<chapter id="CUPS-printing">
<chapterinfo>
<author>
<firstname>Kurt</firstname><surname>Pfeifle</surname>
<affiliation>
<orgname>Danka Deutschland GmbH </orgname>
<address><email>kpfeifle@danka.de</email></address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Ciprian</firstname><surname>Vizitiu</surname>
<affiliation>
<address><email>CVizitiu@gbif.org</email></address>
</affiliation>
<contrib>drawings</contrib>
</author>
<author>&person.jelmer;<contrib>drawings</contrib></author>
<pubdate> (3 June 2003) </pubdate>
</chapterinfo>
<title>CUPS Printing Support in Samba 3.0</title>
<sect1>
<title>Introduction</title>
<sect2>
<title>Features and Benefits</title>
<para>
The Common UNIX Print System (<ulink
url="http://www.cups.org/">CUPS</ulink>) has become very popular. All
major Linux distributions now ship it as their default printing
system. To many it is still a very mystical tool. Mostly, it
"just works" (TM). People tend to regard it as a "black box"
which they don't want to look into, as long as it works. But once
there is a little problem, they are in trouble to find out where to
start debugging it. Refer to the "Classical Printing" chapter also, it
contains a lot of information that is relevant for CUPS.
</para>
<para>
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 understand CUPS
from the beginning. This documentation will lead you to a
complete understanding of CUPS. Let's start with the most basic
things first.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
CUPS is more than just a print spooling system. It is a complete
printer management system that complies with the new IPP
(<emphasis>Internet Printing Protocol</emphasis>). IPP is an industry
and IETF (<emphasis>Internet Engineering Task Force</emphasis>)
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). Additionally, it
has the traditional command line and several more modern GUI interfaces
(GUI interfaces developed by 3rd parties, like KDE's
overwhelming <ulink url="http://printing.kde.org/">KDEPrint</ulink>).
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Basic Configuration of CUPS support</title>
<para>
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: <smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption> and
<smbconfoption><name>printcap</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>. CUPS does not need a printcap file.
However, the <filename>cupsd.conf</filename> configuration file knows of two related directives that control
how such a file will be automatically created and maintained by CUPS for the convenience of third party
applications (example: <parameter>Printcap /etc/printcap</parameter> and <parameter>PrintcapFormat BSD</parameter>).
Legacy programs often require the existence of a printcap file containing printer names or they will refuse to
print. Make sure CUPS is set to generate and maintain a printcap file! For details see
<command>man cupsd.conf</command> and other CUPS-related documentation, like the wealth of documents on your CUPS server
itself: <ulink noescape="1" url="http://localhost:631/documentation.html">http://localhost:631/documentation.html</ulink>.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Linking of smbd with libcups.so</title>
<para>
Samba has a very special relationship to CUPS. Samba can be compiled with CUPS library support.
Most recent installations have this support enabled. 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 <filename>libcups.so</filename> -- but
there are some differences in required or supported configuration
then.
</para>
<para>
When Samba is compiled against libcups, <smbconfoption><name>printcap</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>
uses the CUPS API to list printers, submit jobs, query queues, etc. Otherwise it maps to the System V
commands with an additional <command>-oraw</command> option for printing. On a Linux
system, you can use the <command>ldd</command> utility to find out details (ldd may not be present on
other OS platforms, or its function may be embodied by a different command):
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>ldd `which smbd`</userinput>
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)
[....]
</screen></para>
<para>
The line <computeroutput>libcups.so.2 => /usr/lib/libcups.so.2 (0x40123000)</computeroutput> shows
there is CUPS support compiled into this version of Samba. If this is the case, and printing = cups
is set, then <emphasis>any otherwise manually set print command in &smb.conf; is ignored</emphasis>.
This is an important point to remember!
</para>
<tip><para> Should it be necessary, for any reason, to set your own print commands, you can do this by setting
<smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>sysv</value></smbconfoption>. However, you will loose all the benefits
of tight CUPS/Samba integration. When you do this you must manually configure the printing system commands
(most important: <smbconfoption><name>print command</name></smbconfoption>; other commands are
<smbconfoption><name>lppause command</name></smbconfoption>,
<smbconfoption><name>lpresume command</name></smbconfoption>,
<smbconfoption><name>lpq command</name></smbconfoption>,
<smbconfoption><name>lprm command</name></smbconfoption>,
<smbconfoption><name>queuepause command</name></smbconfoption> and
<smbconfoption><name>queue resume command</name></smbconfoption>).</para></tip>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Simple &smb.conf; Settings for CUPS</title>
<para>
To summarize, here is the simplest printing-related setup for &smb.conf; to enable basic CUPS support:
</para>
<para><smbconfexample>
<title>Simplest printing-related smb.conf</title>
<smbconfsection>[global]</smbconfsection>
<smbconfoption><name>load printers</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printcap name</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfsection>[printers]</smbconfsection>
<smbconfoption><name>comment</name><value>All Printers</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>path</name><value>/var/spool/samba</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>browseable</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>public</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>guest ok</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>writable</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printable</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printer admin</name><value>root, @ntadmins</value></smbconfoption>
</smbconfexample></para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>More complex &smb.conf; Settings for
CUPS</title>
<para>
Here is a slightly more complex printing-related setup
for &smb.conf;. It enables general CUPS printing
support for all printers, but defines one printer share which is set
up differently.
</para>
<para><smbconfexample>
<title>Overriding global CUPS settings for one printer</title>
<smbconfsection>[global]</smbconfsection>
<smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printcap name</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>load printers</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfsection>[printers]</smbconfsection>
<smbconfoption><name>comment</name><value>All Printers</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>path</name><value>/var/spool/samba</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>public</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>guest ok</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>writable</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printable</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printer admin</name><value>root, @ntadmins</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfsection>[special_printer]</smbconfsection>
<smbconfoption><name>comment</name><value>A special printer with his own settings</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>path</name><value>/var/spool/samba-special</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>sysv</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printcap</name><value>lpstat</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>print command</name><value>echo "NEW: `date`: printfile %f" >> /tmp/smbprn.log ; \</value></smbconfoption>
<member><parameter>echo " `date`: p-%p s-%s f-%f" >> /tmp/smbprn.log ; \</parameter></member>
<member><parameter>echo " `date`: j-%j J-%J z-%z c-%c" >> /tmp/smbprn.log : rm %f</parameter></member>
<smbconfoption><name>public</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>guest ok</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>writeable</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printable</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printer admin</name><value>kurt</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>hosts deny</name><value>0.0.0.0</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>hosts allow</name><value>turbo_xp, 10.160.50.23, 10.160.51.60</value></smbconfoption>
</smbconfexample></para>
<para>
This special share is only there for testing purposes. It does not write the print job to a file. It just logs the job parameters
known to Samba into the <filename>/tmp/smbprn.log</filename> file and deletes the jobfile. Moreover, the
<smbconfoption><name>printer admin</name></smbconfoption> of this share is "kurt" (not the "@ntadmins" group);
guest access is not allowed; the share isn not published to the Network Neighbourhood (so you need to know it is there), and it only
allows access from only three hosts. To prevent CUPS kicking in and taking over the print jobs for that share, we need to set
<smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>sysv</value></smbconfoption> and
<smbconfoption><name>printcap</name><value>lpstat</value></smbconfoption>.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Advanced Configuration</title>
<para>
Before we delve into all the configuration options, let us clarify a few
points. <emphasis>Network printing needs to be organized and setup
correctly</emphasis>. Often this is not done correctly. Legacy systems
or small business LAN environments often lack design and good housekeeping.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Central spooling vs. "Peer-to-Peer" printing</title>
<indexterm><primary>spooling</primary><secondary>central</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>spooling</primary><secondary>peer-to-peer</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
Many small office or home networks, as well as badly organized larger
environments, allow each client a direct access to available network
printers. This is generally 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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>CUPS/Samba as a "spooling-only" Print Server; "raw" printing
with Vendor Drivers on Windows Clients</title>
<indexterm><primary>spooling-only</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>"raw" printing</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 print job file that it s ready to be sent 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.
</para>
<para>
It is possible to configure 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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Driver Installation Methods on Windows Clients</title>
<para>
The printer drivers on the Windows clients may be installed
in two functionally different ways:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>manually install the drivers locally on each client,
one by one; this yields the old <emphasis>LanMan</emphasis> style
printing; it uses a <filename>\\sambaserver\printershare</filename>
type of connection.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>point and print</primary></indexterm>
deposit and prepare the drivers (for later download) on
the print server (Samba); this enables the clients to use
"Point and Print" to get drivers semi-automatically installed the
first time they access the printer; with this method NT/2K/XP
clients use the <emphasis>SPOOLSS/MS-RPC</emphasis>
type printing calls.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The second method is recommended for use over the first.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Explicitly enable "raw" printing for
<emphasis>application/octet-stream</emphasis>!</title>
<indexterm><primary>application/octet-stream</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>/etc/cups/mime.types
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>/etc/cups/mime.convs</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Both contain entries (at the end of the respective files) which must
be uncommented to allow RAW mode operation.
In<filename>/etc/cups/mime.types</filename> make sure this line is
present:
</para>
<para><screen>
application/octet-stream
</screen></para>
<para>
In <filename>/etc/cups/mime.convs</filename>,
have this line:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>application/vnd.cups-raw</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
application/octet-stream application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
</screen></para>
<para>
If these two files are not set up correctly for raw Windows client
printing, you may encounter the dreaded <computeroutput>Unable to
convert file 0</computeroutput> in your CUPS error_log file.
</para>
<note><para>editing the <filename>mime.convs</filename> and the
<filename>mime.types</filename> file does not
<emphasis>enforce</emphasis> "raw" printing, it only
<emphasis>allows</emphasis> it.
</para></note>
<formalpara><title>Background</title>
<indexterm><primary>application/octet-stream</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <emphasis>MIME type: application/octet-stream</emphasis> 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).
</para>
</formalpara>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Three familiar Methods for driver upload plus a new one</title>
<indexterm><primary>point and print</primary></indexterm>
<para>
If you want to use the MS-RPC type printing, you must upload the
drivers onto the Samba server first (<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection>
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:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>add printer wizard</primary></indexterm>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>the GUI, "Add Printer Wizard"
<emphasis>upload-from-a-Windows-client</emphasis>
method;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the commandline, "smbclient/rpcclient"
<emphasis>upload-from-a-UNIX-workstation</emphasis>
method;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>imprints</primary></indexterm>
the <emphasis>Imprints</emphasis> Toolset
method.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
These 3 methods apply to CUPS all the same. A new and more
convenient way to load the Windows drivers into Samba is provided
if you use CUPS:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>cupsaddsmb</primary></indexterm>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>the <emphasis>cupsaddsmb</emphasis>
utility.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Using CUPS/Samba in an advanced Way -- intelligent printing
with PostScript Driver Download</title>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary><seealso>Ghostscript</seealso></indexterm>
<para>
Are you still following this? 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.
</para>
<para>
Possibly you need to setup CUPS in a more smart way. The reasons could
be manifold:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>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?</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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?</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Maybe your previous network printing setup is a mess
and shall be re-organized from a clean beginning?</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Maybe you have experiencing too many "Blue Screens",
originating from poorly debugged printer drivers running in NT "kernel
mode"?</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<sect2 id="gdipost">
<title>GDI on Windows -- PostScript on UNIX</title>
<indexterm><primary>GDI</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
<indexterm><primary>PCL</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PDL</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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
<emphasis>PostScript</emphasis> (trademark held by Adobe), and, to an
extent, <emphasis>PCL</emphasis> (trademark held by HP), have developed
into semi-official "standards", by being the most widely used PDLs
(<emphasis>Page Description Languages</emphasis>), there are still
many manufacturers who "roll their own" (their reasons may be
unacceptable license fees for using printer-embedded PostScript
interpreters, etc.).
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Windows Drivers, GDI and EMF</title>
<indexterm><primary>GDI</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>EMF</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>WYSIWYG</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 (<emphasis>Graphical Device
Interface</emphasis>), 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
<emphasis>on screen</emphasis> as well as <emphasis>on
paper</emphasis> (=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 (<emphasis>Enhanced
MetaFile</emphasis>). The EMF is processed by the printer driver and
converted to the printer-specific file format.
</para>
<note><para>
<indexterm><primary>PDF</primary></indexterm>
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 <emphasis>Core Graphic Engine</emphasis> uses a
<emphasis>PDF</emphasis> derivative for all display work.
</para></note>
<para>
<image id="small1"><imagedescription>Windows Printing to a local Printer</imagedescription><imagefile>1small</imagefile></image>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>UNIX Printfile Conversion and GUI Basics</title>
<indexterm><primary>X Window System</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PCL</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Xprint</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <emphasis>X.org</emphasis>,
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.
