprint]
+ 
+#  rpcclient -U root%xxxx -c 'getdriver mysmbtstprn' localhost
+ result was WERR_UNKNOWN_PRINTER_DRIVER
+
+

+Neither method of the three commands shown above should show a driver. +This step was done for the purpose of demonstrating this condition. An +attempt to connect to the printer at this stage will prompt the +message along the lines: "The server has not the required printer +driver installed". +

Fourth Step: Put all required Driver Files into Samba's +[print$]

+
+#  smbclient //localhost/print\$ -U 'root%xxxx'                        \ 
+                              -c 'cd W32X86;                                             \
+                                  put /etc/cups/ppd/mysmbtstprn.ppd mysmbtstprn.PPD;     \
+                                  put /usr/share/cups/drivers/cupsui.dll cupsui.dll;     \
+                                  put /usr/share/cups/drivers/cupsdrvr.dll cupsdrvr.dll; \
+                                  put /usr/share/cups/drivers/cups.hlp cups.hlp'
+
+

+(Note that this command should be entered in one long single +line. Line-breaks and the line-end indicating "\" has been inserted +for readability reasons.) This step is required +for the next one to succeed. It makes the driver files physically +present in the [print$] share. However, clients +would still not be able to install them, because Samba does not yet +treat them as driver files. A client asking for the driver would still +be presented with a "not installed here" message. +

Fifth Step: Verify where the Driver Files are now

+
+#  ls -l /etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/
+ total 669
+ drwxr-sr-x    2 root     ntadmin       532 May 25 23:08 2
+ drwxr-sr-x    2 root     ntadmin       670 May 16 03:15 3
+ -rwxr--r--    1 root     ntadmin     14234 May 25 23:21 cups.hlp
+ -rwxr--r--    1 root     ntadmin    278380 May 25 23:21 cupsdrvr.dll
+ -rwxr--r--    1 root     ntadmin    215848 May 25 23:21 cupsui.dll
+ -rwxr--r--    1 root     ntadmin    169458 May 25 23:21 mysmbtstprn.PPD
+
+

+The driver files now are in the W32X86 architecture "root" of +[print$]. +

Sixth Step: Tell Samba that these are +Driver Files +(adddriver)

+
+#  rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c `adddriver "Windows NT x86" "mydrivername: \
+                                          cupsdrvr.dll:mysmbtstprn.PPD:                  \
+                                          cupsui.dll:cups.hlp:NULL:RAW[:]NULL"             \
+                                          localhost
+
+ Printer Driver mydrivername successfully installed.
+
+

+Note that your cannot repeat this step if it fails. It could fail even +as a result of a simple typo. It will most likely have moved a part of +the driver files into the "2" subdirectory. If this step fails, you +need to go back to the fourth step and repeat it, before you can try +this one again. In this step you need to choose a name for your +driver. It is normally a good idea to use the same name as is used for +the printername; however, in big installations you may use this driver +for a number of printers which have obviously different names. So the +name of the driver is not fixed. +

Seventh Step: Verify where the Driver Files are now

+
+#  ls -l /etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/
+ total 1
+ drwxr-sr-x    2 root     ntadmin       532 May 25 23:22 2
+ drwxr-sr-x    2 root     ntadmin       670 May 16 03:15 3
+
+ 
+#  ls -l /etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/2
+ total 5039
+ [....]
+ -rwxr--r--    1 root     ntadmin     14234 May 25 23:21 cups.hlp
+ -rwxr--r--    1 root     ntadmin    278380 May 13 13:53 cupsdrvr.dll
+ -rwxr--r--    1 root     ntadmin    215848 May 13 13:53 cupsui.dll
+ -rwxr--r--    1 root     ntadmin    169458 May 25 23:21 mysmbtstprn.PPD
+
+

+Notice how step 6 did also move the driver files to the appropriate +subdirectory. Compare with the situation after step 5. +

Eighth Step (optional): Verify if Samba now recognizes the +Driver

+
+#  rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'enumdrivers 3' localhost | grep -B2 -A5 mydrivername
+
+ Printer Driver Info 3:
+        Version: [2]
+        Driver Name: [mydrivername]
+        Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
+        Driver Path: [\\kde-bitshop\print$\W32X86\2\cupsdrvr.dll]
+        Datafile: [\\kde-bitshop\print$\W32X86\2\mysmbtstprn.PPD]
+        Configfile: [\\kde-bitshop\print$\W32X86\2\cupsui.dll]
+        Helpfile: [\\kde-bitshop\print$\W32X86\2\cups.hlp]
+
+

+Remember, this command greps for the name you did choose for the +driver in step Six. This command must succeed before you can proceed. +

Ninth Step: Tell Samba which Printer should use these Driver +Files (setdriver)

+
+#  rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'setdriver mysmbtstprn mydrivername' localhost
+ 
+ Successfully set mysmbtstprn to driver mydrivername
+
+

+Since you can bind any printername (=printqueue) to any driver, this +is a very convenient way to setup many queues which use the same +driver. You don't need to repeat all the previous steps for the +setdriver command to succeed. The only pre-conditions are: +enumdrivers must find the driver and +enumprinters must find the printer. +

Tenth Step (optional): Verify if Samba has this Association +recognized

+
+#  rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'getprinter mysmbtstprn 2' localhost | grep driver
+       drivername:[mydrivername]
+ 
+#  rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'getprinter mysmbtstprn 2' localhost | grep -C4 driv
+       servername:[\\kde-bitshop]
+       printername:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn]
+       sharename:[mysmbtstprn]
+       portname:[Done]
+       drivername:[mydrivername]
+       comment:[mysmbtstprn]
+       location:[]
+       sepfile:[]
+       printprocessor:[winprint]
+ 
+#  rpcclient -U root%xxxx -c 'getdriver mysmbtstprn' localhost
+ [Windows NT x86]
+ Printer Driver Info 3:
+       Version: [2]
+       Driver Name: [mydrivername]
+       Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
+       Driver Path: [\\kde-bitshop\print$\W32X86\2\cupsdrvr.dll]
+       Datafile: [\\kde-bitshop\print$\W32X86\2\mysmbtstprn.PPD]
+       Configfile: [\\kde-bitshop\print$\W32X86\2\cupsui.dll]
+       Helpfile: [\\kde-bitshop\print$\W32X86\2\cups.hlp]
+       Monitorname: []
+       Defaultdatatype: [RAW]
+       Monitorname: []
+       Defaultdatatype: [RAW]
+ 
+#  rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'enumprinters' localhost | grep mysmbtstprn
+       name:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn]
+       description:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn,mydrivername,mysmbtstprn]
+       comment:[mysmbtstprn]
+
+

+Compare these results with the ones from steps 2 and 3. Note that +every single of these commands show the driver is installed. Even +the enumprinters command now lists the driver +on the "description" line. +

Eleventh Step (optional): Tickle the Driver into a correct +Device Mode

+You certainly know how to install the driver on the client. In case +you are not particularly familiar with Windows, here is a short +recipe: browse the Network Neighbourhood, go to the Samba server, look +for the shares. You should see all shared Samba printers. +Double-click on the one in question. The driver should get +installed, and the network connection set up. An alternative way is to +open the "Printers (and Faxes)" folder, right-click on the printer in +question and select "Connect" or "Install". As a result, a new printer +should have appeared in your client's local "Printers (and Faxes)" +folder, named something like "printersharename on Sambahostname". +

+It is important that you execute this step as a Samba printer admin +(as defined in smb.conf). Here is another method +to do this on Windows XP. It uses a commandline, which you may type +into the "DOS box" (type root's smbpassword when prompted): +

+
+ C:\> runas /netonly /user:root "rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n \\sambacupsserver\mysmbtstprn"
+
+

+Change any printer setting once (like "portrait" +--> "landscape"), click "Apply"; change the setting +back. +

Twelveth Step: Install the Printer on a Client +("Point'n'Print")

+
+ C:\> rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n "\\sambacupsserver\mysmbtstprn"
+
+

