cups-pdf and cups-insecure-filter print error on cups 1.4.1

[Richard]

Binary package hint: cups-pdf

Upgraded to 9.10.
Installed cups-pdf the same way that I did in 9.04
Getting an error message whenever doing a test print:

W [03/Nov/2009:09:32:00 +0000] [CGI] Unhandled message: interface=org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable, path=/, member=Introspect
E [03/Nov/2009:09:37:33 +0000] Unable to remove temporary file "/var/spool/cups/tmp/.hplip" - Is a directory
E [03/Nov/2009:09:41:28 +0000] Unable to execute /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf: insecure file permissions (0106700)
E [03/Nov/2009:09:41:28 +0000] [Job 329] Stopping job because the sheduler could not execute the backend.
E [03/Nov/2009:10:04:45 +0000] Unable to remove temporary file "/var/spool/cups/tmp/.hplip" - Is a directory
E [03/Nov/2009:10:05:13 +0000] Unable to execute /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf: insecure file permissions (0106700)
E [03/Nov/2009:10:05:13 +0000] [Job 330] Stopping job because the sheduler could not execute the backend.

Cups folder is owned by root.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Nov 3 10:15:59 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: firefox-3.5 3.5.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: firefox-3.5
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686

[Martin-Éric Racine (q-funk)]

> Binary package hint: cups-pdf
>
> Upgraded to 9.10.
> Installed cups-pdf the same way that I did in 9.04
> Getting an error message whenever doing a test print:
>
> W [03/Nov/2009:09:32:00 +0000] [CGI] Unhandled message: interface=org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable, path=/, member=Introspect
> E [03/Nov/2009:09:37:33 +0000] Unable to remove temporary file "/var/spool/cups/tmp/.hplip" - Is a directory
> E [03/Nov/2009:09:41:28 +0000] Unable to execute /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf: insecure file permissions (0106700)
> E [03/Nov/2009:09:41:28 +0000] [Job 329] Stopping job because the sheduler could not execute the backend.
> E [03/Nov/2009:10:04:45 +0000] Unable to remove temporary file "/var/spool/cups/tmp/.hplip" - Is a directory
> E [03/Nov/2009:10:05:13 +0000] Unable to execute /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf: insecure file permissions (0106700)
> E [03/Nov/2009:10:05:13 +0000] [Job 330] Stopping job because the sheduler could not execute the backend.
>
> Cups folder is owned by root.

I really wonder how that happened, given how the backend's permissions are:

-rwx------ 1 root root 22K 2009-10-21 16:40 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf

...which is sufficiently secure enough as it is.

[Gordon Hughes (stobo-attglobal)]

I have encountered exactly the same problem in 9.10. I have removed cups-pdf, reinstalled it, set the permissions variously to 755, 777, ... as recommended in other strands. The folder ~/PDF exists and has the correct permissions. Invariably the response to any attempt to print from Firefox to the PDF printer is "Stopping the job because the scheduler could not execute the backend".

The details of cups-pdf are:

-rwsrwsrwx 1 root root 22036 2009-10-21 14:40 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf

From past experience cups-pdf can be a complete pain to deal with in different distributions, but surely this should have been sorted out properly by now !

[Martin-Éric Racine (q-funk)]

Gordon, it appears that your back-end's permissions were changed from what the package is shipping. Can you try resetting them back to 0700 and see if it solves your problem?

As for distributions, whenever they use some sort of hardening tool (in Ubuntu's case, AppArmor), all sorts of things that were not foreseen by the upstream author can happen. Adding insult to injury, those hardening tools depend on forever changing Linux kernel security features, which often results on what used to work no longer working as expected. Sometimes, those kernel changes get introduced at the last minute, which prevents CUPS-PDF maintainers from fixing any pending issue on time for a new Ubuntu release.

[Amir Khosroshahi (amir-khosroshahi)]

The issue is resolved for me by executing:

sudo chmod 700 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
sudo chmod 700 /usr/lib/cups/backend

as explained in the last post here:
http://support.zenwalk.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=24764

[Richard (richardmorley)]

Thanks Amir,
That has fixed it. You are a star!

[SgtChinicuil (cesar-mccarton)]

You can also set as 755, that worked for me.

[Martin-Éric Racine (q-funk)]

I've added ownership and permission sanitizing to the CUPS-PDF package's post-install script to enforce our standard settings. It's already in Lucid, but let's see if I can get that released as an update for Karmic as well.

debdiff between Karmic and Lucid is attached.

[Ilya Barygin (randomaction)]

Martin-Éric, I saw your question at #ubuntu-motu. The policy for Karmic updates is at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates

[Martin-Éric Racine (q-funk)]

SRU justification: 2.5.0-12 includes fixes for two LP bugs (one merged from Ubuntu, one added directly into Debian). The upstream source is the same version for Karmic and Lucid, and the debdiff (attached) is minimal.

[lalala (lalaly4)]

Amir, thanks. That thing works fine.