</para>
<formalpara>
<title>Background</title>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
</formalpara>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="post-and-ghost">
<title>PostScript and Ghostscript</title>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>GhostScript</primary><seealso>PostScript</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary><secondary>RIP</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <emphasis>Raster Image
Processor</emphasis> (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.
</para>
<note><para>
<indexterm><primary>PPD</primary></indexterm>
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....
</para>
</note>
<para>
<image id="small2"><imagedescription>Printing to a Postscript Printer</imagedescription>
<imagefile>2small</imagefile></image>
</para>
<indexterm><primary>PDL</primary></indexterm>
<para>
However, there are other types of printers out there. These don't know
how to print PostScript. They use their own <emphasis>Page Description
Language</emphasis> (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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Ghostscript -- the Software RIP for non-PostScript Printers</title>
<indexterm><primary>GhostScript</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Here is where <emphasis>Ghostscript</emphasis> 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
<emphasis>lot</emphasis> 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.
</para>
<para>
<image id="small3"><imagedescription>Ghostscript as a RIP for non-postscript printers</imagedescription>
<imagefile>3small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
<tip><para>
Use the "gs -h" command to check for all built-in "devices" of your
Ghostscript version. If you specify e.g. a parameter of
<parameter>-sDEVICE=png256</parameter> 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. <indexterm><primary>Ghostscript</primary><secondary>ESP</secondary><see>ESP GhostScript</see></indexterm>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).
</para></tip>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>PostScript Printer Description (PPD) Specification</title>
<indexterm><primary>PPD</primary></indexterm>
<para>
While PostScript in essence is a <emphasis>Page Description
Language</emphasis> (PDL) to represent the page layout in a
<emphasis>device independent</emphasis> 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 <emphasis>PostScript Printer Description</emphasis> (PPD)
files. Every PostScript printer ships with one of these files.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<warning><para>
<indexterm><primary>PDF</primary></indexterm>
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).
</para></warning>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>CUPS can use all Windows-formatted Vendor PPDs</title>
<para>
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:
<emphasis>if you get hold of the Windows NT version of the PPD, you
can use it unchanged in CUPS</emphasis> and thus access the full
power of your printer just like a Windows NT user could!
</para>
<tip><para>
To check the spec compliance of any PPD online, go to <ulink
noescape="1" url="http://www.cups.org/testppd.php">http://www.cups.org/testppd.php</ulink>
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.
</para></tip>
<warning><para>
<indexterm><primary>foomatic</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>cupsomatic</primary></indexterm>
For real PostScript printers <emphasis>don't</emphasis> use the
<emphasis>Foomatic</emphasis> or <emphasis>cupsomatic</emphasis>
PPDs from Linuxprinting.org. With these devices the original
vendor-provided PPDs are always the first choice!
</para></warning>
<tip><para>
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
<command>smbclient //NT4-box/print\$ -U username</command> to
access the Windows directory where all printer driver files are
stored. First look in the <filename>W32X86/2</filename> subdir for
the PPD you are seeking.
</para></tip>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>CUPS also uses PPDs for non-PostScript Printers</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>The CUPS Filtering Architecture</title>
<para>
The core of the CUPS filtering system is based on
<emphasis>Ghostscript</emphasis>. 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 <emphasis>MIME types</emphasis>. Every incoming
printfile is subjected to an initial
<emphasis>auto-typing</emphasis>. 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.
</para>
<para>
If CUPS rasterizes a PostScript file <emphasis>natively</emphasis> to
a bitmap, this is done in 2 stages:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>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".
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the second stage uses a "raster driver" which converts
the generic CUPS raster to a device specific raster.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Make sure your Ghostscript version has the "cups" device compiled in
(check with <command>gs -h | grep cups</command>). Otherwise you
may encounter the dreaded <computeroutput>Unable to convert file
0</computeroutput> in your CUPS error_log file. To have "cups" as a
device in your Ghostscript, you either need to <emphasis>patch GNU
Ghostscript</emphasis> and re-compile or use <indexterm><primary>ESP</primary><secondary>Ghostscript</secondary></indexterm><ulink
url="http://www.cups.org/ghostscript.php">ESP Ghostscript</ulink>. 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.
</para>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>cupsomatic</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>foomatic</primary></indexterm>
CUPS printers may be setup to use <emphasis>external</emphasis>
rendering paths. One of the most common ones is provided by the
<emphasis>Foomatic/cupsomatic</emphasis> concept, from <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/">Linuxprinting.org</ulink>. 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
<indexterm><primary>ESP</primary><secondary>Ghostscript</secondary></indexterm>
broadest printer model support is provided by ESP Ghostscript (more
about cupsomatic/Foomatic, particularly the new version called now
<emphasis>foomatic-rip</emphasis>, follows below).
</para>
<sect2>
<title>MIME types and CUPS Filters</title>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>MIME</primary></indexterm>
CUPS reads the file <filename>/etc/cups/mime.types</filename>
(and all other files carrying a <filename>*.types</filename> 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 <filename>mime.types</filename> and in the comments section of the
<filename>mime.types</filename> file itself. A simple rule reads
like this:
</para>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>application/pdf</primary></indexterm>
<screen>
application/pdf pdf string(0,%PDF)
</screen></para>
<para>
This means: if a filename has either a
<filename>.pdf</filename> suffix, or if the magic
string <emphasis>%PDF</emphasis> is right at the
beginning of the file itself (offset 0 from the start), then it is
a PDF file (<emphasis>application/pdf</emphasis>).
Another rule is this:
</para>
<para><screen>
application/postscript ai eps ps string(0,%!) string(0,<04>%!)
</screen></para>
<para>
Its meaning: if the filename has one of the suffixes
<filename>.ai</filename>, <filename>.eps</filename>,
<filename>.ps</filename> or if the file itself starts with one of the
strings <emphasis>%!</emphasis> or <emphasis><![CDATA[<04>%!]]></emphasis>, it
is a generic PostScript file
(<emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis>).
</para>
<note><para>
There is a very important difference between two similar MIME type in
CUPS: one is <emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis>, the other is
<emphasis>application/vnd.cups-postscript</emphasis>. While
<emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis> 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),
<emphasis>application/vnd.cups-postscript</emphasis> 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 <emphasis>pstops</emphasis> filter. pstops uses information
contained in the PPD to do the transformation.
</para></note>
<warning><para>
Don't confuse the other mime.types file your system might be using
with the one in the <filename>/etc/cups/</filename> directory.
</para></warning>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>MIME type Conversion Rules</title>
<indexterm><primary>MIME</primary></indexterm>
<para>
CUPS reads the file <filename>/etc/cups/mime.convs</filename>
(and all other files named with a <filename>*.convs</filename>
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:
</para>
<para><screen>
application/pdf application/postscript 33 pdftops
</screen></para>
<para>
This means that the <emphasis>pdftops</emphasis> filter will take
<emphasis>application/pdf</emphasis> as input and produce
<emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis> as output, the virtual
cost of this operation is 33 CUPS-$. The next filter is more
expensive, costing 66 CUPS-$:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>pdf</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
application/vnd.hp-HPGL application/postscript 66 hpgltops
</screen></para>
<para>
This is the <emphasis>hpgltops</emphasis>, which processes HP-GL
plotter files to PostScript.
</para>
<indexterm><primary>application/octet-stream</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
application/octet-stream
</screen></para>
<para>
Here are two more examples:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>text/plain</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
application/x-shell application/postscript 33 texttops
text/plain application/postscript 33 texttops
</screen></para>
<para>
The last two examples name the <emphasis>texttops</emphasis> 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").
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Filter Requirements</title>
<indexterm><primary>MIME</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <filename>mime.types</filename>
and <filename>mime.convs</filename>, then it will work seamlessly
inside CUPS!
</para>
<tip><para>
The mentioned "CUPS requirements" for filters are simple. Take
filenames or <filename>stdin</filename> as input and write to
<filename>stdout</filename>. They should take these 5 or 6 arguments:
<emphasis>printer job user title copies options [filename]</emphasis>
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>Printer</term>
<listitem><para>The name of the printer queue (normally this is the
name of the filter being run)</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>job</term>
<listitem><para>The numeric job ID for the job being
printed</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>user</term>
<listitem><para>The string from the originating-user-name
attribute</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>title</term>
<listitem><para>The string from the job-name attribute</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>copies</term>
<listitem><para>The numeric value from the number-copies
attribute</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>options</term>
<listitem><para>The job options</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>filename</term>
<listitem><para>(Optionally) The print request file (if missing,
filters expected data fed through <filename>stdin</filename>). In most
cases it is very easy to write a simple wrapper script around existing
filters to make them work with CUPS.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</tip>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Prefilters</title>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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 <emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis> (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 <emphasis>imagetops</emphasis> filter. Its outcome is always of
MIME type <emphasis>application/vnd.cups-postscript</emphasis>
(<emphasis>not</emphasis> application/postscript), meaning it has the
print options already embedded into the file.
</para>
<para>
<image id="small4" scale="25"><imagedescription>Prefiltering in CUPS to form Postscript</imagedescription>
<imagefile>4small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>pstops</title>
<para>
<emphasis>pstops</emphasis>is the filter to convert
<emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis> to
<emphasis>application/vnd.cups-postscript</emphasis>. 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.
</para>
<para>
<image id="small5" scale="25"><imagedescription>Adding Device-specific Print Options</imagedescription>
<imagefile>5small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
<para>
This is not all: other tasks performed by it are:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
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)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
putting 2 or more logical pages on one sheet of paper (the
so-called "number-up" function)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>counting the pages of the job to insert the accounting
information into the <filename>/var/log/cups/page_log</filename>
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>pstoraster</title>
<para>
<emphasis>pstoraster</emphasis> 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 <emphasis>raster drivers</emphasis>,
that are able to generate device-specific printer data.
</para>
<para>
<image id="small6" scale="25"><imagedescription>Postscript to intermediate Raster format</imagedescription><imagefile>6small</imagefile></image>
</para>
<para>
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).
</para>
<para>
<image id="small7"><imagedescription>CUPS-raster production using Ghostscript</imagedescription>
<imagefile>7small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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
<command>gs</command> with the <command>-sDEVICE=cups</command>
parameter. If your Ghostscript doesn't show a success on asking for
<command>gs -h |grep cups</command>, you might not be able to
print. Update your Ghostscript then!
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>imagetops and imagetoraster</title>
<para>
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:
</para>
<para>
<image id="small8"><imagedescription>Image format to CUPS-raster format conversion</imagedescription>
<imagefile>8small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>rasterto [printers specific]</title>
<para>
CUPS ships with quite some different raster drivers processing CUPS
raster. On my system I find in /usr/lib/cups/filter/ these:
<parameter>rastertoalps</parameter>, <parameter>rastertobj</parameter>, <parameter>rastertoepson</parameter>, <parameter>rastertoescp</parameter>,
<parameter>rastertopcl</parameter>, <parameter>rastertoturboprint</parameter>, <parameter>rastertoapdk</parameter>, <parameter>rastertodymo</parameter>,
<parameter>rastertoescp</parameter>, <parameter>rastertohp</parameter> and
<parameter>rastertoprinter</parameter>. Don't worry if you have less
than this; some of these are installed by commercial add-ons to CUPS
(like <parameter>rastertoturboprint</parameter>), others (like
<parameter>rastertoprinter</parameter>) by 3rd party driver
development projects (such as Gimp-Print) wanting to cooperate as
closely as possible with CUPS.
</para>
<para>
<image id="small9"><imagedescription>Raster to Printer Specific formats</imagedescription>
<imagefile>9small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>CUPS Backends</title>
<para>
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:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>usb</term>
<listitem><para>
This backend sends printfiles to USB-connected printers. An
example for the CUPS device-URI to use is:
<filename>usb:/dev/usb/lp0</filename>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>serial</term>
<listitem><para>
This backend sends printfiles to serially connected printers.
An example for the CUPS device-URI to use is:
<filename>serial:/dev/ttyS0?baud=11500</filename>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>parallel</term>
<listitem><para>
This backend sends printfiles to printers connected to the
parallel port. An example for the CUPS device-URI to use is:
<filename>parallel:/dev/lp0</filename>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>scsi</term>
<listitem><para>
This backend sends printfiles to printers attached to the
SCSI interface. An example for the CUPS device-URI to use is:
<filename>scsi:/dev/sr1</filename>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>lpd</term>
<listitem><para>
This backend sends printfiles to LPR/LPD connected network
printers. An example for the CUPS device-URI to use is:
<filename>lpd://remote_host_name/remote_queue_name</filename>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>AppSocket/HP JetDirect</term>
<listitem><para>
This backend sends printfiles to AppSocket (a.k.a. "HP
JetDirect") connected network printers. An example for the CUPS
device-URI to use is:
<filename>socket://10.11.12.13:9100</filename>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>ipp</term>
<listitem><para>
This backend sends printfiles to IPP connected network
printers (or to other CUPS servers). Examples for CUPS device-URIs
to use are:
<filename>ipp:://192.193.194.195/ipp</filename>
(for many HP printers) or
<filename>ipp://remote_cups_server/printers/remote_printer_name</filename>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>http</term>
<listitem><para>
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:
<filename>http:://192.193.194.195:631/ipp</filename>
(for many HP printers) or
<filename>http://remote_cups_server:631/printers/remote_printer_name</filename>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>smb</term>
<listitem><para>
This backend sends printfiles to printers shared by a Windows
host. An example for CUPS device-URIs to use are:
<filename>smb://workgroup/server/printersharename</filename>
Or
<filename>smb://server/printersharename</filename>
or
<filename>smb://username:password@workgroup/server/printersharename</filename>
or
<filename>smb://username:password@server/printersharename</filename>.