+If it doesn't work it could be a permission problem with the +[print$] share. +

Thirteenth Step (optional): Print a Test Page

+
+ C:\> rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /n "\\sambacupsserver\mysmbtstprn"
+
+

+Then hit [TAB] 5 times, [ENTER] twice, [TAB] once and [ENTER] again +and march to the printer. +

Fourteenth Step (recommended): Study the Test Page

+Hmmm.... just kidding! By now you know everything about printer +installations and you don't need to read a word. Just put it in a +frame and bolt it to the wall with the heading "MY FIRST +RPCCLIENT-INSTALLED PRINTER" - why not just throw it away! +

Fifteenth Step (obligatory): Enjoy. Jump. Celebrate your +Success

+
+# echo "Cheeeeerioooooo! Success..." >> /var/log/samba/log.smbd     
+
+

Troubleshooting revisited

+The setdriver command will fail, if in Samba's mind the queue is not +already there. You had promising messages about the: +

+
+ Printer Driver ABC successfully installed.
+
+

+after the "adddriver" parts of the procedure? But you are also seeing +a disappointing message like this one beneath? +

+
+ result was NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL
+
+

+It is not good enough that you +can see the queue in CUPS, using +the lpstat -p ir85wm command. A +bug in most recent versions of Samba prevents the proper update of +the queuelist. The recognition of newly installed CUPS printers +fails unless you re-start Samba or send a HUP to all smbd +processes. To verify if this is the reason why Samba doesn't +execute the setdriver command successfully, check if Samba "sees" +the printer: +

+
+# rpcclient transmeta -N -U'root%secret' -c 'enumprinters 0'| grep  ir85wm
+        printername:[ir85wm]
+
+

+An alternative command could be this: +

+
+# rpcclient transmeta -N -U'root%secret' -c 'getprinter ir85wm' 
+        cmd = getprinter ir85wm
+        flags:[0x800000]
+        name:[\\transmeta\ir85wm]
+        description:[\\transmeta\ir85wm,ir85wm,DPD]
+        comment:[CUPS PostScript-Treiber for WinNT/2K/XP]
+
+

+BTW, you can use these commands, plus a few more, of course, +to install drivers on remote Windows NT print servers too! +

The printing `*.tdb` Files

+Some mystery is associated with the series of files with a +tdb-suffix appearing in every Samba installation. They are +connections.tdb, +printing.tdb, +share_info.tdb , +ntdrivers.tdb, +unexpected.tdb, +brlock.tdb , +locking.tdb, +ntforms.tdb, +messages.tdb , +ntprinters.tdb, +sessionid.tdb and +secrets.tdb. What is their purpose? +

Trivial DataBase Files

+A Windows NT (Print) Server keeps track of all information needed to serve +its duty toward its clients by storing entries in the Windows +"Registry". Client queries are answered by reading from the registry, +Administrator or user configuration settings are saved by writing into +the Registry. Samba and Unix obviously don't have such a kind of +Registry. Samba instead keeps track of all client related information in a +series of *.tdb files. (TDB = Trivial Data +Base). These are often located in /var/lib/samba/ +or /var/lock/samba/ . The printing related files +are ntprinters.tdb, +printing.tdb,ntforms.tdb and +ntdrivers.tdb. +

Binary Format

+*.tdb files are not human readable. They are +written in a binary format. "Why not ASCII?", you may ask. "After all, +ASCII configuration files are a good and proofed tradition on UNIX." +-- The reason for this design decision by the Samba Team is mainly +performance. Samba needs to be fast; it runs a separate +smbd process for each client connection, in some +environments many thousand of them. Some of these smbds might need to +write-access the same *.tdb file at the +same time. The file format of Samba's +*.tdb files allows for this provision. Many smbd +processes may write to the same *.tdb file at the +same time. This wouldn't be possible with pure ASCII files. +

Losing `*.tdb` Files

+It is very important that all *.tdb files remain +consistent over all write and read accesses. However, it may happen +that these files do get corrupted. (A +kill -9 `pidof smbd` while a write access is in +progress could do the damage as well as a power interruption, +etc.). In cases of trouble, a deletion of the old printing-related +*.tdb files may be the only option. You need to +re-create all print related setup after that. Or you have made a +backup of the *.tdb files in time. +

Using tdbbackup

+Samba ships with a little utility which helps the root user of your +system to back up your *.tdb files. If you run it +with no argument, it prints a little usage message: +

+
+# tdbbackup
+ Usage: tdbbackup [options] <fname...>
+ 
+ Version:3.0a
+   -h            this help message
+   -s suffix     set the backup suffix
+   -v            veryify mode (restore if corrupt)
+
+

+Here is how I backed up my printing.tdb file: +

+
+# ls 
+ .           browse.dat       locking.tdb     ntdrivers.tdb   printing.tdb    share_info.tdb
+ ..          connections.tdb  messages.tdb    ntforms.tdb     printing.tdbkp  unexpected.tdb
+ brlock.tdb  gmon.out         namelist.debug  ntprinters.tdb  sessionid.tdb
+ 
+ kde-bitshop:/var/lock/samba # tdbbackup -s .bak printing.tdb
+ printing.tdb : 135 records
+ 
+ kde-bitshop:/var/lock/samba # ls -l printing.tdb*
+ -rw-------    1 root     root        40960 May  2 03:44 printing.tdb
+ -rw-------    1 root     root        40960 May  2 03:44 printing.tdb.bak
+
+

CUPS Print Drivers from Linuxprinting.org

+CUPS ships with good support for HP LaserJet type printers. You can +install the generic driver as follows: +

+
+lpadmin -p laserjet4plus -v parallel:/dev/lp0 -E -m laserjet.ppd
+
+

+The -m switch will retrieve the +laserjet.ppd from the standard repository for +not-yet-installed-PPDs, which CUPS typically stores in +/usr/share/cups/model. Alternatively, you may use +-P /path/to/your.ppd. +

+The generic laserjet.ppd however does not support every special option +for every LaserJet-compatible model. It constitutes a sort of "least +denominator" of all the models. If for some reason it is ruled out to +you to pay for the commercially available ESP Print Pro drivers, your +first move should be to consult the database on http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi. +Linuxprinting.org has excellent recommendations about which driver is +best used for each printer. Its database is kept current by the +tireless work of Till Kamppeter from MandrakeSoft, who is also the +principal author of the foomatic-rip utility. +

Note

+The former "cupsomatic" concept is now be replaced by the new, much +more powerful "foomatic-rip". foomatic-rip is the successor of +cupsomatic. cupsomatic is no longer maintained. Here is the new URL +to the Foomatic-3.0 database:http://www.linuxprinting.org/driver_list.cgi. +If you upgrade to foomatic-rip, don't forget to also upgrade to the +new-style PPDs for your foomatic-driven printers. foomatic-rip will +not work with PPDs generated for the old cupsomatic. The new-style +PPDs are 100% compliant to the Adobe PPD specification. They are +intended to be used by Samba and the cupsaddsmb utility also, to +provide the driver files for the Windows clients also! +

foomatic-rip and Foomatic explained

+Nowadays most Linux distros rely on the utilities of Linuxprinting.org +to create their printing related software (which, BTW, works on all +UNIXes and on Mac OS X or Darwin too). It is not known as well as it +should be, that it also has a very end-user friendly interface which +allows for an easy update of drivers and PPDs, for all supported +models, all spoolers, all operatings systems and all package formats +(because there is none). Its history goes back a few years. +

+Recently Foomatic has achieved the astonishing milestone of 1000 +listed printer models. Linuxprinting.org keeps all the +important facts about printer drivers, supported models and which +options are available for the various driver/printer combinations in +its Foomatic +database. Currently there are 245 drivers +in the database: many drivers support various models, and many models +may be driven by different drivers; it's your choice! +