[Schallehn (schallehn)]

For my 9.10, the permissions were correct. it was fixed with a /usr/lib/cups/filter and /usr/lib/cups/backend `chown -R` from the printer installing user to root.

[pamindic (pam-indicia)]

I've done as suggested above but am still experiencing this problem.

[Tao Lee Kor (shiyilangtc)]

I have the same problem as you guys.
Thanks for Amir Khosroshahi, I've tried that
sudo chmod 700 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
sudo chmod 700 /usr/lib/cups/backend
Then I made it.

[Martin-Éric Racine (q-funk)]

Fix released in Lucid.

[Dakkar (dakkar9999)]

I had the same problem in Lucid. Amir's fix worked for me too.

[Martin-Éric Racine (q-funk)]

Dakkar, I really wonder how you can have the same problem in Lucid, given how the package's post-install script fixes permissions.

[mauri (m-altomare)]

The problem is back again. I'm using Ubuntu 10.10 and after the last upgrade, I wasn't able to print anymore.
I gave a sudo chmod 777 -R /usr/lib/cups/backend and the printer is already at work.

The only upgraded packets that concern with printers are: system-config-printer-common 1.2.3+20100723-0ubuntu8.1
and system-config-printer-gnome 1.2.3+20100723-0ubuntu8.1

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

mauri, can you run the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall system-config-printer-common
ls -la /usr/lib/cups/backend
sudo apt-get install --reinstall system-config-printer-gnome
ls -la /usr/lib/cups/backend
sudo apt-get install --reinstall cups-pdf
ls -la /usr/lib/cups/backend

Please post the output of the commands here.

[bersyl91 (choppy-free)]

Well, sorry to reactivate this old bug but since a number of versions, I'm in trouble with it.
I've tried various suggested options but I still can't obtain any output in my PDF directory...

Ok, Till, I've done what you suggested, here is what this gives:

$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall system-config-printer-common
Lecture des listes de paquets... Fait
Construction de l'arbre des dépendances
Lecture des informations d'état... Fait
0 mis à jour, 0 nouvellement installés, 1 réinstallés, 0 à enlever et 0 non mis à jour.
Il est nécessaire de prendre 0 o/142 ko dans les archives.
Après cette opération, 0 o d'espace disque supplémentaires seront utilisés.
(Lecture de la base de données... 175502 fichiers et répertoires déjà installés.)
Préparation du remplacement de system-config-printer-common 1.3.6+20110831-0ubuntu9.4 (en utilisant .../system-config-printer-common_1.3.6+20110831-0ubuntu9.4_all.deb) ...
Dépaquetage de la mise à jour de system-config-printer-common ...
Paramétrage de system-config-printer-common (1.3.6+20110831-0ubuntu9.4) ...

$ sudo ls -la /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 22056 2011-09-25 03:45 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf

$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall system-config-printer-gnome
Lecture des listes de paquets... Fait
Construction de l'arbre des dépendances
Lecture des informations d'état... Fait
0 mis à jour, 0 nouvellement installés, 1 réinstallés, 0 à enlever et 0 non mis à jour.
Il est nécessaire de prendre 0 o/180 ko dans les archives.
Après cette opération, 0 o d'espace disque supplémentaires seront utilisés.
(Lecture de la base de données... 175502 fichiers et répertoires déjà installés.)
Préparation du remplacement de system-config-printer-gnome 1.3.6+20110831-0ubuntu9.4 (en utilisant .../system-config-printer-gnome_1.3.6+20110831-0ubuntu9.4_all.deb) ...
Dépaquetage de la mise à jour de system-config-printer-gnome ...
Traitement des actions différées (« triggers ») pour « gnome-menus »...
Traitement des actions différées (« triggers ») pour « desktop-file-utils »...
Traitement des actions différées (« triggers ») pour « man-db »...
Paramétrage de system-config-printer-gnome (1.3.6+20110831-0ubuntu9.4) ...

$ sudo ls -la /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 22056 2011-09-25 03:45 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf

$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall cups-pdf
Lecture des listes de paquets... Fait
Construction de l'arbre des dépendances
Lecture des informations d'état... Fait
0 mis à jour, 0 nouvellement installés, 1 réinstallés, 0 à enlever et 0 non mis à jour.
Il est nécessaire de prendre 0 o/38,0 ko dans les archives.
Après cette opération, 0 o d'espace disque supplémentaires seront utilisés.
(Lecture de la base de données... 175502 fichiers et répertoires déjà installés.)
Préparation du remplacement de cups-pdf 2.5.1-7 (en utilisant .../cups-pdf_2.5.1-7_i386.deb) ...
Dépaquetage de la mise à jour de cups-pdf ...
Traitement des actions différées (« triggers ») pour « cups »...
Paramétrage de cups-pdf (2.5.1-7) ...

$ sudo ls -la /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
-rwx------ 1 root root 22056 2011-09-25 03:45 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

karmic has seen the end of its life and is no longer receiving any updates. Marking the karmic task for this ticket as "Won't Fix".