Samba is not configured for using CUPS by default

[Till Kamppeter]

Binary package hint: samba

I have done some tests with a Samab server and CUPS. There I have discovered that Samba takes the information about existing print queues from /etc/printcap and not through the CUPS API. As Ubuntu comes set up with CUPS as its printing system (and all other free software printing system projects died) I expect Ubuntu to pre-configure Samba to use CUPS.

To fix this, the following settings in /etc/samba/smb.conf should be used:

           [global]
            load printers = yes
            printing = cups
            printcap name = cups

           [printers]
            comment = All Printers
            path = /var/spool/samba
            browseable = no
            public = yes
            guest ok = yes
            writable = no
            printable = yes

           [print$]
            comment = Printer Drivers
            path = /etc/samba/drivers
            browseable = yes
            guest ok = no

All settings no mentioned here can stay as they are. Most important are the settings in the "[global]" section. With all the settings shown here Samba is prepared for the use of "cupsaddsmb" (see "man cupsaddsmb") which would be even better for the users.

Can this be set up that way for Gutsy?

[Mathias Gug (mathiaz)]

In the [printers] section, you've added:

  public = yes
  guest ok = yes

Are these parameters required to make samba working with cups ?

In [print$]:

path is set to /etc/samba/drivers, compared to /var/lib/samba/printers in the current configuration file. IIRC print$ is used to provide drivers for windows installation. I think it makes more sense to keep it in /var/lib/samba/printers.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

  public = yes
  guest ok = yes

These two are not absolutely necessary, this is only for a more convenient configuration,

You should also add/uncomment

printer admin = @lpadmin

in the [global] section, so that the users who can do printing admin tasks with CUPS can also do so with Samba on the same system.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

The print$ path does not need to be changed. I have simply pasted the configuration entries in my initial posting from the cupsaddsmb man page.

[Mathias Gug (mathiaz)]

I've removed the beta milestone as there may be some race issues when samba and cups start (at least it was the case some time ago according to slangasek). So it seems that it's too late in the release cycle to enable this change (which could be considered as a new Feature).

[Mathias Gug (mathiaz)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. However, I am closing it because the bug has been fixed in the latest development version of Ubuntu - the Hardy Heron.

Cups is the default printing system as of 3.0.26a-2:

  samba (3.0.26a-2) unstable; urgency=low

    * Default printing system has changed from BSD to CUPS

      Previous versions of this package were configured to use BSD lpr as the
      default printing system. With this version of Samba, the default has
      been changed to CUPS for consistency with the current default printer
      handling in the rest of the system.