690 "perfect" Printers

+At present there are 690 devices dubbed as working "perfectly", 181 +"mostly", 96 "partially" and 46 are "Paperweights". Keeping in mind +that most of these are non-PostScript models (PostScript printers are +automatically supported supported by CUPS to perfection, by using +their own manufacturer-provided Windows-PPD...), and that a +multifunctional device never qualifies as working "perfectly" if it +doesn't also scan and copy and fax under GNU/Linux: then this is a +truely astonishing achievement. Three years ago the number was not +more than 500, and Linux or UNIX "printing" at the time wasn't +anywhere near the quality it is today! +

How the "Printing HOWTO" started it all

+A few years ago Grant Taylor +started it all. The roots of today's Linuxprinting.org are in the +first Linux Printing +HOWTO which he authored. As a side-project to this document, +which served many Linux users and admins to guide their first steps in +this complicated and delicate setup (to a scientist, printing is +"applying a structured deposition of distinct patterns of ink or toner +particles on paper substrates" ;-), he started to +build in a little Postgres database with information about the +hardware and driver zoo that made up Linux printing of the time. This +database became the core component of today's Foomatic collection of +tools and data. In the meantime it has moved to an XML representation +of the data. +

Foomatic's strange Name

+"Why the funny name?", you ask. When it really took off, around spring +2000, CUPS was far less popular than today, and most systems used LPD, +LPRng or even PDQ to print. CUPS shipped with a few generic "drivers" +(good for a few hundred different printer models). These didn't +support many device-specific options. CUPS also shipped with its own +built-in rasterization filter ("pstoraster", derived from +Ghostscript). On the other hand, CUPS provided brilliant support for +controlling all printer options through +standardized and well-defined "PPD files" (PostScript Printers +Description files). Plus, CUPS was designed to be easily extensible. +

+Grant already had in his database a respectable compilation +of facts about a many more printers, and the Ghostscript "drivers" +they run with. His idea, to generate PPDs from the database info +and use them to make standard Ghostscript filters work within CUPS, +proved to work very well. It also "killed several birds with one +stone": +

It made all current and future Ghostscript filter +developments available for CUPS;
It made available a lot of additional printer models +to CUPS users (because often the "traditional" Ghostscript way of +printing was the only one available);
It gave all the advanced CUPS options (web interface, +GUI driver configurations) to users wanting (or needing) to use +Ghostscript filters.

cupsomatic, pdqomatic, lpdomatic, directomatic

+CUPS worked through a quickly-hacked up filter script named cupsomatic. +cupsomatic ran the printfile through Ghostscript, constructing +automatically the rather complicated command line needed. It just +required to be copied into the CUPS system to make it work. To +"configure" the way cupsomatic controls the Ghostscript rendering +process, it needs a CUPS-PPD. This PPD is generated directly from the +contents of the database. For CUPS and the respective printer/filter +combo another Perl script named "CUPS-O-Matic" did the PPD +generation. After that was working, Grant implemented within a few +days a similar thing for two other spoolers. Names chosen for the +config-generator scripts were PDQ-O-Matic +(for PDQ) and LPD-O-Matic +(for - you guessed it - LPD); the configuration here didn't use PPDs +but other spooler-specific files. +

+From late summer of that year, Till Kamppeter +started to put work into the database. Till had been newly employed by +MandrakeSoft to +convert their printing system over to CUPS, after they had seen his +FLTK-based XPP (a GUI frontend to +the CUPS lp-command). He added a huge amount of new information and new +printers. He also developed the support for other spoolers, like +PPR (via ppromatic), +GNUlpr and +LPRng (both via an extended +lpdomatic) and "spoolerless" printing (directomatic).... +

+So, to answer your question: "Foomatic" is the general name for all +the overlapping code and data behind the "*omatic" scripts.... -- +Foomatic up to versions 2.0.x required (ugly) Perl data structures +attached the Linuxprinting.org PPDs for CUPS. It had a different +"*omatic" script for every spooler, as well as different printer +configuration files.. +

7.13.1.5.The Grand Unification +achieved...

+This all has changed in Foomatic versions 2.9 (Beta) and released as +"stable" 3.0. This has now achieved the convergence of all *omatic +scripts: it is called the foomatic-rip. +This single script is the unification of the previously different +spooler-specific *omatic scripts. foomatic-rip is used by all the +different spoolers alike. Because foomatic-rip can read PPDs (both the +original PostScript printer PPDs and the Linuxprinting.org-generated +ones), all of a sudden all supported spoolers can have the power of +PPDs at their disposal; users only need to plug "foomatic-rip" into +their system.... For users there is improved media type and source +support; paper sizes and trays are easier to configure. +

+Also, the New Generation of Linuxprinting.org PPDs doesn't contain +Perl data structures any more. If you are a distro maintainer and have +used the previous version of Foomatic, you may want to give the new +one a spin: but don't forget to generate a new-version set of PPDs, +via the new foomatic-db-engine! +Individual users just need to generate a single new PPD specific to +their model by following +the steps outlined in the Foomatic tutorial or further +below. This new development is truly amazing. +

+foomatic-rip is a very clever wrapper around the need to run +Ghostscript with a different syntax, different options, different +device selections and/or different filters for each different printer +or different spooler. At the same time it can read the PPD associated +with a print queue and modify the print job according to the user +selections. Together with this comes the 100% compliance of the new +Foomatic PPDs with the Adobe spec. Some really innovative features of +the Foomatic concept will surprise users: it will support custom paper +sizes for many printers; and it will support printing on media drawn +from different paper trays within the same job (in both cases: even +where there is no support for this from Windows-based vendor printer +drivers). +

Driver Development outside

+Most driver development itself does not happen within +Linuxprinting.org. Drivers are written by independent maintainers. +Linuxprinting.org just pools all the information, and stores it in its +database. In addition, it also provides the Foomatic glue to integrate +the many drivers into any modern (or legacy) printing system known to +the world. +

+Speaking of the different driver development groups: most of +the work is currently done in three projects. These are: +

Omni +-- a Free Software project by IBM which tries to convert their printer +driver knowledge from good-ol' OS/2 times into a modern, modular, +universal driver architecture for Linux/Unix (still Beta). This +currently supports 437 models.
HPIJS -- +a Free Software project by HP to provide the support for their own +range of models (very mature, printing in most cases is perfect and +provides true photo quality). This currently supports 369 +models.
Gimp-Print -- a Free software +effort, started by Michael Sweet (also lead developer for CUPS), now +directed by Robert Krawitz, which has achieved an amazing level of +photo print quality (many Epson users swear that its quality is +better than the vendor drivers provided by Epson for the Microsoft +platforms). This currently supports 522 models.

Forums, Downloads, Tutorials, Howtos -- also for Mac OS X and +commercial Unix

+Linuxprinting.org today is the one-stop "shop" to download printer +drivers. Look for printer information and tutorials +or solve printing problems in its popular forums. But +it's not just for GNU/Linux: users and admins of commercial UNIX +systems are also going there, and the relatively new Mac +OS X forum has turned out to be one of the most frequented +fora after only a few weeks. +

+Linuxprinting.org and the Foomatic driver wrappers around Ghostscript +are now a standard toolchain for printing on all the important +distros. Most of them also have CUPS underneath. While in recent years +most printer data had been added by Till (who works at Mandrake), many +additional contributions came from engineers with SuSE, RedHat, +Connectiva, Debian and others. Vendor-neutrality is an important goal +of the Foomatic project. +

Note

+Till Kamppeter from MandrakeSoft is doing an excellent job in his +spare time to maintain Linuxprinting.org and Foomatic. So if you use +it often, please send him a note showing your appreciation. +