The smb:// backend is a symlink to the Samba utility
<emphasis>smbspool</emphasis> (doesn't ship with CUPS). If the
symlink is not present in your CUPS backend directory, have your
root user create it: <command>ln -s `which smbspool`
/usr/lib/cups/backend/smb</command>.
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>
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-wide default deletes the job and sends a polite
mail back to the $USER asking him to always specify a correct
printername).
</para>
<para>
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 <emphasis>lpinfo</emphasis>
utility. Used with the <option>-v</option> parameter, it lists
all available backends:
</para>
<para><screen>
&prompt;<userinput>lpinfo -v</userinput>
</screen></para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>cupsomatic/Foomatic -- how do they fit into the Picture?</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsomatic</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>foomatic</primary></indexterm>
<para>
"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.
</para>
<para>
You can recognize these PPDs from the line calling the
<emphasis>cupsomatic</emphasis> filter:
</para>
<para><screen>
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 cupsomatic"
</screen></para>
<para>
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 <emphasis>foomatic</emphasis> namepart for
the driver description. cupsomatic is a Perl script that runs
Ghostscript, with all the complicated commandline options
auto-constructed from the selected PPD and commandline options give to
the printjob.
</para>
<indexterm><primary>point and print</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <emphasis>foomatic-rip</emphasis>. To use
foomatic-rip as a filter with CUPS, you need the new-type PPDs. These
have a similar, but different line:
</para>
<para><screen>
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 foomatic-rip"
</screen></para>
<para>
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!
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>The Complete Picture</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title><filename>mime.convs</filename></title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<tip><para>
The setting of <parameter>FilterLimit 1000</parameter> in
<filename>cupsd.conf</filename> 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.
</para></tip>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>"Raw" printing</title>
<para>
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:
</para>
<para><screen>
&prompt;<userinput>lpadmin -P rawprinter -v socket://11.12.13.14:9100 -E</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
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
<command>-P /path/to/PPD</command> to this command line, you would
have installed a "normal" printqueue.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>"application/octet-stream" printing</title>
<para>
Any MIME type with no rule in the
<filename>/etc/cups/mime.types</filename> file is regarded as unknown
or <emphasis>application/octet-stream</emphasis> 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:
</para>
<para><screen>
Unable to convert file 0 to printable format for job
</screen></para>
<para>
To enable the printing of "application/octet-stream" files, edit
these two files:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><filename>/etc/cups/mime.convs</filename></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><filename>/etc/cups/mime.types</filename></para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Both contain entries (at the end of the respective files) which must
be uncommented to allow RAW mode operation for
application/octet-stream. In <filename>/etc/cups/mime.types</filename>
make sure this line is present:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>application/octet-stream</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
application/octet-stream
</screen></para>
<para>
This line (with no specific auto-typing rule set) makes all files
not otherwise auto-typed a member of application/octet-stream. In
<filename>/etc/cups/mime.convs</filename>, have this
line:
</para>
<para><screen>
application/octet-stream application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
</screen></para>
<indexterm><primary>MIME</primary></indexterm>
<para>
This line tells CUPS to use the <emphasis>Null Filter</emphasis>
(denoted as "-", doing... nothing at all) on
<emphasis>application/octet-stream</emphasis>, and tag the result as
<emphasis>application/vnd.cups-raw</emphasis>. 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.
</para>
<note><para> Editing the <filename>mime.convs</filename> and the
<filename>mime.types</filename> file does not
<emphasis>enforce</emphasis> "raw" printing, it only
<emphasis>allows</emphasis> it.
</para></note>
<formalpara>
<title>Background</title>
<para>
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
as <emphasis>MIME type</emphasis>
<emphasis>application/octet-stream</emphasis>. While you
<emphasis>can</emphasis> send data "raw", the MIME type for these must
be one that is known to CUPS and an allowed one. The file
<filename>/etc/cups/mime.types</filename> defines the "rules" how CUPS
recognizes MIME types. The file
<filename>/etc/cups/mime.convs</filename> decides which file
conversion filter(s) may be applied to which MIME types.
</para>
</formalpara>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>PostScript Printer Descriptions (PPDs) for non-PS Printers</title>
<indexterm><primary>PPD</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
PPDs for a non-PS printer have a few lines that are unique to
CUPS. The most important one looks similar to this:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>application/vnd.cups-raster</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
*cupsFilter: application/vnd.cups-raster 66 rastertoprinter
</screen></para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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):
</para>
<table frame="all">
<title>PPD's shipped with CUPS</title>
<tgroup cols="2" align="left">
<colspec align="left"/>
<colspec align="justify"/>
<thead><row><entry>PPD file</entry><entry>Printer type</entry></row></thead>
<tbody>
<row><entry>deskjet.ppd</entry><entry>older HP inkjet printers and compatible</entry></row>
<row><entry>deskjet2.ppd</entry> <entry>newer HP inkjet printers and compatible </entry> </row>
<row><entry>dymo.ppd</entry> <entry>label printers </entry> </row>
<row><entry>epson9.ppd</entry> <entry>Epson 24pin impact printers and compatible </entry> </row>
<row><entry>epson24.ppd</entry> <entry>Epson 24pin impact printers and compatible </entry> </row>
<row><entry>okidata9.ppd</entry> <entry>Okidata 9pin impact printers and compatible </entry> </row>
<row><entry>okidat24.ppd</entry> <entry>Okidata 24pin impact printers and compatible </entry> </row>
<row><entry>stcolor.ppd</entry> <entry>older Epson Stylus Color printers </entry> </row>
<row><entry>stcolor2.ppd</entry> <entry>newer Epson Stylus Color printers </entry> </row>
<row><entry>stphoto.ppd</entry> <entry>older Epson Stylus Photo printers </entry> </row>
<row><entry>stphoto2.ppd</entry> <entry>newer Epson Stylus Photo printers </entry> </row>
<row><entry>laserjet.ppd</entry> <entry>all PCL printers. Further below is a discussion of several other driver/PPD-packages suitable for use with CUPS. </entry> </row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Difference between <emphasis>cupsomatic/foomatic-rip</emphasis> and
<emphasis>native CUPS</emphasis> printing</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsomatic</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>foomatic-rip</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Native CUPS rasterization works in two steps.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
First is the "pstoraster" step. It uses the special "cups"
<indexterm><primary>ESP</primary><secondary>Ghostscript</secondary></indexterm>
device from ESP Ghostscript 7.05.x as its tool
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
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.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Often this produces better quality (and has several more
advantages) than other methods.
</para>
<para>
<image id="small10"><imagedescription>cupsomatic/foomatic processing versus Native CUPS</imagedescription>
<imagefile>10small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
<para>
One other method is the <emphasis>cupsomatic/foomatic-rip</emphasis>
way. Note that cupsomatic is <emphasis>not</emphasis> made by the CUPS
developers. It is an independent contribution to printing development,
made by people from Linuxprinting.org (see also <ulink
noescape="1" url="http://www.cups.org/cups-help.html">http://www.cups.org/cups-help.html</ulink>).
cupsomatic is no longer developed and maintained and is no longer
supported. It has now been replaced by
<emphasis>foomatic-rip</emphasis>. 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
advised, especially if you are upgrading to a recent version of CUPS
too.
</para>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>cupsomatic</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>foomatic</primary></indexterm>
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.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
cupsomatic "kidnaps" the printfile after the
<emphasis>application/vnd.cups-postscript</emphasis> stage and
deviates it through the CUPS-external, system wide 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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Examples for filtering Chains</title>
<para>
Here are a few examples of commonly occurring filtering chains to
illustrate the workings of CUPS.
</para>
<para>
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":
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>your print options (page selection as required, 2-up,
duplex) are passed to CUPS on the commandline;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the (complete) PDF file is sent to CUPS and autotyped as
<emphasis>application/pdf</emphasis>;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the file therefore first must pass the
<emphasis>pdftops</emphasis> pre-filter, which produces PostScript
MIME type <emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis> (a preview here
would still show all pages of the original PDF);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the file then passes the <emphasis>pstops</emphasis>
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
<emphasis>application/vnd.cups-postscript</emphasis>;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the file goes to the <emphasis>socket</emphasis>
backend, which transfers the job to the printers.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The resulting filter chain therefore is as drawn in <link linkend="pdftosocket">the image below</link>.
</para>
<image><imagefile>pdftosocket</imagefile><imagedescription>PDF to socket chain</imagedescription></image>
<para>
Assume your want to print the same filter to an USB-connected
Epson Stylus Photo printer, installed with the CUPS
<filename>stphoto2.ppd</filename>. The first few filtering stages
are nearly the same:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>your print options (page selection as required, 2-up,
duplex) are passed to CUPS on the commandline;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the (complete) PDF file is sent to CUPS and autotyped as
<emphasis>application/pdf</emphasis>;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the file therefore first must pass the
<emphasis>pdftops</emphasis> pre-filter, which produces PostScript
MIME type <emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis> (a preview here
would still show all pages of the original PDF);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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
<emphasis>application/vnd.cups-postscript</emphasis>;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the file then passes the
<emphasis>pstoraster</emphasis> stage and becomes MIME type
<emphasis>application/cups-raster</emphasis>;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>finally, the <emphasis>rastertoepson</emphasis> 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;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the file goes to the <emphasis>usb</emphasis> backend,
which transfers the job to the printers.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The resulting filter chain therefore is as drawn in <link linkend="pdftoepsonusb">the image below</link>.
</para>
<image><imagefile>pdftoepsonusb</imagefile><imagedescription>PDF to USB chain</imagedescription></image>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Sources of CUPS drivers / PPDs</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<indexterm><primary>ESP</primary><secondary>Print Pro</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PrintPro</primary><see>ESP Print Pro</see></indexterm>
<listitem><para><ulink url="http://wwwl.easysw.com/printpro/">ESP
PrintPro</ulink> (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).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the <ulink
url="http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/">Gimp-Print-Project
</ulink> (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;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><ulink url="http://www.turboprint.com/">TurboPrint
</ulink> (Shareware, non-Free) supports
roughly the same amount of printers in excellent
quality;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><ulink
url="http://www-124.ibm.com/developerworks/oss/linux/projects/omni/">OMNI
</ulink>
(LPGL, Free) is a package made by IBM, now containing support for more
than 400 printers, stemming from the inheritance of IBM OS/2 Know-How
ported over to Linux (CUPS support is in a Beta-stage at
present);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><ulink url="http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/">HPIJS
</ulink> (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);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/">Foomatic/cupsomatic
</ulink> (LPGL, Free) from
Linuxprinting.org are providing PPDs for practically every Ghostscript
filter known to the world (including Omni, Gimp-Print and
HPIJS).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<note><para>
The cupsomatic/Foomatic trick from Linuxprinting.org works
differently from the other drivers. This is explained elsewhere in this
document.
</para></note>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Printing with Interface Scripts</title>
<para>
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 <command>-i</command> option:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>lpadmin -p pclprinter -v socket://11.12.13.14:9100 \
-i /path/to/interface-script</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
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 <ulink
noescape="1" url="http://playground.sun.com/printing/documentation/interface.html">http://playground.sun.com/printing/documentation/interface.html</ulink>).
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Network printing (purely Windows)</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>From Windows Clients to an NT Print Server</title>
<para>
Windows clients printing to an NT-based print server have two
options. They may
</para>
<indexterm><primary>GDI</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>EMF</primary></indexterm>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>execute the driver locally and render the GDI output
(EMF) into the printer specific format on their own,
or</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>send the GDI output (EMF) to the server, where the
driver is executed to render the printer specific
output.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Both print paths are shown in the flowcharts below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Driver Execution on the Client</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
<image id="small11"><imagedescription>Print Driver execution on the Client</imagedescription>
<imagefile>11small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Driver Execution on the Server</title>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PCL</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>ESC/P</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>EMF</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>GDI</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
<image id="small12"><imagedescription>Print Driver execution on the Server</imagedescription>
<imagefile>12small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
<para>
However, there is something similar possible with CUPS. Read on...
