[Samba] A few issues with samba & cups

[Daniel Kasak]

Hi all.

I have Samba-3.0.1 sharing 2 printers via the 'share all printers' 
feature - the printers are an HP 4500 colour laser, and a Ricoh Aficio 
AP3200 ( accepting jobs like a network HP does ).

I followed the instructions on the CUPS website for sharing printers 
with the CUPS windows driver, using their 'cupsaddsmb' script, which 
basically takes your existing ppd file, and adds a couple of dlls ( the 
cups driver bit ) and chucks them in the printer$ share for Windows 
clients to download when they connect.

This all appeared to work flawlessly. I can right-click in the shared 
printers in the network neighbourhood and click 'connect' and the 
printer driver is downloaded.

The first issue ( which is probably more of a CUPS issue than a Samba 
issue ) is that the margins are wrong. The margins are perfect via 
Linux. Margin settings are taken from the foomatic-generated ppd file, 
and I've checked them against the manufacturer-issued ones. I've also 
checked the Windows clients, and they are in fact using the same ppd 
file that gets downloaded upon connecting. So something is going wrong 
somewhere, and the left-hand margin is too big on both printers, and the 
top margin is too big on the HP 4500. If anyone know the the problem is, 
I'd be oh-so-grateful to hear from you :)

The next issue is that I can't update the printer config now that it's 
set up. If I log into a Windows machine as root, samba will let me 
upload new drivers ( manufactured-issed ones to replace the CUPS Windows 
drivers ) to the printer$ share via the 'advanced' tab of the printer 
config dialog, when I click on 'apply' to select the uploaded driver, I 
get an error:

'Printer settings could not be saved. Access is denied'.

The drivers are being uploaded to the printer$ share, and I can select 
them for use in a single print 'session' and everything works OK, but I 
can't make them the default drivers!

One strange thing is that while I'm continually pressing on the 'apply' 
button, there is no logging being generated in /var/log/samba. So this 
looks like a permissions problem on the Windows client??? At any rate, 
it is preventing me from sharing the printers via samba, so if anyone 
knows what this issue is caused by, I'd also be very grateful to hear 
from you.

Thanks!

Dan

smb.conf:

#
#======================= Global Settings 
=====================================
[global]
    dns proxy = no
    load printers = yes
    netbios name = screamer
    printing = cups
    server string = Samba Server %v
    socket options = TCP_NODELAY
    password server = NUS_AUST_NT
    workgroup = NUSAUS
    debug level = 1
    bind interfaces only = true
    interfaces = 10.146.0.254/255.255.0.0
    null passwords = yes
    encrypt passwords = yes
    security = domain
    preferred master = no
    max log size = 50
    use client driver = yes

[install]
    writable = yes
    printable = no
    path = /mnt/stuff/smb_shares/install
    force directory mode = 777
    force group = nobody
    force create mode = 777
    comment = Installation Stuff
    create mode = 777
    public = yes
    directory mode = 777

[htdocs]
    path = /var/www/localhost/htdocs
    writable = yes
    printable = no
    public = yes

[printers]
    comment = All Printers
    path = /var/spool/samba
    browseable = no
    public = yes
    guest ok = yes
    writeable = no
    printable = yes
    printer admin = root

[print$]
    browseable = yes
    comment = Printer Drivers
    writeable = yes
    write list = root
    path = /etc/samba/drivers

-- 
Daniel Kasak
IT Developer
NUS Consulting Group
Level 5, 77 Pacific Highway
North Sydney, NSW, Australia 2060
T: (+61) 2 9922-7676 / F: (+61) 2 9922 7989
email: dkasak at nusconsulting.com.au
website: http://www.nusconsulting.com.au