Foomatic Database generated PPDs

+The Foomatic database is an amazing piece of ingenuity in itself. Not +only does it keep the printer and driver information, but it is +organized in a way that it can generate "PPD" files "on the fly" from +its internal XML-based datasets. While these PPDs are modelled to the +Adobe specification of "PostScript Printer Descriptions" (PPDs), the +Linuxprinting.org/Foomatic-PPDs don't normally drive PostScript +printers: they are used to describe all the bells and whistles you +could ring or blow on an Epson Stylus inkjet, or a HP Photosmart or +what-have-you. The main "trick" is one little additional line, not +envisaged by the PPD specification, starting with the "*cupsFilter" +keyword: it tells the CUPS daemon how to proceed with the PostScript +print file (old-style Foomatic-PPDs named the +cupsomatic filter script, while the new-style +PPDs now call foomatic-rip). This filter +script calls Ghostscript on the host system (the recommended variant +is ESP Ghostscript) to do the rendering work. foomatic-rip knows which +filter or internal device setting it should ask from Ghostscript to +convert the PostScript printjob into a raster format ready for the +target device. This usage of PPDs to describe the options of non-PS +printers was the invention of the CUPS developers. The rest is easy: +GUI tools (like KDE's marvellous "kprinter", +or the GNOME "gtklp", "xpp" and the CUPS +web interface) read the PPD too and use this information to present +the available settings to the user as an intuitive menu selection. +

foomatic-rip and Foomatic-PPD Download and Installation

+Here are the steps to install a foomatic-rip driven "LaserJet 4 Plus" +compatible printer in CUPS (note that recent distributions of SuSE, +UnitedLinux and Mandrake may ship with a complete package of +Foomatic-PPDs plus the foomatic-rip utility. going directly to +Linuxprinting.org ensures you to get the latest driver/PPD files): +

Surf to http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi +
Check the complete list of printers in the database: +http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=Anyone +
There select your model and click on the +link.
You'll arrive at a page listing all drivers working +with this model (for all printers, there will always be +one recommended driver. Try this one +first).
In our case ("HP LaserJet 4 Plus"), we'll arrive here: +http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus +
The recommended driver is "ljet4".
There are several links provided here. You should +visit them all, if you are not familiar with the Linuxprinting.org +database.
There is a link to the database page for the "ljet4": +http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_driver.cgi?driver=ljet4 +On the driver's page, you'll find important and detailed information +about how to use that driver within the various available +spoolers.
Another link may lead you to the homepage of the +driver author or the driver.
Important links are the ones which provide hints with +setup instructions for CUPS (http://www.linuxprinting.org/cups-doc.html), +PDQ (http://www.linuxprinting.org/pdq-doc.html), +LPD, LPRng and GNUlpr (http://www.linuxprinting.org/lpd-doc.html) +as well as PPR (http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppr-doc.html) +or "spooler-less" printing (http://www.linuxprinting.org/direct-doc.html +).
You can view the PPD in your browser through this +link: http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.cgi?driver=ljet4&printer=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus&show=1 +
You can also (most importantly) +generate and download the PPD: http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.cgi?driver=ljet4&printer=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus&show=0 +
The PPD contains all the information needed to use our +model and the driver; this is, once installed, working transparently +for the user. Later you'll only need to choose resolution, paper size +etc. from the web-based menu, or from the print dialog GUI, or from +the commandline.
Should you have ended up on the driver's page (http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_driver.cgi?driver=ljet4), +you can choose to use the "PPD-O-Matic" online PPD generator +program.
Select the exact model and check either "download" or +"display PPD file" and click on "Generate PPD file".
If you save the PPD file from the browser view, please +don't use "cut'n'past" (since it could possibly damage line endings +and tabs, which makes the PPD likely to fail its duty), but use "Save +as..." in your browser's menu. (Best is to use the "download" option +from the web page directly).
Another very interesting part on each driver page is +the Show execution details button. If you +select your printer model and click that button, you will get +displayed a complete Ghostscript command line, enumerating all options +available for that driver/printermodel combo. This is a great way to +"Learn Ghostscript By Doing". It is also an excellent "cheat sheet" +for all experienced users who need to re-construct a good command line +for that damn printing script, but can't remember the exact +syntax. ;-)
Some time during your visit to Linuxprinting.org, save +the PPD to a suitable place on your harddisk, say +/path/to/my-printer.ppd (if you prefer to install +your printers with the help of the CUPS web interface, save the PPD to +the /usr/share/cups/model/ path and re-start +cupsd).

Then install the printer with a suitable commandline, +e.g.: +

+
+lpadmin -p laserjet4plus -v parallel:/dev/lp0 -E -P path/to/my-printer.ppd
+
+

Note again this: for all the new-style "Foomatic-PPDs" +from Linuxprinting.org, you also need a special "CUPS filter" named +"foomatic-rip".Get the latest version of "foomatic-rip" from: http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/download.cgi?filename=foomatic-rip&show=0 +
The foomatic-rip Perlscript itself also makes some +interesting reading (http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/download.cgi?filename=foomatic-rip&show=1), +because it is very well documented by Till's inline comments (even +non-Perl hackers will learn quite a bit about printing by reading +it... ;-)
Save foomatic-rip either directly in +/usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip or somewhere in +your $PATH (and don't forget to make it world-executable). Again, +don't save by "copy'n'paste" but use the appropriate link, or the +"Save as..." menu item in your browser.
If you save foomatic-rip in your $PATH, create a symlink: +cd /usr/lib/cups/filter/ ; ln -s `which +foomatic-rip`. For CUPS to discover this new +available filter at startup, you need to re-start +cupsd.

+Once you print to a printqueue set up with the Foomatic-PPD, CUPS will +insert the appropriate commands and comments into the resulting +PostScript jobfile. foomatic-rip is able to read and act upon +these. foomatic-rip uses some specially encoded Foomatic comments, +embedded in the jobfile. These in turn are used to construct +(transparently for you, the user) the complicated ghostscript command +line telling for the printer driver how exactly the resulting raster +data should look like and which printer commands to embed into the +data stream. +

+You need: +

A "foomatic+something" PPD -- but it this not enough +to print with CUPS (it is only one important +component)
The "foomatic-rip" filter script (Perl) in +/usr/lib/cups/filters/
Perl to make foomatic-rip run
Ghostscript (because it is doing the main work, +controlled by the PPD/foomatic-rip combo) to produce the raster data +fit for your printermodel's consumption
Ghostscript must (depending on +the driver/model) contain support for a certain "device", representing +the selected "driver" for your model (as shown by "gs +-h")
foomatic-rip needs a new version of PPDs (PPD versions +produced for cupsomatic don't work with +foomatic-rip).

Page Accounting with CUPS

+Often there are questions regarding "print quotas" wherein Samba users +(that is, Windows clients) should not be able to print beyond a +certain amount of pages or data volume per day, week or month. This +feature is dependent on the real print subsystem you're using. +Samba's part is always to receive the job files from the clients +(filtered or unfiltered) and hand it over to this +printing subsystem. +

+Of course one could "hack" things with one's own scripts. But then +there is CUPS. CUPS supports "quotas" which can be based on sizes of +jobs or on the number of pages or both, and are spanning any time +period you want. +

Setting up Quotas

+This is an example command how root would set a print quota in CUPS, +assuming an existing printer named "quotaprinter": +

+
+  lpadmin -p quotaprinter -o job-quota-period=604800 -o job-k-limit=1024 -o job-page-limit=100
+
+

+This would limit every single user to print 100 pages or 1024 KB of +data (whichever comes first) within the last 604,800 seconds ( = 1 +week). +

Correct and incorrect Accounting

+For CUPS to count correctly, the printfile needs to pass the CUPS +"pstops" filter, otherwise it uses a "dummy" count of "1". Some +printfiles don't pass it (eg: image files) but then those are mostly 1 +page jobs anyway. This also means that proprietary drivers for the +target printer running on the client computers and CUPS/Samba, which +then spool these files as "raw" (i.e. leaving them untouched, not +filtering them), will be counted as "1-pagers" too! +

+You need to send PostScript from the clients (i.e. run a PostScript +driver there) to have the chance to get accounting done. If the +printer is a non-PostScript model, you need to let CUPS do the job to +convert the file to a print-ready format for the target printer. This +will be working for currently about 1,000 different printer models, +see http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi). +

Adobe and CUPS PostScript Drivers for Windows Clients

+Before CUPS-1.1.16 your only option was to use the Adobe PostScript +Driver on the Windows clients. The output of this driver was not +always passed through the "pstops" filter on the CUPS/Samba side, and +therefore was not counted correctly (the reason is that it often, +depending on the "PPD" being used, wrote a "PJL"-header in front of +the real PostScript which caused CUPS to skip pstops and go directly +to the "pstoraster" stage). +