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Network Printing (Windows clients -- UNIX/Samba Print
Servers)</title>
<para>
Since UNIX print servers <emphasis>cannot</emphasis> 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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>From Windows Clients to a CUPS/Samba Print Server</title>
<para>
Here is a simple recipe showing how you can take advantage of CUPS
powerful features for the benefit of your Windows network printing
clients:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Let the Windows clients send PostScript to the CUPS
server.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Let the CUPS server render the PostScript into device
specific raster format.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
Firstly, to enable CUPS based printing through Samba the
following options should be set in your &smb.conf; file [global]
section:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><smbconfoption><name>printcap</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption></para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
When these parameters are specified, all manually set print directives
(like <smbconfoption><name>print command</name></smbconfoption>, or <smbconfoption><name>lppause command</name></smbconfoption>) 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
<emphasis>System V</emphasis> 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 <smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>sysv</value></smbconfoption>).
</para>
<para>
<image id="small13"><imagedescription>Printing via CUPS/samba server</imagedescription>
<imagefile>13small</imagefile>
</image>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Samba receiving Jobfiles and passing them to CUPS</title>
<para>
Samba <emphasis>must</emphasis> use its own spool directory (it is set
by a line similar to <smbconfoption><name>path</name><value>/var/spool/samba</value></smbconfoption>,
in the <smbconfsection>[printers]</smbconfsection> or
<smbconfsection>[printername]</smbconfsection> 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 <parameter>RequestRoot</parameter>
directive, in a line that defaults to <parameter>RequestRoot
/var/spool/cups</parameter>). 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".
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Network PostScript RIP: CUPS Filters on Server -- clients use
PostScript Driver with CUPS-PPDs</title>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PCL</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PJL</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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 <ulink
noescape="1" url="http://localhost:631/printers/">http://localhost:631/printers/</ulink>
and click on one <emphasis>Configure Printer</emphasis> button to see
it), or a commandline interface (see <command>man lpoptions</command>
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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>PPDs for non-PS Printers on UNIX</title>
<indexterm><primary>PPD</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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
<parameter>*cupsFilter</parameter> . 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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>PPDs for non-PS Printers on Windows</title>
<indexterm><primary>PPD</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>act as a networked PostScript RIP (Raster Image
Processor), handling printfiles from all client platforms in a uniform
way;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>act as a central accounting and billing server, since
all files are passed through the pstops filter and are therefore
logged in the CUPS <filename>page_log</filename> file.
<emphasis>NOTE:</emphasis> this can not happen with "raw" print jobs,
which always remain unfiltered per definition;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>enable clients to consolidate on a single PostScript
driver, even for many different target printers.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Using CUPS PPDs on Windows clients enables these to control
all print job settings just as a UNIX client can do too.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Windows Terminal Servers (WTS) as CUPS Clients</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Printer Drivers running in "Kernel Mode" cause many
Problems</title>
<para>
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?
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Workarounds impose Heavy Limitations</title>
<para>
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! )
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>CUPS: a "Magical Stone"?</title>
<indexterm><primary>PPD</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>PostScript Drivers with no major problems -- even in Kernel
Mode</title>
<indexterm><primary>DDK</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Setting up CUPS for driver Download</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title><emphasis>cupsaddsmb</emphasis>: the unknown Utility</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsaddsmb</primary></indexterm>
<para>
The cupsaddsmb utility (shipped with all current CUPS versions) is an
alternative method to transfer printer drivers into the Samba
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> 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 <emphasis>CUPS PostScript Driver for
WinNT/2K/XP</emphasis>. Note, that cupsaddsmb does
<emphasis>not</emphasis> work with arbitrary vendor printer drivers,
but only with the <emphasis>exact</emphasis> driver files that are
named in its man page.
</para>
<para>
The CUPS printer driver is available from the CUPS download site. Its
package name is <filename>cups-samba-[version].tar.gz</filename> . It
is preferred over the Adobe drivers since it has a number of
advantages:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>it supports a much more accurate page
accounting;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>it supports banner pages, and page labels on all
printers;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>it supports the setting of a number of job IPP
attributes (such as job-priority, page-label and
job-billing)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Prepare your &smb.conf; for cupsaddsmb</title>
<para>
Prior to running cupsaddsmb, you need the following settings in
&smb.conf;:
</para>
<para><smbconfexample>
<title>smb.conf for cupsaddsmb usage</title>
<smbconfsection>[global]</smbconfsection>
<smbconfoption><name>load printers</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printcap name</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfsection>[printers]</smbconfsection>
<smbconfoption><name>comment</name><value>All Printers</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>path</name><value>/var/spool/samba</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>browseable</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>public</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfcomment>setting depends on your requirements</smbconfcomment>
<smbconfoption><name>guest ok</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>writable</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printable</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>printer admin</name><value>root</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection>
<smbconfoption><name>comment</name><value>Printer Drivers</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>path</name><value>/etc/samba/drivers</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>browseable</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>guest ok</name><value>no</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>read only</name><value>yes</value></smbconfoption>
<smbconfoption><name>write list</name><value>root</value></smbconfoption>
</smbconfexample></para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>CUPS Package of "PostScript Driver for WinNT/2k/XP"</title>
<indexterm><primary>PostScript</primary></indexterm>
<para>
CUPS users may get the exactly same packages from <ulink
noescape="1" url="http://www.cups.org/software.html">http://www.cups.org/software.html</ulink>.
It is a separate package from the CUPS base software files, tagged as
<emphasis>CUPS 1.1.x Windows NT/2k/XP Printer Driver for Samba
(tar.gz, 192k)</emphasis>. The filename to download is
<filename>cups-samba-1.1.x.tar.gz</filename>. Upon untar-/unzip-ing,
it will reveal these files:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>tar xvzf cups-samba-1.1.19.tar.gz</userinput>
cups-samba.install
cups-samba.license
cups-samba.readme
cups-samba.remove
cups-samba.ss
</screen></para>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>ESP</primary><secondary>meta packager</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>EPM</primary><see>ESP meta packager</see></indexterm>
These have been packaged with the ESP meta packager software
"EPM". The <filename>*.install</filename> and
<filename>*.remove</filename> files are simple shell scripts, which
untars the <filename>*.ss</filename> (the <filename>*.ss</filename> is
nothing else but a tar-archive, which can be untar-ed by "tar"
too). Then it puts the content into
<filename>/usr/share/cups/drivers/</filename>. This content includes 3
files:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>tar tv cups-samba.ss</userinput>
cupsdrvr.dll
cupsui.dll
cups.hlp
</screen></para>
<para>
The <emphasis>cups-samba.install</emphasis> shell scripts is easy to
handle:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>./cups-samba.install</userinput>
[....]
Installing software...
Updating file permissions...
Running post-install commands...
Installation is complete.
</screen></para>
<para>
The script should automatically put the driver files into the
<filename>/usr/share/cups/drivers/</filename> directory.
</para>
<warning><para>
Due to a bug, one recent CUPS release puts the
<filename>cups.hlp</filename> driver file
into<filename>/usr/share/drivers/</filename> instead of
<filename>/usr/share/cups/drivers/</filename>. To work around this,
copy/move the file (after running the
<command>./cups-samba.install</command> script) manually to the
right place.
</para></warning>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>cp /usr/share/drivers/cups.hlp /usr/share/cups/drivers/</userinput>
</screen></para>
<indexterm><primary>DDK</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <emphasis>Microsoft Driver
Developer Kit</emphasis> (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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Recognize the different Driver Files</title>
<para>
The CUPS drivers don't support the "older" Windows 95/98/ME, but only
the Windows NT/2000/XP client:
</para>
<para>Windows NT, 2000, and XP are supported by:</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>cups.hlp</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>cupsdrvr.dll</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>cupsui.dll</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>Windows 95, 98, and Me are supported by:</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>ADFONTS.MFM</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ADOBEPS4.DRV</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ADOBEPS4.HLP</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>DEFPRTR2.PPD</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ICONLIB.DLL</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>PSMON.DLL</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>Windows NT, 2000, and XP are supported by:</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>ADOBEPS5.DLL</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ADOBEPSU.DLL</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ADOBEPSU.HLP</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<note><para>
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.
</para></note>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Acquiring the Adobe Driver Files</title>
<para>
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
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> 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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>ESP Print Pro Package of "PostScript Driver for
WinNT/2k/XP"</title>
<indexterm><primary>ESP</primary><secondary>Print Pro</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
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
at <ulink
noescape="1" url="http://www.easysw.com/software.html">http://www.easysw.com/software.html</ulink>.
You need to locate the link labelled "SAMBA" amongst the
<emphasis>Download Printer Drivers for ESP Print Pro 4.x</emphasis>
area and download the package. Once installed, you can prepare any
driver by simply highlighting the printer in the Printer Manager GUI
and select <emphasis>Export Driver...</emphasis> from the menu. Of
course you need to have prepared Samba beforehand too to handle the
driver files; i.e. mainly setup the <smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection>
share, etc. The ESP Print Pro package includes the CUPS driver files
as well as a (licensed) set of Adobe drivers for the Windows 95/98/ME
client family.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Caveats to be considered</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsaddsmb</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Once you have run the install script (and possibly manually
moved the <filename>cups.hlp</filename> file to
<filename>/usr/share/cups/drivers/</filename>), the driver is
ready to be put into Samba's <smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> share (which often maps to
<filename>/etc/samba/drivers/</filename> and contains a subdir
tree with <emphasis>WIN40</emphasis> and
<emphasis>W32X86</emphasis> branches): You do this by running
"cupsaddsmb" (see also <command>man cupsaddsmb</command> for
CUPS since release 1.1.16).
</para>
<tip><para>
<indexterm><primary>Single Sign On</primary></indexterm>
You may need to put root into the smbpasswd file by running
<command>smbpasswd</command>; 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
<emphasis>Single Sign On</emphasis> to a Windows Domain Controller.
</para></tip>
<para>
Once the driver files are in the <smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> share
and are initialized, they are ready to be downloaded and installed by
the Win NT/2k/XP clients.
</para>
<note><para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
Win 9x/ME clients won't work with the CUPS PostScript driver. For
these you'd still need to use the <filename>ADOBE*.*</filename>
drivers as previously.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
It is not harmful if you still have the
<filename>ADOBE*.*</filename> driver files from previous
installations in the <filename>/usr/share/cups/drivers/</filename>
directory. The new <emphasis>cupsaddsmb</emphasis> (from 1.1.16) will
automatically prefer "its own" drivers if it finds both.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>"Printers" folder</primary></indexterm>
Should your Win clients have had the old <filename>ADOBE*.*</filename>
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 <emphasis>Start, Settings, Control Panel, Printers</emphasis>),
right-click onto the folder background and select <emphasis>Server
Properties</emphasis>. When the new dialog opens, select the
<emphasis>Drivers</emphasis> tab. On the list select the driver you
want to delete and click on the <emphasis>Delete</emphasis>
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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>setdriver</secondary></indexterm>
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 in <link linkend="printing">the printing chapter</link>: either change
a driver for an existing printer by running the "Printer Properties"
dialog, or use <command>rpcclient</command> with the
<command>setdriver</command> sub-command.
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para></note>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Benefits of using "CUPS PostScript Driver for
Windows NT/2k/XP" instead of Adobe Driver</title>
<para>
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:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>no hassle with the Adobe EULA</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>no hassle with the question <quote>Where do I
get the ADOBE*.* driver files from?</quote></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>PJL</primary></indexterm>
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
<parameter><1B >%-12345X</parameter> or
<parameter><escape>%-12345X</parameter> instead
of <parameter>%!PS</parameter>). 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
<indexterm><primary>application/postscript</primary></indexterm>
<emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis>, but as
the more special MIME type
<indexterm><primary>application/cups.vnd-postscript</primary></indexterm>
<emphasis>application/cups.vnd-postscript</emphasis>),
which therefore also leads to the page accounting in
<emphasis>/var/log/cups/page_log</emphasis> not
receiving the exact number of pages; instead the dummy page number
of "1" is logged in a standard setup)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the Adobe driver has more options to "mis-configure" the
PostScript generated by it (like setting it inadvertently to
<emphasis>Optimize for Speed</emphasis>, instead of
<emphasis>Optimize for Portability</emphasis>, which
could lead to CUPS being unable to process it)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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 <emphasis>application/postscript</emphasis>,
thusly passing through the CUPS "pstops" filter and logging the
correct number of pages in the <filename>page_log</filename> for
accounting and quota purposes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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
<emphasis>banner pages</emphasis> (or the custom ones, should they be
installed at the time of driver download), using the CUPS
<emphasis>page-label</emphasis> option, setting a
<emphasis>job-priority</emphasis> and setting the <emphasis>scheduled
time of printing</emphasis> (with the option to support additional
useful IPP job attributes in the future).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the CUPS PostScript driver supports the inclusion of
the new <emphasis>*cupsJobTicket</emphasis> 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).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Run "cupsaddsmb" (quiet Mode)</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsaddsmb</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>point and print</primary></indexterm>
<para>
The cupsaddsmb command copies the needed files into your
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> share. Additionally, the PPD
associated with this printer is copied from
<filename>/etc/cups/ppd/</filename> to
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection>. 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 (<smbconfoption><name>security</name><value>user</value></smbconfoption>).
</para>
<para>
Here is an example of a successfully run cupsaddsmb command.
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>cupsaddsmb -U root infotec_IS2027</userinput>
Password for root required to access localhost via Samba: <userinput>['secret']</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
To share <emphasis>all</emphasis> printers and drivers, use the
<option>-a</option> 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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Run "cupsaddsmb" with verbose Output</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsaddsmb</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Probably you want to see what's going on. Use the
<option>-v</option> 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:
</para>
<warning><para>
You will see the root password for the Samba account printed on
screen.
</para></warning>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>adddriver</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>setdriver</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>cupsaddsmb -U root -v infotec_2105</userinput>
Password for root required to access localhost via &example.server.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
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/cupsdrvr.dll as \W32X86/cupsdrvr.dll
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/cupsui.dll as \W32X86/cupsui.dll
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/cups.hlp as \W32X86/cups.hlp
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
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADFONTS.MFM as \WIN40/ADFONTS.MFM
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADOBEPS4.DRV as \WIN40/ADOBEPS4.DRV
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/ADOBEPS4.HLP as \WIN40/ADOBEPS4.HLP
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/DEFPRTR2.PPD as \WIN40/DEFPRTR2.PPD
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/ICONLIB.DLL as \WIN40/ICONLIB.DLL
putting file /usr/share/cups/drivers/PSMON.DLL as \WIN40/PSMON.DLL
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
Successfully set infotec_2105 to driver infotec_2105.
</screen></para>
<para>
If you look closely, you'll discover your root password was transferred
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 <smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> driver download share
(from a previous driver installation). They are harmless here.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Understanding cupsaddsmb</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsaddsmb</primary></indexterm>
<para>
What has happened? What did cupsaddsmb do? There are five stages of
the procedure
</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>IPP</primary></indexterm>
call the CUPS server via IPP and request the
driver files and the PPD file for the named printer;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>store the files temporarily in the local
TEMPDIR (as defined in
<filename>cupsd.conf</filename>);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>connect via smbclient to the Samba server's
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> share and put the files into the
share's WIN40 (for Win95/98/ME) and W32X86/ (for WinNT/2k/XP) sub
directories;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>adddriver</secondary></indexterm>
connect via rpcclient to the Samba server and
execute the "adddriver" command with the correct
parameters;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>setdriver</secondary></indexterm>
connect via rpcclient to the Samba server a second
time and execute the "setdriver" command.</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
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):
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>cupsaddsmb -H sambaserver -h cupsserver -v printername</userinput>
</screen></para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>How to recognize if cupsaddsmb completed successfully</title>
<para>
You <emphasis>must</emphasis> always check if the utility completed
successfully in all fields. You need as a minimum these 3 messages
amongst the output:
</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para><emphasis>Printer Driver infotec_2105 successfully
installed.</emphasis> # (for the W32X86 == WinNT/2K/XP
architecture...)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><emphasis>Printer Driver infotec_2105 successfully
installed.</emphasis> # (for the WIN40 == Win9x/ME
architecture...)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><emphasis>Successfully set [printerXPZ] to driver
[printerXYZ].</emphasis></para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
These messages probably not easily recognized in the general
output. If you run cupsaddsmb with the <option>-a</option>
parameter (which tries to prepare <emphasis>all</emphasis> 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.
</para>
<note><para>
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.
</para></note>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>cupsaddsmb with a Samba PDC</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsaddsmb</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>cupsaddsmb -U &example.workgroup;\\root -v printername</userinput>
&rootprompt;<userinput>cupsaddsmb -H &example.pdc.samba; -U &example.workgroup;\\root -v printername</userinput>
&rootprompt;<userinput>cupsaddsmb -H &example.pdc.samba; -U &example.workgroup;\\root -h cups-server -v printername</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
(Note the two backslashes: the first one is required to
"escape" the second one).
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>cupsaddsmb Flowchart</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsaddsmb</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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!
</para>
<para>
<image id="small14"><imagedescription>cupsaddsmb flowchart</imagedescription>
<imagefile>14small</imagefile></image>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Installing the PostScript Driver on a Client</title>
<indexterm><primary>point and print</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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;
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<indexterm><primary>"Printers" folder</primary></indexterm>
<listitem><para>open the <emphasis>Printers</emphasis>
share of Samba in Network Neighbourhood;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>right-click on the printer in
question;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>from the opening context-menu select
<emphasis>Install...</emphasis> or
<emphasis>Connect...</emphasis> (depending on the Windows version you
use).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
After a few seconds, there should be a new printer in your
client's <emphasis>local</emphasis> "Printers" folder: On Windows
XP it will follow a naming convention of <emphasis>PrinterName on
SambaServer</emphasis>. (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
<filename>\\SambaServer\PrinterName</filename> entry in the
dropdown list of available printers.
</para>
<note><para>
<indexterm><primary>PPD</primary></indexterm>
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:
</para></note>
<para><screen>
&dosprompt;<userinput>net use lpt1: \\sambaserver\printershare /user:ntadmin</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
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
<emphasis>LanMan</emphasis> way (not using MS-RPC).
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Avoiding critical PostScript Driver Settings on the
Client</title>
<para>
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:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Avoid the <emphasis>PostScript Output Option: Optimize
for Speed</emphasis> setting. Rather use the <emphasis>Optimize for
Portability</emphasis> instead (Adobe PostScript
driver).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Don't use the <emphasis>Page Independence:
NO</emphasis> setting. Instead use <emphasis>Page Independence
YES</emphasis> (CUPS PostScript Driver)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Recommended is the <emphasis>True Type Font
Downloading Option: Native True Type</emphasis> over
<emphasis>Automatic</emphasis> and <emphasis>Outline</emphasis>; you
should by all means avoid <emphasis>Bitmap</emphasis> (Adobe
PostScript Driver)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Choose <emphasis>True Type Font: Download as Softfont
into Printer</emphasis> over the default <emphasis>Replace by Device
Font</emphasis> (for exotic fonts you may need to change it back to
get a printout at all) (Adobe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Sometimes you can choose <emphasis>PostScript Language
Level</emphasis>: in case of problems try <emphasis>2</emphasis>
instead of <emphasis>3</emphasis> (the latest ESP Ghostscript package
handles Level 3 PostScript very well) (Adobe).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Say <emphasis>Yes</emphasis> to <emphasis>PostScript
Error Handler</emphasis> (Adobe)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Installing PostScript Driver Files manually (using
rpcclient)</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>prepare Samba (a CUPS printqueue with the name of the
printer should be there. We are providing the driver
now);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>copy all files to
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>adddriver</secondary></indexterm>
run <command>rpcclient adddriver</command>
(for each client architecture you want to support):</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>setdriver</secondary></indexterm>
run <command>rpcclient
setdriver.</command></para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumports</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumprinters</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumdrivers</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>setdriver</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>adddriver</secondary></indexterm>
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. <command>enumprinters</command>,
<command>enumdrivers</command>, <command>enumports</command>,
<command>adddriver</command>, <command>setdriver</command> 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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>A Check of the rpcclient man Page</title>
<para>
First let's have a little check of the rpcclient man page. Here are
two relevant passages:
</para>
<para>
<command>adddriver <arch> <config></command> 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 <command>getdriverdir</command>. Possible
values for <parameter>arch</parameter> are the same as those for the
<command>getdriverdir</command> command. The
<parameter>config</parameter> parameter is defined as follows:
</para>
<para><screen>
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
</screen></para>
<para>Any empty fields should be enter as the string "NULL". </para>
<para>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
</para>
<para>
<command>setdriver <printername> <drivername></command>
Execute a <command>SetPrinter()</command> command to update the
printer driver associated with an installed printer. The printer
driver must already be correctly installed on the print server.
</para>
<para> See also the enumprinters and enumdrivers commands for
obtaining a list of installed printers and drivers.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Understanding the rpcclient man page</title>
<para>
The <emphasis>exact</emphasis> 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:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>adddriver</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
adddriver "Architecture" \
"LongPrinterName:DriverFile:DataFile:ConfigFile:HelpFile:\
LanguageMonitorFile:DataType:ListOfFiles,Comma-separated"
</screen></para>
<para>
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
<emphasis>rpcclient ... setdriver</emphasis> command. For
practical reasons, many name the driver the same as the
printer.
</para>
<para>
True: it isn't simple at all. I hear you asking:
<emphasis>How do I know which files are "Driver
File", "Data File", "Config File", "Help File" and "Language
Monitor File" in each case?</emphasis> -- 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 <command>rpcclient</command> to see what it tells us and
try to understand the man page more clearly which we've read just
now.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Producing an Example by querying a Windows Box</title>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>getdriver</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>getprinter</secondary></indexterm>
We could run <command>rpcclient</command> with a
<command>getdriver</command> or a <command>getprinter</command>
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:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -U'USERNAME%PASSWORD' NT-SERVER-NAME -c 'getdriver printername 3'</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
From the result it should become clear which is which. Here is an
example from my installation:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>getdriver</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -U'Danka%xxxx' W2KSERVER \
-c'getdriver "DANKA InfoStream Virtual Printer" 3'</userinput>
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: []
</screen></para>
<para>
Some printer drivers list additional files under the label
"Dependentfiles": these would go into the last field
<emphasis>ListOfFiles,Comma-separated</emphasis>. 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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>What is required for adddriver and setdriver to succeed</title>
<para>
From the manpage (and from the quoted output
of <emphasis>cupsaddsmb</emphasis>, 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
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>adddriver</secondary></indexterm>
subcommands (<command>adddriver</command> and
<command>setdriver</command>) need to encounter the following
pre-conditions to complete successfully:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>you are connected as <smbconfoption><name>printer admin</name></smbconfoption>, or root (note,
that this is <emphasis>not</emphasis> the "Printer Operators" group in
NT, but the <emphasis>printer admin</emphasis> group, as defined in
the <smbconfsection>[global]</smbconfsection> section of
&smb.conf;);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>copy all required driver files to
<filename>\\sambaserver\print$\w32x86</filename> and
<filename>\\sambaserver\print$\win40</filename> as appropriate. They
will end up in the "0" respective "2" subdirectories later -- for now
<emphasis>don't</emphasis> put them there, they'll be automatically
used by the <command>adddriver</command> subcommand.! (if you use
"smbclient" to put the driver files into the share, note that you need
to escape the "$": <command>smbclient //sambaserver/print\$ -U
root</command>);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the user you're connecting as must be able to write to
the <smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> share and create
subdirectories;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the printer you are going to setup for the Windows
clients, needs to be installed in CUPS already;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>setdriver</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumprinters</secondary></indexterm>
the CUPS printer must be known to Samba, otherwise the
<command>setdriver</command> subcommand fails with an
NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL error. To check if the printer is known by
Samba you may use the <command>enumprinters</command> 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.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Manual Driver Installation in 15 Steps</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<procedure>
<title>Manual Driver Installation installation</title>
<step>
<title>Install the Printer on CUPS</title>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>lpadmin -p mysmbtstprn -v socket://10.160.51.131:9100 -E -P canonIR85.ppd</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
This installs printer with the name <emphasis>mysmbtstprn</emphasis>
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
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>(optional) Check if the Printer is recognized by
Samba</title>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumprinters</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'enumprinters' localhost | grep -C2 mysmbtstprn</userinput>
flags:[0x800000]
name:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn]
description:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn,,mysmbtstprn]
comment:[mysmbtstprn]
</screen></para>
<para>
This should show the printer in the list. If not, stop and re-start
the Samba daemon (smbd), or send a HUP signal: <command>kill -HUP
`pidof smbd`</command>. 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
<command>smbpasswd</command> 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
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection>.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>(optional) Check if Samba knows a Driver for the
Printer</title>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>getprinter</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>getdriver</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'getprinter mysmbtstprn 2' localhost \
| grep driver </userinput>
drivername:[]
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'getprinter mysmbtstprn 2' localhost \
| grep -C4 driv</userinput>
servername:[\\kde-bitshop]
printername:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn]
sharename:[mysmbtstprn]
portname:[Samba Printer Port]
drivername:[]
comment:[mysmbtstprn]
location:[]
sepfile:[]
printprocessor:[winprint]
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -U root%xxxx -c 'getdriver mysmbtstprn' localhost</userinput>
result was WERR_UNKNOWN_PRINTER_DRIVER
</screen></para>
<para>
Neither method of the three commands shown above should show a driver.
This step was done for the purpose of demonstrating this condition. An
attempt to connect to the printer at this stage will prompt the
message along the lines: "The server has not the required printer
driver installed".