+From CUPS-1.1.16 onward you can use the "CUPS PostScript Driver for +Windows NT/2K/XP clients" (which is tagged in the download area of +http://www.cups.org/ as the "cups-samba-1.1.16.tar.gz" package). It does +not work for Win9x/ME clients. But it guarantees: +

to not write an PJL-header
to still read and support all PJL-options named in the +driver PPD with its own means
that the file will pass through the "pstops" filter +on the CUPS/Samba server
to page-count correctly the +printfile

+You can read more about the setup of this combination in the manpage +for "cupsaddsmb" (which is only present with CUPS installed, and only +current from CUPS 1.1.16). +

The page_log File Syntax

+These are the items CUPS logs in the "page_log" for every +single page of a job: +

Printer name
User name
Job ID
Time of printing
the page number
the number of copies
a billing information string +(optional)
the host which sent the job (included since version +1.1.19)

+Here is an extract of my CUPS server's page_log file to illustrate the +format and included items: +

+
+        infotec_IS2027 kurt 401 [22/Apr/2003:10:28:43 +0100] 1 3 #marketing 10.160.50.13
+        infotec_IS2027 kurt 401 [22/Apr/2003:10:28:43 +0100] 2 3 #marketing 10.160.50.13
+        infotec_IS2027 kurt 401 [22/Apr/2003:10:28:43 +0100] 3 3 #marketing 10.160.50.13
+        infotec_IS2027 kurt 401 [22/Apr/2003:10:28:43 +0100] 4 3 #marketing 10.160.50.13
+        DigiMaster9110 boss 402 [22/Apr/2003:10:33:22 +0100] 1 440 finance-dep 10.160.51.33
+
+

+This was job ID "401", printed on "infotec_IS2027" by user "kurt", a +64-page job printed in 3 copies and billed to "#marketing", sent +from IP address 10.160.50.13. The next job had ID "402", was sent by +user "boss" from IP address 10.160.51.33,printed from one page 440 +copies and is set to be billed to "finance-dep". +

Possible Shortcomings

+What flaws or shortcomings are there with this quota system? +

the ones named above (wrongly logged job in case of +printer hardware failure, etc.)
in reality, CUPS counts the job pages that are being +processed in software (that is, going through the +"RIP") rather than the physical sheets successfully leaving the +printing device. Thus if there is a jam while printing the 5th sheet out +of 1000 and the job is aborted by the printer, the "page count" will +still show the figure of 1000 for that job
all quotas are the same for all users (no flexibility +to give the boss a higher quota than the clerk) no support for +groups
no means to read out the current balance or the +"used-up" number of current quota
a user having used up 99 sheets of 100 quota will +still be able to send and print a 1,000 sheet job
a user being denied a job because of a filled-up quota +doesn't get a meaningful error message from CUPS other than +"client-error-not-possible".

Future Developments

+This is the best system currently available, and there are huge +improvements under development for CUPS 1.2: +

page counting will go into the "backends" (these talk +directly to the printer and will increase the count in sync with the +actual printing process: thus a jam at the 5th sheet will lead to a +stop in the counting)
quotas will be handled more flexibly
probably there will be support for users to inquire +their "accounts" in advance
probably there will be support for some other tools +around this topic

Other Accounting Tools

+PrintAnalyzer, pyKota, printbill, LogReport. +

Additional Material

+A printer queue with no PPD associated to it is a +"raw" printer and all files will go directly there as received by the +spooler. The exceptions are file types "application/octet-stream" +which need "passthrough feature" enabled. "Raw" queues don't do any +filtering at all, they hand the file directly to the CUPS backend. +This backend is responsible for the sending of the data to the device +(as in the "device URI" notation: lpd://, socket://, +smb://, ipp://, http://, parallel:/, serial:/, usb:/ etc.) +

+"cupsomatic"/Foomatic are not native CUPS drivers +and they don't ship with CUPS. They are a Third Party add-on, +developed at Linuxprinting.org. As such, they are a brilliant hack to +make all models (driven by Ghostscript drivers/filters in traditional +spoolers) also work via CUPS, with the same (good or bad!) quality as +in these other spoolers. "cupsomatic" is only a vehicle to execute a +ghostscript commandline at that stage in the CUPS filtering chain, +where "normally" the native CUPS "pstoraster" filter would kick +in. cupsomatic by-passes pstoraster, "kidnaps" the printfile from CUPS +away and re-directs it to go through Ghostscript. CUPS accepts this, +because the associated CUPS-O-Matic-/Foomatic-PPD specifies: +

+
+   *cupsFilter:  "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 cupsomatic"
+
+

+This line persuades CUPS to hand the file to cupsomatic, once it has +successfully converted it to the MIME type +"application/vnd.cups-postscript". This conversion will not happen for +Jobs arriving from Windows which are auto-typed +"application/octet-stream", with the according changes in +/etc/cups/mime.types in place. +

+CUPS is widely configurable and flexible, even regarding its filtering +mechanism. Another workaround in some situations would be to have in +/etc/cups/mime.types entries as follows: +

+
+   application/postscript           application/vnd.cups-raw  0  -
+   application/vnd.cups-postscript  application/vnd.cups-raw  0  -
+
+

+This would prevent all Postscript files from being filtered (rather, +they will through the virtual nullfilter +denoted with "-"). This could only be useful for PS printers. If you +want to print PS code on non-PS printers (provided they support ASCII +text printing) an entry as follows could be useful: +

+
+   */*           application/vnd.cups-raw  0  -
+
+

+and would effectively send all files to the +backend without further processing. +

+Lastly, you could have the following entry: +

+
+   application/vnd.cups-postscript  application/vnd.cups-raw  0  my_PJL_stripping_filter
+
+

+You will need to write a my_PJL_stripping_filter +(could be a shellscript) that parses the PostScript and removes the +unwanted PJL. This would need to conform to CUPS filter design +(mainly, receive and pass the parameters printername, job-id, +username, jobtitle, copies, print options and possibly the +filename). It would be installed as world executable into +/usr/lib/cups/filters/ and will be called by CUPS +if it encounters a MIME type "application/vnd.cups-postscript". +

+CUPS can handle -o job-hold-until=indefinite. +This keeps the job in the queue "on hold". It will only be printed +upon manual release by the printer operator. This is a requirement in +many "central reproduction departments", where a few operators manage +the jobs of hundreds of users on some big machine, where no user is +allowed to have direct access (such as when the operators often need +to load the proper paper type before running the 10,000 page job +requested by marketing for the mailing, etc.). +

Auto-Deletion or Preservation of CUPS Spool Files

+Samba print files pass through two "spool" directories. One is the +incoming directory managed by Samba, (set in the path = +/var/spool/samba directive in the +[printers] section of +smb.conf). The other is the spool directory of +your UNIX print subsystem. For CUPS it is normally +/var/spool/cups/, as set by the cupsd.conf +directive RequestRoot /var/spool/cups. +

CUPS Configuration Settings explained

+Some important parameter settings in the CUPS configuration file +cupsd.conf are: +

PreserveJobHistory Yes: +This keeps some details of jobs in cupsd's mind (well it keeps the +"c12345", "c12346" etc. files in the CUPS spool directory, which do a +similar job as the old-fashioned BSD-LPD control files). This is set +to "Yes" as a default. +
PreserveJobFiles Yes: +This keeps the job files themselves in cupsd's mind +(well it keeps the "d12345", "d12346" etc. files in the CUPS spool +directory...). This is set to "No" as the CUPS +default. +
"MaxJobs 500": +This directive controls the maximum number of jobs +that are kept in memory. Once the number of jobs reaches the limit, +the oldest completed job is automatically purged from the system to +make room for the new one. If all of the known jobs are still +pending or active then the new job will be rejected. Setting the +maximum to 0 disables this functionality. The default setting is +0. +

+(There are also additional settings for "MaxJobsPerUser" and +"MaxJobsPerPrinter"...) +

Pre-conditions

+For everything to work as announced, you need to have three +things: +

a Samba-smbd which is compiled against "libcups" (Check +on Linux by running "ldd `which smbd`")
a Samba-smb.conf setting of +"printing = cups"
another Samba-smb.conf setting of +"printcap = cups"

Note

+In this case all other manually set printing-related commands (like +"print command", "lpq command", "lprm command", "lppause command" or +"lpresume command") are ignored and they should normally have no +influence what-so-ever on your printing. +

Manual Configuration

+If you want to do things manually, replace the "printing = +cups" by "printing = bsd". Then your manually set commands may work +(haven't tested this), and a "print command = lp -d %P %s; rm %s" +may do what you need. +

When not to use Samba to print to +CUPS

+[TO BE DONE] +

In Case of Trouble.....