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Put all required Driver Files into Samba's
[print$]</title>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>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'</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
(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 <emphasis>required</emphasis>
for the next one to succeed. It makes the driver files physically
present in the <smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> share. However, clients
would still not be able to install them, because Samba does not yet
treat them as driver files. A client asking for the driver would still
be presented with a "not installed here" message.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Verify where the Driver Files are now</title>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>ls -l /etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/</userinput>
total 669
drwxr-sr-x 2 root ntadmin 532 May 25 23:08 2
drwxr-sr-x 2 root ntadmin 670 May 16 03:15 3
-rwxr--r-- 1 root ntadmin 14234 May 25 23:21 cups.hlp
-rwxr--r-- 1 root ntadmin 278380 May 25 23:21 cupsdrvr.dll
-rwxr--r-- 1 root ntadmin 215848 May 25 23:21 cupsui.dll
-rwxr--r-- 1 root ntadmin 169458 May 25 23:21 mysmbtstprn.PPD
</screen></para>
<para>
The driver files now are in the W32X86 architecture "root" of
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection>.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Tell Samba that these are
<emphasis>Driver</emphasis> Files
(<command>adddriver</command>)</title>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>adddriver</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c `adddriver "Windows NT x86" "mydrivername: \
cupsdrvr.dll:mysmbtstprn.PPD: \
cupsui.dll:cups.hlp:NULL:RAW:NULL" \
localhost</userinput>
Printer Driver mydrivername successfully installed.
</screen></para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Verify where the Driver Files are now</title>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>ls -l /etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/</userinput>
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
&rootprompt;<userinput>ls -l /etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/2</userinput>
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
</screen></para>
<para>
Notice how step 6 did also move the driver files to the appropriate
subdirectory. Compare with the situation after step 5.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>(optional) Verify if Samba now recognizes the
Driver</title>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumdrivers</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'enumdrivers 3' localhost \
| grep -B2 -A5 mydrivername</userinput>
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]
</screen></para>
<para>
Remember, this command greps for the name you did choose for the
driver in step Six. This command must succeed before you can proceed.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Tell Samba which Printer should use these Driver
Files (<command>setdriver</command>)</title>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>setdriver</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'setdriver mysmbtstprn mydrivername' localhost</userinput>
Successfully set mysmbtstprn to driver mydrivername
</screen></para>
<para>
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:
<command>enumdrivers</command> must find the driver and
<command>enumprinters</command> must find the printer.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>(optional) Verify if Samba has this Association
recognized</title>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>getprinter</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>getdriver</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumprinters</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'getprinter mysmbtstprn 2' localhost \
| grep driver</userinput>
drivername:[mydrivername]
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'getprinter mysmbtstprn 2' localhost \
| grep -C4 driv</userinput>
servername:[\\kde-bitshop]
printername:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn]
sharename:[mysmbtstprn]
portname:[Done]
drivername:[mydrivername]
comment:[mysmbtstprn]
location:[]
sepfile:[]
printprocessor:[winprint]
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -U root%xxxx -c 'getdriver mysmbtstprn' localhost</userinput>
[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]
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'enumprinters' localhost | grep mysmbtstprn</userinput>
name:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn]
description:[\\kde-bitshop\mysmbtstprn,mydrivername,mysmbtstprn]
comment:[mysmbtstprn]
</screen></para>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumprinters</secondary></indexterm>
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 <command>enumprinters</command> command now lists the driver
on the "description" line.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>(optional) Tickle the Driver into a correct
Device Mode</title>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>"Printers" folder</primary></indexterm>
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".
</para>
<para>
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):
</para>
<para><screen>
&dosprompt;<userinput>runas /netonly /user:root "rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n\
\\sambacupsserver\mysmbtstprn"</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
Change any printer setting once (like changing <emphasis>"portrait" to
"landscape"</emphasis>), click <guibutton>Apply</guibutton>; change the setting
back.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Install the Printer on a Client
("Point'n'Print")</title>
<indexterm significance="preferred"><primary>point and print</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&dosprompt;<userinput>rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n "\\sambacupsserver\mysmbtstprn"</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
If it doesn't work it could be a permission problem with the
<smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection> share.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Thirteenth Step (optional): Print a Test Page</title>
<para><screen>
&dosprompt;<userinput>rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /n "\\sambacupsserver\mysmbtstprn"</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
Then hit [TAB] 5 times, [ENTER] twice, [TAB] once and [ENTER] again
and march to the printer.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Fourteenth Step (recommended): Study the Test Page</title>
<para>
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!
</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Fifteenth Step (obligatory): Enjoy. Jump. Celebrate your
Success</title>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>echo "Cheeeeerioooooo! Success..." >> /var/log/samba/log.smbd</userinput>
</screen></para>
</step>
</procedure>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Troubleshooting revisited</title>
<para>
The setdriver command will fail, if in Samba's mind the queue is not
already there. You had promising messages about the:
</para>
<para><screen>
Printer Driver ABC successfully installed.
</screen></para>
<para>
after the "adddriver" parts of the procedure? But you are also seeing
a disappointing message like this one beneath?
</para>
<para><screen>
result was NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL
</screen></para>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>lpstat</primary></indexterm>
It is not good enough that you
can see the queue <emphasis>in CUPS</emphasis>, using
the <command>lpstat -p ir85wm</command> 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:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>enumprinters</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient transmeta -N -U'root%secret' -c 'enumprinters 0'| grep ir85wm</userinput>
printername:[ir85wm]
</screen></para>
<para>
An alternative command could be this:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary><secondary>getprinter</secondary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient transmeta -N -U'root%secret' -c 'getprinter ir85wm' </userinput>
cmd = getprinter ir85wm
flags:[0x800000]
name:[\\transmeta\ir85wm]
description:[\\transmeta\ir85wm,ir85wm,DPD]
comment:[CUPS PostScript-Treiber for WinNT/2K/XP]
</screen></para>
<para>
BTW, you can use these commands, plus a few more, of course,
to install drivers on remote Windows NT print servers too!
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>The printing <filename>*.tdb</filename> Files</title>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>TDB</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>connections.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>printing.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>share_info.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>ntdrivers.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>unexpected.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>brlock.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>locking.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>ntforms.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>messages.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>ntprinters.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>sessionid.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>secrets.tdb</primary><seealso>TDB</seealso></indexterm>
Some mystery is associated with the series of files with a
tdb-suffix appearing in every Samba installation. They are
<filename>connections.tdb</filename>,
<filename>printing.tdb</filename>,
<filename>share_info.tdb</filename> ,
<filename>ntdrivers.tdb</filename>,
<filename>unexpected.tdb</filename>,
<filename>brlock.tdb</filename> ,
<filename>locking.tdb</filename>,
<filename>ntforms.tdb</filename>,
<filename>messages.tdb</filename> ,
<filename>ntprinters.tdb</filename>,
<filename>sessionid.tdb</filename> and
<filename>secrets.tdb</filename>. What is their purpose?
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Trivial DataBase Files</title>
<indexterm><primary>TDB</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <filename>*.tdb</filename> files. (TDB = Trivial Data
Base). These are often located in <filename>/var/lib/samba/</filename>
or <filename>/var/lock/samba/</filename> . The printing related files
are <filename>ntprinters.tdb</filename>,
<filename>printing.tdb</filename>,<filename>ntforms.tdb</filename> and
<filename>ntdrivers.tdb</filename>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Binary Format</title>
<para>
<filename>*.tdb</filename> 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
<command>smbd</command> process for each client connection, in some
environments many thousand of them. Some of these smbds might need to
write-access the same <filename>*.tdb</filename> file <emphasis>at the
same time</emphasis>. The file format of Samba's
<filename>*.tdb</filename> files allows for this provision. Many smbd
processes may write to the same <filename>*.tdb</filename> file at the
same time. This wouldn't be possible with pure ASCII files.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Losing <filename>*.tdb</filename> Files</title>
<para>
It is very important that all <filename>*.tdb</filename> files remain
consistent over all write and read accesses. However, it may happen
that these files <emphasis>do</emphasis> get corrupted. (A
<command>kill -9 `pidof smbd`</command> 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
<filename>*.tdb</filename> 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 <filename>*.tdb</filename> files in time.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Using <emphasis>tdbbackup</emphasis></title>
<indexterm><primary>TDB</primary><secondary>backing up</secondary><see>tdbbackup</see></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>tdbbackup</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Samba ships with a little utility which helps the root user of your
system to back up your <filename>*.tdb</filename> files. If you run it
with no argument, it prints a little usage message:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>tdbbackup</userinput>
Usage: tdbbackup [options] <fname...>
Version:3.0a
-h this help message
-s suffix set the backup suffix
-v verify mode (restore if corrupt)
</screen></para>
<para>
Here is how I backed up my printing.tdb file:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>ls</userinput>
. 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
&rootprompt;<userinput>tdbbackup -s .bak printing.tdb</userinput>
printing.tdb : 135 records
&rootprompt;<userinput>ls -l printing.tdb*</userinput>
-rw------- 1 root root 40960 May 2 03:44 printing.tdb
-rw------- 1 root root 40960 May 2 03:44 printing.tdb.bak
</screen></para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>CUPS Print Drivers from Linuxprinting.org</title>
<indexterm><primary>Linuxprinting.org</primary></indexterm>
<para>
CUPS ships with good support for HP LaserJet type printers. You can
install the generic driver as follows:
</para>
<indexterm><primary>lpadmin</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>lpadmin -p laserjet4plus -v parallel:/dev/lp0 -E -m laserjet.ppd</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
The <option>-m</option> switch will retrieve the
<filename>laserjet.ppd</filename> from the standard repository for
not-yet-installed-PPDs, which CUPS typically stores in
<filename>/usr/share/cups/model</filename>. Alternatively, you may use
<option>-P /path/to/your.ppd</option>.
</para>
<para>
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 <ulink
noescape="1" url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi">http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi</ulink>.
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.
</para>
<note><para>
<indexterm><primary>foomatic-rip</primary></indexterm>
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:<ulink
noescape="1" url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/driver_list.cgi">http://www.linuxprinting.org/driver_list.cgi</ulink>.
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!
</para></note>
<sect2>
<title>foomatic-rip and Foomatic explained</title>
<indexterm significance="preferred"><primary>foomatic</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm significance="preferred"><primary>foomatic-rip</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 operating systems and all package formats
(because there is none). Its history goes back a few years.
</para>
<para>
Recently Foomatic has achieved the astonishing milestone of <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=Anyone">1000
listed</ulink> 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 <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic.html">Foomatic</ulink>
database. Currently there are <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/driver_list.cgi">245 drivers</ulink>
in the database: many drivers support various models, and many models
may be driven by different drivers; it's your choice!
</para>
<sect3>
<title>690 "perfect" Printers</title>
<para>
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
truly 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!
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>How the "Printing HOWTO" started it all</title>
<para>
A few years ago <ulink
url="http://www2.picante.com:81/~gtaylor/">Grant Taylor</ulink>
started it all. The roots of today's Linuxprinting.org are in the
first <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/howto/">Linux Printing
HOWTO</ulink> 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" <emphasis>;-)</emphasis>, 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.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Foomatic's strange Name</title>
<indexterm><primary>foomatic</primary></indexterm>
<para>
"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
<emphasis>controlling</emphasis> all printer options through
standardized and well-defined "PPD files" (PostScript Printers
Description files). Plus, CUPS was designed to be easily extensible.
</para>
<para>
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":
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>It made all current and future Ghostscript filter
developments available for CUPS;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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);</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>It gave all the advanced CUPS options (web interface,
GUI driver configurations) to users wanting (or needing) to use
Ghostscript filters.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>cupsomatic, pdqomatic, lpdomatic, directomatic</title>
<indexterm><primary>cupsomatic</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>CUPS-PPD</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>PPD</primary><secondary>CUPS</secondary><see>CUPS-PPD</see></indexterm>
<para>
CUPS worked through a quickly-hacked up filter script named <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/download.cgi?filename=cupsomatic&show=0">cupsomatic</ulink>.
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 <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/download.cgi?filename=lpdomatic&show=0">PDQ-O-Matic</ulink>
(for PDQ) and <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/download.cgi?filename=lpdomatic&show=0">LPD-O-Matic</ulink>
(for - you guessed it - LPD); the configuration here didn't use PPDs
but other spooler-specific files.
</para>
<para>
From late summer of that year, <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/till/">Till Kamppeter</ulink>
started to put work into the database. Till had been newly employed by
<ulink url="http://www.mandrakesoft.com/">MandrakeSoft</ulink> to
convert their printing system over to CUPS, after they had seen his
<ulink url="http://www.fltk.org/">FLTK</ulink>-based <ulink
url="http://cups.sourceforge.net/xpp/">XPP</ulink> (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
<ulink url="http://ppr.sourceforge.net/">PPR</ulink> (via ppromatic),
<ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/lpr/">GNUlpr</ulink> and
<ulink url="http://www.lprng.org/">LPRng</ulink> (both via an extended
lpdomatic) and "spoolerless" printing (<ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/download.cgi?filename=directomatic&show=0">directomatic</ulink>)....
</para>
<para>
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..
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>The <emphasis>Grand Unification</emphasis>
achieved...</title>
<indexterm><primary>foomatic-rip</primary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/download.cgi?filename=foomatic-rip&show=0">foomatic-rip</ulink>.
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.
</para>
<para>
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 <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-db-engine-3.0.0beta1.tar.gz">foomatic-db-engine</ulink>!
Individual users just need to generate a single new PPD specific to
their model by <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/kpfeifle/LinuxKongress2002/Tutorial/II.Foomatic-User/II.tutorial-handout-foomatic-user.html">following
the steps</ulink> outlined in the Foomatic tutorial or further
below. This new development is truly amazing.
</para>
<para>
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).
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Driver Development outside</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
Speaking of the different driver development groups: most of
the work is currently done in three projects. These are:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><ulink
url="http://www-124.ibm.com/developerworks/oss/linux/projects/omni/">Omni</ulink>
-- 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.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><ulink url="http://hpinkjet.sf.net/">HPIJS</ulink> --
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.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><ulink
url="http://gimp-print.sf.net/">Gimp-Print</ulink> -- 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.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Forums, Downloads, Tutorials, Howtos -- also for Mac OS X and
commercial UNIX</title>
<para>
Linuxprinting.org today is the one-stop "shop" to download printer
drivers. Look for printer information and <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org//kpfeifle/LinuxKongress2002/Tutorial/">tutorials</ulink>
or solve printing problems in its popular <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/newsportal/">forums</ulink>. But
it's not just for GNU/Linux: users and admins of <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/macosx/">commercial UNIX
systems</ulink> are also going there, and the relatively new <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/newsportal/thread.php3?name=linuxprinting.macosx.general">Mac
OS X forum</ulink> has turned out to be one of the most frequented
fora after only a few weeks.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<note><para>
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.
</para></note>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Foomatic Database generated PPDs</title>
<para>
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
<emphasis>cupsomatic</emphasis> filter script, while the new-style
PPDs now call <emphasis>foomatic-rip</emphasis>). 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 <ulink
url="http://printing.kde.org/overview/kprinter.phtml">"kprinter"</ulink>,
or the GNOME <ulink
url="http://gtklp.sourceforge.net/">"gtklp"</ulink>, "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.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>foomatic-rip and Foomatic-PPD Download and Installation</title>
<para>
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):
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Surf to <ulink
noescape="1" url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi">http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi</ulink>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Check the complete list of printers in the database:
<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=Anyone">http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=Anyone</ulink>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>There select your model and click on the
link.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>You'll arrive at a page listing all drivers working
with this model (for all printers, there will always be
<emphasis>one</emphasis> recommended driver. Try this one
first).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>In our case ("HP LaserJet 4 Plus"), we'll arrive here:
<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus">http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus</ulink>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The recommended driver is "ljet4".</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>There are several links provided here. You should
visit them all, if you are not familiar with the Linuxprinting.org
database.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>There is a link to the database page for the "ljet4":
<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_driver.cgi?driver=ljet4">http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_driver.cgi?driver=ljet4</ulink>
On the driver's page, you'll find important and detailed information
about how to use that driver within the various available
spoolers.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Another link may lead you to the homepage of the
driver author or the driver.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Important links are the ones which provide hints with
setup instructions for CUPS (<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/cups-doc.html">http://www.linuxprinting.org/cups-doc.html</ulink>),
PDQ (<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/pdq-doc.html">http://www.linuxprinting.org/pdq-doc.html</ulink>),
LPD, LPRng and GNUlpr (<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/lpd-doc.html">http://www.linuxprinting.org/lpd-doc.html</ulink>)
as well as PPR (<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppr-doc.html">http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppr-doc.html)</ulink>
or "spooler-less" printing (<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/direct-doc.html">http://www.linuxprinting.org/direct-doc.html</ulink>
).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>You can view the PPD in your browser through this
link: <ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.cgi?driver=ljet4&printer=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus&show=1">http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.cgi?driver=ljet4&printer=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus&show=1</ulink>
</para></listitem> <listitem><para>You can also (most importantly)
generate and download the PPD: <ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.cgi?driver=ljet4&printer=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus&show=0">http://www.linuxprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.cgi?driver=ljet4&printer=HP-LaserJet_4_Plus&show=0</ulink>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Should you have ended up on the driver's page (<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_driver.cgi?driver=ljet4">http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_driver.cgi?driver=ljet4</ulink>),
you can choose to use the "PPD-O-Matic" online PPD generator
program.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Select the exact model and check either "download" or
"display PPD file" and click on "Generate PPD file".</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Another very interesting part on each driver page is
the <emphasis>Show execution details</emphasis> 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. ;-)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Some time during your visit to Linuxprinting.org, save
the PPD to a suitable place on your harddisk, say
<filename>/path/to/my-printer.ppd</filename> (if you prefer to install
your printers with the help of the CUPS web interface, save the PPD to
the <filename>/usr/share/cups/model/</filename> path and re-start
cupsd).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Then install the printer with a suitable commandline,
e.g.:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>lpadmin -p laserjet4plus -v parallel:/dev/lp0 -E -P path/to/my-printer.ppd</userinput>
</screen></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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: <ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/download.cgi?filename=foomatic-rip&show=0">http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/download.cgi?filename=foomatic-rip&show=0</ulink>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The foomatic-rip Perlscript itself also makes some
interesting reading (<ulink noescape="1"
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/download.cgi?filename=foomatic-rip&show=1">http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/download.cgi?filename=foomatic-rip&show=1</ulink>),
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... ;-)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Save foomatic-rip either directly in
<filename>/usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip</filename> 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.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>If you save foomatic-rip in your $PATH, create a symlink:
<command>cd /usr/lib/cups/filter/ ; ln -s `which
foomatic-rip`</command>. For CUPS to discover this new
available filter at startup, you need to re-start
cupsd.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
You need:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>A "foomatic+something" PPD -- but it this not enough
to print with CUPS (it is only <emphasis>one</emphasis> important
component)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The "foomatic-rip" filter script (Perl) in
/usr/lib/cups/filters/</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Perl to make foomatic-rip run</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ghostscript <emphasis>must</emphasis> (depending on
the driver/model) contain support for a certain "device", representing
the selected "driver" for your model (as shown by "gs
-h")</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>foomatic-rip needs a new version of PPDs (PPD versions
produced for cupsomatic don't work with
foomatic-rip).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Page Accounting with CUPS</title>
<indexterm><primary>CUPS</primary><secondary>Page Accounting</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
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 <emphasis>or</emphasis> unfiltered) and hand it over to this
printing subsystem.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Setting up Quotas</title>
<indexterm><primary>CUPS</primary><secondary>quotas</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
This is an example command how root would set a print quota in CUPS,
assuming an existing printer named "quotaprinter":
</para>
<indexterm><primary>lpadmin</primary></indexterm>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>lpadmin -p quotaprinter -o job-quota-period=604800 \
-o job-k-limit=1024 -o job-page-limit=100</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
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).
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Correct and incorrect Accounting</title>
<para>
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!
</para>
<para>
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 <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi">the driver list at linuxprinting.org/</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Adobe and CUPS PostScript Drivers for Windows Clients</title>
<para>
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).
</para>
<para>
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
<emphasis>not</emphasis> work for Win9x/ME clients. But it guarantees:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<indexterm><primary>PJL</primary></indexterm>
<listitem><para>to not write an PJL-header</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>to still read and support all PJL-options named in the
driver PPD with its own means</para></listitem>
<listitem><para> that the file will pass through the "pstops" filter
on the CUPS/Samba server</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>to page-count correctly the
printfile</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
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).
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>The page_log File Syntax</title>
<indexterm><primary>page_log</primary></indexterm>
<para>
These are the items CUPS logs in the "page_log" for every
single <emphasis>page</emphasis> of a job:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Printer name</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>User name</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Job ID</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Time of printing</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the page number</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the number of copies</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>a billing information string
(optional)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the host which sent the job (included since version
1.1.19)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Here is an extract of my CUPS server's page_log file to illustrate the
format and included items:
</para>
<para><screen>
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
</screen></para>
<para>
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".
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Possible Shortcomings</title>
<para>
What flaws or shortcomings are there with this quota system?
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>the ones named above (wrongly logged job in case of
printer hardware failure, etc.)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>in reality, CUPS counts the job pages that are being
processed in <emphasis>software</emphasis> (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</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>all quotas are the same for all users (no flexibility
to give the boss a higher quota than the clerk), no support for
groups</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>no means to read out the current balance or the
"used-up" number of current quota</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>a user having used up 99 sheets of 100 quota will
still be able to send and print a 1,000 sheet job</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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".</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Future Developments</title>
<para>
This is the best system currently available, and there are huge
improvements under development for CUPS 1.2:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>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)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>quotas will be handled more flexibly</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>probably there will be support for users to inquire
their "accounts" in advance</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>probably there will be support for some other tools
around this topic</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Other Accounting Tools</title>
<para>
PrintAnalyzer, pyKota, printbill, LogReport.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Additional Material</title>
<para>
A printer queue with <emphasis>no</emphasis> 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: <filename>lpd://, socket://,
smb://, ipp://, http://, parallel:/, serial:/, usb:/</filename> etc.)
</para>
<para>
"cupsomatic"/Foomatic are <emphasis>not</emphasis> 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:
</para>
<para><programlisting>
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 cupsomatic"
</programlisting></para>
<para>
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
<filename>/etc/cups/mime.types</filename> in place.
</para>
<para>
CUPS is widely configurable and flexible, even regarding its filtering
mechanism. Another workaround in some situations would be to have in
<filename>/etc/cups/mime.types</filename> entries as follows:
</para>
<para><programlisting>
application/postscript application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
application/vnd.cups-postscript application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
</programlisting></para>
<para>
This would prevent all Postscript files from being filtered (rather,
they will through the virtual <emphasis>nullfilter</emphasis>
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:
</para>
<para><programlisting>
*/* application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
</programlisting></para>
<para>
and would effectively send <emphasis>all</emphasis> files to the
backend without further processing.
</para>
<para>
Lastly, you could have the following entry:
</para>
<para><programlisting>
application/vnd.cups-postscript application/vnd.cups-raw 0 my_PJL_stripping_filter
</programlisting></para>
<para>
You will need to write a <emphasis>my_PJL_stripping_filter</emphasis>
(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
<filename>/usr/lib/cups/filters/</filename> and will be called by CUPS
if it encounters a MIME type "application/vnd.cups-postscript".
</para>
<para>
CUPS can handle <emphasis>-o job-hold-until=indefinite</emphasis>.
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.).
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Auto-Deletion or Preservation of CUPS Spool Files</title>
<para>
Samba print files pass through two "spool" directories. One is the
incoming directory managed by Samba, (set in the <smbconfoption><name>path</name><value>/var/spool/samba</value></smbconfoption> directive in the
<smbconfsection>[printers]</smbconfsection> section of
&smb.conf;). The other is the spool directory of
your UNIX print subsystem. For CUPS it is normally
<filename>/var/spool/cups/</filename>, as set by the cupsd.conf
directive <filename>RequestRoot /var/spool/cups</filename>.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>CUPS Configuration Settings explained</title>
<para>
Some important parameter settings in the CUPS configuration file
<filename>cupsd.conf</filename> are:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>PreserveJobHistory Yes</term>
<listitem><para>
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.
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>PreserveJobFiles Yes</term>
<listitem><para>
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.
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><emphasis>"MaxJobs 500"</emphasis></term>
<listitem><para>
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.
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>
(There are also additional settings for "MaxJobsPerUser" and
"MaxJobsPerPrinter"...)
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Pre-conditions</title>
<para>
For everything to work as announced, you need to have three
things:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>a Samba-smbd which is compiled against "libcups" (Check
on Linux by running "ldd `which smbd`")</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>a Samba-&smb.conf; setting of
<smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>another Samba-&smb.conf; setting of
<smbconfoption><name>printcap</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption></para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<note><para>
In this case all other manually set printing-related commands (like
<smbconfoption><name>print command</name></smbconfoption>,
<smbconfoption><name>lpq command</name></smbconfoption>,
<smbconfoption><name>lprm command</name></smbconfoption>,
<smbconfoption><name>lppause command</name></smbconfoption> or
<smbconfoption><name>lpresume command</name></smbconfoption>) are ignored and they should normally have no
influence what-so-ever on your printing.
</para></note>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Manual Configuration</title>
<para>
If you want to do things manually, replace the <smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>cups</value></smbconfoption>
by <smbconfoption><name>printing</name><value>bsd</value></smbconfoption>. Then your manually set commands may work
(haven't tested this), and a <smbconfoption><name>print command</name><value>lp -d %P %s; rm %s"</value></smbconfoption>
may do what you need.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>In Case of Trouble.....</title>
<para>
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):
</para>
<para><screen>
&prompt;<userinput>grep -v ^# /etc/cups/cupsd.conf | grep -v ^$</userinput>
&prompt;<userinput>grep -v ^# /etc/samba/smb.conf | grep -v ^$ | grep -v "^;"</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
(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?