+If you have more problems, post the output of these commands +to the CUPS or Samba mailing lists (choose the one which seems more +relevant to your problem): +

+
+   grep -v ^# /etc/cups/cupsd.conf | grep -v ^$
+   grep -v ^# /etc/samba/smb.conf | grep -v ^$ | grep -v "^;"
+
+

+(adapt paths as needed). These commands leave out the empty +lines and lines with comments, providing the "naked settings" in a +compact way. Don't forget to name the CUPS and Samba versions you +are using! This saves bandwidth and makes for easier readability +for experts (and you are expecting experts to read them, right? +;-) +

Where to find Documentation

+[TO BE DONE] +

How to ask for Help

+[TO BE DONE] +

Where to find Help

+[TO BE DONE] +

Appendix

Printing from CUPS to Windows attached +Printers

+From time to time the question arises, how you can print +to a Windows attached printer +from Samba. Normally the local connection +"Windows host <--> printer" would be done by USB or parallel +cable, but this doesn't matter to Samba. From here only an SMB +connection needs to be opened to the Windows host. Of course, this +printer must be "shared" first. As you have learned by now, CUPS uses +backends to talk to printers and other +servers. To talk to Windows shared printers you need to use the +smb (surprise, surprise!) backend. Check if this +is in the CUPS backend directory. This resides usually in +/usr/lib/cups/backend/. You need to find a "smb" +file there. It should be a symlink to smbspool +which file must exist and be executable: +

+
+ # ls -l /usr/lib/cups/backend/   
+ total 253
+ drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root          720 Apr 30 19:04 .
+ drwxr-xr-x    6 root     root          125 Dec 19 17:13 ..
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        10692 Feb 16 21:29 canon
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        10692 Feb 16 21:29 epson
+ lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            3 Apr 17 22:50 http -> ipp
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        17316 Apr 17 22:50 ipp
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        15420 Apr 20 17:01 lpd
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         8656 Apr 20 17:01 parallel
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         2162 Mar 31 23:15 pdfdistiller
+ lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           25 Apr 30 19:04 ptal -> /usr/local/sbin/ptal-cups
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         6284 Apr 20 17:01 scsi
+ lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           17 Apr  2 03:11 smb -> /usr/bin/smbspool
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         7912 Apr 20 17:01 socket
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         9012 Apr 20 17:01 usb
+
+# ls -l `which smbspool`
+ -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       563245 Dec 28 14:49 /usr/bin/smbspool
+
+

+If this symlink doesn't exist, create it: +

+
+# ln -s `which smbspool` /usr/lib/cups/backend/smb
+
+

+smbspool has been written by Mike Sweet from the CUPS folks. It is +included and ships with Samba. It may also be used with print +subsystems other than CUPS, to spool jobs to Windows printer shares. To +set up printer "winprinter" on CUPS, you need to have a "driver" for +it. Essentially this means to convert the print data on the CUPS/Samba +host to a format that the printer can digest (the Windows host is +unable to convert any files you may send). This also means you should +be able to print to the printer if it were hooked directly at your +Samba/CUPS host. For troubleshooting purposes, this is what you +should do, to determine if that part of the process chain is in +order. Then proceed to fix the network connection/authentication to +the Windows host, etc. +

+To install a printer with the smb backend on CUPS, use this command: +

+
+# lpadmin -p winprinter -v smb://WINDOWSNETBIOSNAME/printersharename -P /path/to/PPD
+
+

+The PPD must be able to direct CUPS to generate +the print data for the target model. For PostScript printers just use +the PPD that would be used with the Windows NT PostScript driver. But +what can you do if the printer is only accessible with a password? Or +if the printer's host is part of another workgroup? This is provided +for: you can include the required parameters as part of the +smb:// device-URI. Like this: +

+
+ smb://WORKGROUP/WINDOWSNETBIOSNAME/printersharename 
+ smb://username:password@WORKGROUP/WINDOWSNETBIOSNAME/printersharename
+ smb://username:password@WINDOWSNETBIOSNAME/printersharename
+
+

+Note that the device-URI will be visible in the process list of the +Samba server (e.g. when someone uses the ps -aux +command on Linux), even if the username and passwords are sanitized +before they get written into the log files. So this is an inherently +insecure option. However it is the only one. Don't use it if you want +to protect your passwords. Better share the printer in a way that +doesn't require a password! Printing will only work if you have a +working netbios name resolution up and running. Note that this is a +feature of CUPS and you don't necessarily need to have smbd running +(but who wants that? :-). +

More CUPS filtering Chains

+The following diagrams reveal how CUPS handles print jobs. +

+#########################################################################
+#
+# CUPS in and of itself has this (general) filter chain (CAPITAL
+# letters are FILE-FORMATS or MIME types, other are filters (this is
+# true for pre-1.1.15 of pre-4.3 versions of CUPS and ESP PrintPro):
+#
+# SOMETHNG-FILEFORMAT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     somethingtops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/POSTSCRIPT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     pstops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-POSTSCRIPT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     pstoraster   # as shipped with CUPS, independent from any Ghostscipt
+#      |           # installation on the system
+#      |  (= "postscipt interpreter")
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-RASTER
+#      |
+#      V
+#     rastertosomething  (e.g. Gimp-Print filters may be plugged in here)
+#      |   (= "raster driver")
+#      V
+# SOMETHING-DEVICE-SPECIFIC
+#      |
+#      V
+#     backend
+#
+#
+# ESP PrintPro has some enhanced "rastertosomething" filters as compared to
+# CUPS, and also a somewhat improved "pstoraster" filter.
+#
+# NOTE: Gimp-Print and some other 3rd-Party-Filters (like TurboPrint) to
+#       CUPS and ESP PrintPro plug-in where rastertosomething is noted.
+#
+#########################################################################
+

+#########################################################################
+#
+# This is how "cupsomatic" comes into play:
+# =========================================
+#
+# SOMETHNG-FILEFORMAT
+#      |
+#      V
+#    somethingtops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/POSTSCRIPT
+#      |
+#      V
+#    pstops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-POSTSCRIPT ----------------+
+#      |                                          V
+#      V                                         cupsomatic
+#    pstoraster                                  (constructs complicated
+#      |  (= "postscipt interpreter")            Ghostscript commandline
+#      |                                         to let the file be
+#      V                                         processed by a
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-RASTER                    "-sDEVICE=s.th."
+#      |                                         call...)
+#      V                                          |
+#    rastertosomething                            V
+#      |    (= "raster driver")     +-------------------------+
+#      |                            | Ghostscript at work.... |
+#      V                            |                         |
+# SOMETHING-DEVICE-SPECIFIC         *-------------------------+
+#      |                                          |
+#      V                                          |
+#    backend <------------------------------------+
+#      |
+#      V
+#    THE PRINTER
+#
+#
+# Note, that cupsomatic "kidnaps" the printfile after the
+# "APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-POSTSCRPT" stage and deviates it gh
+# the CUPS-external, systemwide Ghostscript installation, bypassing the
+# "pstoraster" filter (therefore also bypassing the CUPS-raster-drivers
+# "rastertosomething", and hands the rasterized file directly to the CUPS
+# backend...
+#
+# cupsomatic is not made by the CUPS developers. It is an independent
+# contribution to printing development, made by people from
+# Linuxprinting.org. (see also http://www.cups.org/cups-help.html)
+#
+# NOTE: Gimp-Print and some other 3rd-Party-Filters (like TurboPrint) to
+#       CUPS and ESP PrintPro plug-in where rastertosomething is noted.
+#
+#########################################################################
+

+#########################################################################
+#
+# And this is how it works for ESP PrintPro from 4.3:
+# ===================================================
+#
+# SOMETHNG-FILEFORMAT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     somethingtops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/POSTSCRIPT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     pstops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-POSTSCRIPT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     gsrip
+#      |  (= "postscipt interpreter")
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-RASTER
+#      |
+#      V
+#     rastertosomething  (e.g. Gimp-Print filters may be plugged in here)
+#      |   (= "raster driver")
+#      V
+# SOMETHING-DEVICE-SPECIFIC
+#      |
+#      V
+#     backend
+#
+# NOTE: Gimp-Print and some other 3rd-Party-Filters (like TurboPrint) to
+#       CUPS and ESP PrintPro plug-in where rastertosomething is noted.
+#
+#########################################################################
+

+#########################################################################
+#
+# This is how "cupsomatic" would come into play with ESP PrintPro:
+# ================================================================
+#
+#
+# SOMETHNG-FILEFORMAT
+#      |
+#      V
+#    somethingtops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/POSTSCRIPT
+#      |
+#      V
+#    pstops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-POSTSCRIPT ----------------+
+#      |                                          V
+#      V                                         cupsomatic
+#    gsrip                                       (constructs complicated
+#      |  (= "postscipt interpreter")            Ghostscript commandline
+#      |                                         to let the file be
+#      V                                         processed by a
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-RASTER                    "-sDEVICE=s.th."
+#      |                                         call...)
+#      V                                          |
+#    rastertosomething                            V
+#      |   (= "raster driver")      +-------------------------+
+#      |                            | Ghostscript at work.... |
+#      V                            |                         |
+# SOMETHING-DEVICE-SPECIFIC         *-------------------------+
+#      |                                          |
+#      V                                          |
+#    backend <------------------------------------+
+#      |
+#      V
+#    THE PRINTER
+#
+# NOTE: Gimp-Print and some other 3rd-Party-Filters (like TurboPrint) to
+#       CUPS and ESP PrintPro plug-in where rastertosomething is noted.
+#
+#########################################################################
+

+#########################################################################
+#
+# And this is how it works for CUPS from 1.1.15:
+# ==============================================
+#
+# SOMETHNG-FILEFORMAT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     somethingtops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/POSTSCRIPT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     pstops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-POSTSCRIPT-----+
+#                  +------------------v------------------------------+
+#                  | Ghostscript                                     |
+#                  | at work...                                      |
+#                  | (with                                           |
+#                  | "-sDEVICE=cups")                                |
+#                  |                                                 |
+#                  |         (= "postscipt interpreter")             |
+#                  |                                                 |
+#                  +------------------v------------------------------+
+#                                     |
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-RASTER >-------+
+#      |
+#      V
+#     rastertosomething
+#      |   (= "raster driver")
+#      V
+# SOMETHING-DEVICE-SPECIFIC
+#      |
+#      V
+#     backend
+#
+#
+# NOTE: since version 1.1.15 CUPS "outsourced" the pstoraster process to
+#       Ghostscript. GNU Ghostscript needs to be patched to handle the
+#       CUPS requirement; ESP Ghostscript has this builtin. In any case,
+#       "gs -h" needs to show up a "cups" device. pstoraster is now a
+#       calling an appropriate "gs -sDEVICE=cups..." commandline to do
+#       the job. It will output "application/vnd.cup-raster", which will
+#       be finally processed by a CUPS raster driver "rastertosomething"
+#       Note the difference to "cupsomatic", which will not output
+#       CUPS-raster, but a final version of the printfile, ready to be
+#       sent to the printer. cupsomatic also doesn't use the "cups"
+#       devicemode in Ghostscript, but one of the classical devicemodes....
+#
+# NOTE: Gimp-Print and some other 3rd-Party-Filters (like TurboPrint) to
+#       CUPS and ESP PrintPro plug-in where rastertosomething is noted.
+#
+#########################################################################
+

+#########################################################################
+#
+# And this is how it works for CUPS from 1.1.15, with cupsomatic included:
+# ========================================================================
+#
+# SOMETHNG-FILEFORMAT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     somethingtops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/POSTSCRIPT
+#      |
+#      V
+#     pstops
+#      |
+#      V
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-POSTSCRIPT-----+
+#                  +------------------v------------------------------+
+#                  | Ghostscript        . Ghostscript at work....    |
+#                  | at work...         . (with "-sDEVICE=           |
+#                  | (with              .            s.th."          |
+#                  | "-sDEVICE=cups")   .                            |
+#                  |                    .                            |
+#                  | (CUPS standard)    .      (cupsomatic)          |
+#                  |                    .                            |
+#                  |          (= "postscript interpreter")           |
+#                  |                    .                            |
+#                  +------------------v--------------v---------------+
+#                                     |              |
+# APPLICATION/VND.CUPS-RASTER >-------+              |
+#      |                                             |
+#      V                                             |
+#     rastertosomething                              |
+#      |   (= "raster driver")                       |
+#      V                                             |
+# SOMETHING-DEVICE-SPECIFIC >------------------------+
+#      |
+#      V
+#     backend
+#
+#
+# NOTE: Gimp-Print and some other 3rd-Party-Filters (like TurboPrint) to
+#       CUPS and ESP PrintPro plug-in where rastertosomething is noted.
+#
+##########################################################################
+

Trouble Shooting Guidelines to fix typical Samba printing +Problems

+This is a short description of how to debug printing problems +with Samba. This describes how to debug problems with printing from +a SMB client to a Samba server, not the other way around. +

Win9x client can't install driver

For Win9x clients require the printer names to be 8 +chars (or "8 plus 3 chars suffix") max; otherwise the driver files +won't get transferred when you want to download them from +Samba.

testparm

Run testparm: It will tell you if +smb.conf parameters are in the wrong +section. Many people have had the "printer admin" parameter in the +[printers] section and experienced +problems. "testparm" will tell you if it sees +this.

"cupsaddsmb" keeps asking for a root password in a +neverending loop

Have you security = user? Have +you used smbpasswd to give root a Samba account? +You can do 2 things: open another terminal and execute +smbpasswd -a root to create the account, and +continue with entering the password into the first terminal. Or break +out of the loop by hitting ENTER twice (without trying to type a +password).

"cupsaddsmb" gives "No PPD file for printer..." +message (but I swear there is one!)

Have you enabled printer sharing on CUPS? This means: +do you have a <Location +/printers>....</Location> section in CUPS +server's cupsd.conf which doesn't deny access to +the host you run "cupsaddsmb" from? It could be +an issue if you use cupsaddsmb remotely, or if you use it with a +-h parameter: cupsaddsmb -H +sambaserver -h cupsserver -v printername. +
Is your +"TempDir" directive in +cupsd.conf +set to a valid value and is it writeable? +

I can't connect client to Samba printer.

Use smbstatus to check which user +you are from Samba's point of view. Do you have the privileges to +write into the [print$] +share?

I can't reconnect to Samba under a new account +from Win2K/XP

Once you are connected as the "wrong" user (for +example as "nobody", which often occurs if you have map to +guest = bad user), Windows Explorer will not accept an +attempt to connect again as a different user. There won't be any byte +transfered on the wire to Samba, but still you'll see a stupid error +message which makes you think that Samba has denied access. Use +smbstatus to check for active connections. Kill the +PIDs. You still can't re-connect and get the dreaded +You can't connect with a second account from the same +machine message, as soon as you are trying? And you +don't see any single byte arriving at Samba (see logs; use "ethereal") +indicating a renewed connection attempt? Shut all Explorer Windows. +This makes Windows forget what it has cached in its memory as +established connections. Then re-connect as the right user. Best +method is to use a DOS terminal window and first +do net use z: \\SAMBAHOST\print$ /user:root. Check +with smbstatus that you are connected under a +different account. Now open the "Printers" folder (on the Samba server +in the Network Neighbourhood), right-click the +printer in question and select +Connect...