;-)
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Printing <emphasis>from</emphasis> CUPS to Windows attached
Printers</title>
<para>
From time to time the question arises, how you can print
<emphasis>to</emphasis> a Windows attached printer
<emphasis>from</emphasis> Samba. Normally the local connection
from Windows host to 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
<emphasis>backends</emphasis> to talk to printers and other
servers. To talk to Windows shared printers you need to use the
<emphasis>smb</emphasis> (surprise, surprise!) backend. Check if this
is in the CUPS backend directory. This resides usually in
<filename>/usr/lib/cups/backend/</filename>. You need to find a "smb"
file there. It should be a symlink to <filename>smbspool</filename>
which file must exist and be executable:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>ls -l /usr/lib/cups/backend/</userinput>
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/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
&rootprompt;<userinput>ls -l `which smbspool`</userinput>
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 563245 Dec 28 14:49 /usr/bin/smbspool
</screen></para>
<para>
If this symlink doesn't exist, create it:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>ln -s `which smbspool` /usr/lib/cups/backend/smb</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
To install a printer with the smb backend on CUPS, use this command:
</para>
<para><screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>lpadmin -p winprinter -v smb://WINDOWSNETBIOSNAME/printersharename \
-P /path/to/PPD</userinput>
</screen></para>
<para>
The <emphasis>PPD</emphasis> 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
<filename>smb://</filename> device-URI. Like this:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>smb://WORKGROUP/WINDOWSNETBIOSNAME/printersharename </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>smb://username:password@WORKGROUP/WINDOWSNETBIOSNAME/printersharename</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>smb://username:password@WINDOWSNETBIOSNAME/printersharename</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Note that the device-URI will be visible in the process list of the
Samba server (e.g. when someone uses the <command>ps -aux</command>
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? :-).
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>More CUPS filtering Chains</title>
<para>
The following diagrams reveal how CUPS handles print jobs.
</para>
<image><imagefile>cups1</imagefile><imagedescription>Filtering chain 1</imagedescription></image>
<image><imagefile>cups2</imagefile><imagedescription>Filtering chain with cupsomatic</imagedescription></image>
<note><para>
Gimp-Print and some other 3rd-Party-Filters (like TurboPrint) to
CUPS and ESP PrintPro plug-in where rastertosomething is noted.
</para></note>
<!--FIXME: Put this into diagrams... ?
#########################################################################
#
# 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.
#
#########################################################################
</screen>
<screen>
#########################################################################
#
# 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.
#
#########################################################################
</screen>
<screen>
#########################################################################
#
# 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 <emphasis>not</emphasis> 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.
#
#########################################################################
</screen>
<screen>
#########################################################################
#
# 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.
#
##########################################################################
</screen>-->
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Common Errors</title>
<sect2>
<title>Win9x client can't install driver</title>
<para>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.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>"cupsaddsmb" keeps asking for root password in
neverending loop</title>
<para>Have you <smbconfoption><name>security</name><value>user</value></smbconfoption>? Have
you used <command>smbpasswd</command> to give root a Samba account?
You can do 2 things: open another terminal and execute
<command>smbpasswd -a root</command> 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).</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>"cupsaddsmb" gives "No PPD file for printer..."
message while PPD file is present</title>
<para>Have you enabled printer sharing on CUPS? This means:
do you have a <parameter><Location
/printers>....</Location></parameter> section in CUPS
server's <filename>cupsd.conf</filename> which doesn't deny access to
the host you run "cupsaddsmb" from? It <emphasis>could</emphasis> be
an issue if you use cupsaddsmb remotely, or if you use it with a
<option>-h</option> parameter: <userinput>cupsaddsmb -H
sambaserver -h cupsserver -v printername</userinput>.
</para>
<para>Is your
"TempDir" directive in
<emphasis>cupsd.conf</emphasis>
set to a valid value and is it writeable?
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Client can't connect to Samba printer</title>
<para>Use <command>smbstatus</command> to check which user
you are from Samba's point of view. Do you have the privileges to
write into the <smbconfsection>[print$]</smbconfsection>
share?</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Can't reconnect to Samba under new account
from Win2K/XP</title>
<para>Once you are connected as the "wrong" user (for
example as "nobody", which often occurs if you have
<smbconfoption><name>map to guest</name><value>bad user</value></smbconfoption>), Windows Explorer will not accept an
attempt to connect again as a different user. There won't be any byte
transfered on the wire to Samba, but still you'll see a stupid error
message which makes you think that Samba has denied access. Use
<command>smbstatus</command> to check for active connections. Kill the
PIDs. You still can't re-connect and get the dreaded
<computeroutput>You can't connect with a second account from the same
machine</computeroutput> message, as soon as you are trying? And you
don't see any single byte arriving at Samba (see logs; use "ethereal")
indicating a renewed connection attempt? Shut all Explorer Windows.
This makes Windows forget what it has cached in its memory as
established connections. Then re-connect as the right user. Best
method is to use a DOS terminal window and <emphasis>first</emphasis>
do <userinput>net use z: \\&example.server.samba;\print$ /user:root</userinput>. Check
with <command>smbstatus</command> that you are connected under a
different account. Now open the "Printers" folder (on the Samba server
in the <emphasis>Network Neighbourhood</emphasis>), right-click the
printer in question and select
<emphasis>Connect...</emphasis></para></sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Avoid being connected to the Samba server as the
"wrong" user</title>
<para>You see per <command>smbstatus</command> that you are
connected as user "nobody"; while you wanted to be "root" or
"printeradmin"? This is probably due to
<smbconfoption><name>map to guest</name><value>bad user</value></smbconfoption>, which silently connects you under the guest account,
when you gave (maybe by accident) an incorrect username. Remove
<smbconfoption><name>map to guest</name></smbconfoption>, if you want to prevent
this.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Upgrading to CUPS drivers from Adobe drivers on
NT/2K/XP clients gives problems</title>
<para>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).</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Can't use "cupsaddsmb" on Samba server which is
a PDC</title>
<para>Do you use the "naked" root user name? Try to do it
this way: <userinput>cupsaddsmb -U <replaceable>DOMAINNAME</replaceable>\\root -v
<replaceable>printername</replaceable></userinput>> (note the two backslashes: the first one is
required to "escape" the second one).</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Deleted Win2K printer driver is still shown</title>
<para>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.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Win2K/XP "Local Security
Policies"</title>
<para><emphasis>Local Security Policies</emphasis> may not
allow the installation of unsigned drivers. "Local Security Policies"
may not allow the installation of printer drivers at
all.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>WinXP clients: "Administrator can not install
printers for all local users"</title>
<para>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
<emphasis>http://cupsserver:631/printers/printername</emphasis>.
Still looking into this one: maybe a "logon script" could
automatically install printers for all
users.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>"Print Change Notify" functions on
NT-clients</title>
<para>For "print change notify" functions on NT++ clients,
these need to run the "Server" service first (re-named to
<emphasis>File & Print Sharing for MS Networks</emphasis> in
XP).</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>WinXP-SP1</title>
<para>WinXP-SP1 introduced a <emphasis>Point and Print
Restriction Policy</emphasis> (this restriction doesn't apply to
"Administrator" or "Power User" groups of users). In Group Policy
Object Editor: go to <emphasis>User Configuration,
Administrative Templates, Control Panel,
Printers</emphasis>. The policy is automatically set to
<emphasis>Enabled</emphasis> and the <emphasis>Users can only Point
and Print to machines in their Forest</emphasis> . You probably need
to change it to <emphasis>Disabled</emphasis> or <emphasis>Users can
only Point and Print to these servers</emphasis> in order to make
driver downloads from Samba possible.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Print options for all users can't be set on Win2K/XP</title>
<para>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 <emphasis>seems</emphasis> to set everything. All
three dialogs <emphasis>look</emphasis> the same. Only one of them
<emphasis>does</emphasis> 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:
</para>
<orderedlist numeration="upperalpha">
<listitem><para>The first "wrong" way:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem><para>Open the <emphasis>Printers</emphasis>
folder.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Right-click on the printer
(<emphasis>remoteprinter on cupshost</emphasis>) and
select in context menu <emphasis>Printing
Preferences...</emphasis></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Look at this dialog closely and remember what it looks
like.</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>The second "wrong" way:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem><para>Open the <emphasis>Printers</emphasis>
folder.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Right-click on the printer (<emphasis>remoteprinter on
cupshost</emphasis>) and select in the context menu
<emphasis>Properties</emphasis></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Click on the <emphasis>General</emphasis>
tab</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Click on the button <emphasis>Printing
Preferences...</emphasis></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>A new dialog opens. Keep this dialog open and go back
to the parent dialog.</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>The third, the "correct" way: (should you do
this from the beginning, just carry out steps 1. and 2. from second
"way" above)
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem><para>Click on the <emphasis>Advanced</emphasis>
tab. (Hmmm... if everything is "Grayed Out", then you are not logged
in as a user with enough privileges).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Click on the <emphasis>Printing
Defaults...</emphasis> button.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>On any of the two new tabs, click on the
<emphasis>Advanced...</emphasis>
button.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>A new dialog opens. Compare this one to the other,
identical looking one from "B.5" or A.3".</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
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 <emphasis>as
Administrator</emphasis> (<smbconfoption><name>printer admin</name></smbconfoption> in
&smb.conf;) <emphasis>before</emphasis> a client
downloads the driver (the clients can later set their own
<emphasis>per-user defaults</emphasis> by following the
procedures <emphasis>A.</emphasis> or <emphasis>B.</emphasis>
above).</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Most common blunders in driver
settings on Windows clients</title>
<para>Don't use <emphasis>Optimize for
Speed</emphasis>: use <emphasis>Optimize for
Portability</emphasis> instead (Adobe PS Driver) Don't use
<emphasis>Page Independence: No</emphasis>: always
settle with <emphasis>Page Independence:
Yes</emphasis> (Microsoft PS Driver and CUPS PS Driver for
WinNT/2K/XP) If there are problems with fonts: use
<emphasis>Download as Softfont into
printer</emphasis> (Adobe PS Driver). For
<emphasis>TrueType Download Options</emphasis>
choose <emphasis>Outline</emphasis>. Use PostScript
Level 2, if you are having trouble with a non-PS printer, and if
there is a choice.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title><command>cupsaddsmb</command> does not work
with newly installed printer</title>
<para>Symptom: the last command of
<command>cupsaddsmb</command> doesn't complete successfully:
<command>cmd = setdriver printername printername</command> result was
NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL then possibly the printer was not yet
"recognized" by Samba. Did it show up in <emphasis>Network
Neighbourhood</emphasis>? Did it show up in <command>rpcclient
hostname -c 'enumprinters'</command>? Restart smbd (or send a
<command>kill -HUP</command> to all processes listed by
<command>smbstatus</command> and try
again.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Permissions on
<filename>/var/spool/samba/</filename> get reset after each
reboot</title>
<para>Have you by accident set the CUPS spool directory to
the same location? (<parameter>RequestRoot
/var/spool/samba/</parameter> in <filename>cupsd.conf</filename> or
the other way round: <filename>/var/spool/cups/</filename> is set as
<smbconfoption><name>path</name></smbconfoption>> in the <smbconfsection>[printers]</smbconfsection>
section). These <emphasis>must</emphasis> be different. Set
<parameter>RequestRoot /var/spool/cups/</parameter> in
<filename>cupsd.conf</filename> and <smbconfoption><name>path</name><value>
/var/spool/samba</value></smbconfoption> in the <smbconfsection>[printers]</smbconfsection>
section of &smb.conf;. Otherwise cupsd will
sanitize permissions to its spool directory with each restart, and
printing will not work reliably.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Printer named "lp"
intermittently swallows jobs and spits out completely different
ones</title>
<para>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 <parameter>BrowseShortNames
No</parameter>. It will present any printer as "printername@cupshost"
then, giving you a better control over what may happen in a large
networked environment.</para></sect2>
<sect2><title>Location of Adobe PostScript driver files necessary for "cupsaddsmb"</title>
<para>Use <command>smbclient</command> to connect to any
Windows box with a shared PostScript printer: <command>smbclient
//windowsbox/print\$ -U guest</command>. You can navigate to the
<filename>W32X86/2</filename> subdir to <command>mget ADOBE*</command>
and other files or to <filename>WIN40/0</filename> to do the same. --
Another option is to download the <filename>*.exe</filename> packaged
files from the Adobe website.</para></sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>An Overview of the CUPS Printing Processes</title>
<image><imagedescription>CUPS Printing Overview</imagedescription>
<imagefile>a_small</imagefile>
</image>
</sect1>
</chapter>