Avoid being connected to the Samba server as the +"wrong" user

You see per smbstatus that you are +connected as user "nobody"; while you wanted to be "root" or +"printeradmin"? This is probably due to map to guest = bad +user, which silently connects you under the guest account, +when you gave (maybe by accident) an incorrect username. Remove +map to guest, if you want to prevent +this.

Upgrading to CUPS drivers from Adobe drivers on +NT/2K/XP clients gives problems

First delete all "old" Adobe-using printers. Then +delete all "old" Adobe drivers. (On Win2K/XP, right-click in +background of "Printers" folder, select "Server Properties...", select +tab "Drivers" and delete here).

I can't use "cupsaddsmb"on a Samba server which is +a PDC

Do you use the "naked" root user name? Try to do it +this way: cupsaddsmb -U DOMAINNAME\\root -v +printername (note the two backslashes: the first one is +required to "escape" the second one).

I deleted a printer on Win2K; but I still see +its driver

Deleting a printer on the client won't delete the +driver too (to verify, right-click on the white background of the +"Printers" folder, select "Server Properties" and click on the +"Drivers" tab). These same old drivers will be re-used when you try to +install a printer with the same name. If you want to update to a new +driver, delete the old ones first. Deletion is only possible if no +other printer uses the same driver.

Win2K/XP "Local Security +Policies"

Local Security Policies may not +allow the installation of unsigned drivers. "Local Security Policies" +may not allow the installation of printer drivers at +all.

WinXP clients: "Administrator can not install +printers for all local users"

Windows XP handles SMB printers on a "per-user" basis. +This means every user needs to install the printer himself. To have a +printer available for everybody, you might want to use the built-in +IPP client capabilities of WinXP. Add a printer with the print path of +http://cupsserver:631/printers/printername. +Still looking into this one: maybe a "logon script" could +automatically install printers for all +users.

"Print Change Notify" functions on +NT-clients

For "print change notify" functions on NT++ clients, +these need to run the "Server" service first (re-named to +File & Print Sharing for MS Networks in +XP).

WinXP-SP1

WinXP-SP1 introduced a Point and Print +Restriction Policy (this restriction doesn't apply to +"Administrator" or "Power User" groups of users). In Group Policy +Object Editor: go to User Configuration --> +Administrative Templates --> Control Panel --> +Printers. The policy is automatically set to +Enabled and the Users can only Point +and Print to machines in their Forest . You probably need +to change it to Disabled or Users can +only Point and Print to these servers in order to make +driver downloads from Samba possible.

I can't set and save default print options for all +users on Win2K/XP

How are you doing it? I bet the wrong way (it is not +very easy to find out, though). There are 3 different ways to bring +you to a dialog that seems to set everything. All +three dialogs look the same. Only one of them +does what you intend. You need to be +Administrator or Print Administrator to do this for all users. Here +is how I do in on XP: +

The first "wrong" way: + +
1. Open the Printers +folder.
2. Right-click on the printer +(remoteprinter on cupshost) and +select in context menu Printing +Preferences...
3. Look at this dialog closely and remember what it looks +like.
+
The second "wrong" way: + +
1. Open the Printers +folder.
2. Right-click on the printer (remoteprinter on +cupshost) and select in the context menu +Properties
3. Click on the General +tab
4. Click on the button Printing +Preferences...
5. A new dialog opens. Keep this dialog open and go back +to the parent dialog.
+
The third, the "correct" way: (should you do +this from the beginning, just carry out steps 1. and 2. from second +"way" above) + +
1. Click on the Advanced +tab. (Hmmm... if everything is "Grayed Out", then you are not logged +in as a user with enough privileges).
2. Click on the Printing +Defaults... button.
3. On any of the two new tabs, click on the +Advanced... +button.
4. A new dialog opens. Compare this one to the other, +identical looking one from "B.5" or A.3".
+

+Do you see any difference? I don't either... However, only the last +one, which you arrived at with steps "C.1.-6." will save any settings +permanently and be the defaults for new users. If you want all clients +to get the same defaults, you need to conduct these steps as +Administrator (printer admin in +smb.conf) before a client +downloads the driver (the clients can later set their own +per-user defaults by following the +procedures A. or B. +above).

What are the most common blunders in driver +settings on Windows clients?

Don't use Optimize for +Speed: use Optimize for +Portability instead (Adobe PS Driver) Don't use +Page Independence: No: always +settle with Page Independence: +Yes (Microsoft PS Driver and CUPS PS Driver for +WinNT/2K/XP) If there are problems with fonts: use +Download as Softfont into +printer (Adobe PS Driver). For +TrueType Download Options +choose Outline. Use PostScript +Level 2, if you are having trouble with a non-PS printer, and if +there is a choice.

I can't make cupsaddsmb work +with newly installed printer

Symptom: the last command of +cupsaddsmb doesn't complete successfully: +cmd = setdriver printername printername result was +NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL then possibly the printer was not yet +"recognized" by Samba. Did it show up in Network +Neighbourhood? Did it show up in rpcclient +hostname -c 'enumprinters'? Restart smbd (or send a +kill -HUP to all processes listed by +smbstatus and try +again.

My permissions on +/var/spool/samba/ get reset after each +reboot

Have you by accident set the CUPS spool directory to +the same location? (RequestRoot +/var/spool/samba/ in cupsd.conf or +the other way round: /var/spool/cups/ is set as +path in the [printers] +section). These must be different. Set +RequestRoot /var/spool/cups/ in +cupsd.conf and path = +/var/spool/samba in the [printers] +section of smb.conf. Otherwise cupsd will +sanitize permissions to its spool directory with each restart, and +printing will not work reliably.

My printers work fine: just the printer named "lp" +intermittently swallows jobs and spits out completely different +ones

It is a very bad idea to name any printer "lp". This +is the traditional Unix name for the default printer. CUPS may be set +up to do an automatic creation of "Implicit Classes". This means, to +group all printers with the same name to a pool of devices, and +loadbalancing the jobs across them in a round-robin fashion. Chances +are high that someone else has an "lp" named printer too. You may +receive his jobs and send your own to his device unwittingly. To have +tight control over the printer names, set BrowseShortNames +No. It will present any printer as "printername@cupshost" +then, giving you a better control over what may happen in a large +networked environment.

How do I "watch" my Samba server?

You can use tail -f +/var/log/samba/log.smbd (you may need a different path) to +see a live scrolling of all log messages. smbcontrol smbd +debuglevel tells you which verbosity goes into the +logs. smbcontrol smbd debug 3 sets the verbosity to +a quite high level (you can choose from 0 to 10 or 100). This works +"on the fly", without the need to restart the smbd daemon. Don't use +more than 3 initially; or you'll drown in an ocean of +messages.

I can't use Samba from my WinXP Home box, while +access from WinXP Prof works flawlessly

You have our condolences! WinXP home has been +completely neutered by Microsoft as compared to WinXP Prof: you can +not log into a WinNT domain. It cannot join a Win NT domain as a +member server. While it is possible to access domain resources, users +don't have "single sign-on". They need to supply username and password +each time they connect to a resource. Logon scripts and roaming +profiles are not supported. It can serve file and print shares; but +only in "share-mode security" level. It can not use "user-mode +security" (what Windows 95/98/ME still can +do).

Where do I find the Adobe PostScript driver files +I need for "cupsaddsmb"?

Use smbclient to connect to any +Windows box with a shared PostScript printer: smbclient +//windowsbox/print\$ -U guest. You can navigate to the +W32X86/2 subdir to mget ADOBE* +and other files or to WIN40/0 to do the same. -- +Another option is to download the *.exe packaged +files from the Adobe website.

An Overview of the CUPS Printing Processes

Figure 19.15. CUPS Printing Overview

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