12/31/2014

CUPSPDF
Home
Download
Documentation
Licensing
ChangeLog
Imprint

CUPSPDFDocumentation

Importantnotes:
CUPSPDFrequiresrootprivilegessinceit
hastomodifyfileownerships.Inorderto
ensureCUPSPDFisrunningwiththe
requiredrootprivilegesyouhavetomake
'root'theownerofthecupspdfbackendand
setthefilepermissionsofthebackendto
0700(rootonly).NOTE:inolderversionsof
CUPS(<1.2.0)youhavetosetthe
"RunAsUser"optionincupsd.confto"No"in
ordertograntfullprivileges.
CUPSPDFneedsafullyfeaturedUNIX
filesystemtowork.MakesureifanyofCUPS
PDF'sworkingdirectories(e.g.output)are
locatedonanNFSmountedvolumetheyare
mountedwithoutroot_squash!Other
filesystems(e.g.NetWareorWindowsshares)
are_not_supported!
CUPSPDFisknowntofailifthegs
(GhostScript)binaryonasystemis
compressedbyupx(UltimatePackerfor
eXecutables).
IfyouareusingSELinux,AppArmouror
similartools,makesurethesedonotinterfere
withCUPSPDF.(YoucandisableSELinux
forCUPSby"setseboolP
cupsd_disable_trans1"orhavealookatthe
SELinuxHOWTObelowtomakeitwork)
OnMacOSXyouwillhavetousepstopdf
insteadofAFPLGhostScript(seeREADME).
ThereisabuginESPGhostScriptversion
8.15.1whichcauseserrorsingenerated
PDFswhenviewingthemwithAcroread.The
bugisfixedinversion8.15.2.
StartingwithCUPSPDFv3aversionof
CUPS>=1.2isrequired.Furthermorethe
developmentpackageofCUPShastobe
installedinordertocompileCUPSPDF.

HOWTOs:
TheofficialREADMEthatalsocomeswiththe
sourcepackagecanbefoundhere.
http://www.cupspdf.de/documentation.shtml

1/3

12/31/2014

CUPSPDFDocumentation

DanielHerfortfrommacademyprovidedapackage
thatallowsusingCUPSPDFonrecentversionsof
MacOSXwithsandboxingincludingabrief
Readmehowtomakeitwork.
DocWalkercompiledaSELinuxHowToalongwith
requiredfiles.
FortheinstallationofCUPSPDFonOpenSolaris
x86acomprehensiveHowTohasbeencompiledby
EstebanFallas.
Aquickguide(inGerman,buteasily
comprehensiblewithoutknowledgeinGerman)for
theinstallationonOpenIndianacanbefoundon
thewebpageofPhilippSpeck.
ThomasMllerprovidedaCUPSPDFHOWTO(as
MSWordFile)onhowtosetupCUPSPDFin
combinationwithWindowsActiveDirectory
Services(ADS),WindowsDomainsandlanguage
specificspecialcharacters(e.g.Germanumlauts).
TheHOWTOisatthistimeonlyavailablein
Germanbutsinceitcontainsmanyexamplesitcan
behelpfulevenwithouttheneedtobeabletoread
German.
AGalicianandaSpanishinstallationHOWTOcan
befoundonwww.diazdelaiglesia.com.

Installation:
(onanopenSUSELinuxsystempathsmaydiffer
onotherplatforms)
Eithercompilethepackageorprocessthesingle
filesbelow:
Modifythefilecupspdf.htosetthelocationof
theconfigurationfile.
Compilecupspdf.cinthesamedirectoryas
cupspdf.hislocatedandmovethebinaryto
CUPS'backenddirectory
(/usr/lib/cups/backend/cupspdf)
[e.g.bycalling"gccO9lcupsso
/usr/lib/cups/backend/cupspdfcupspdf.c"]
Copythefilecupspdf.confto/etc/cups/cups
pdf.conf(orwhateveryousetaboveincups
pdf.h)andmodifyittomeetyourequirements.
Alloptionsarecommentedandthedefaults
http://www.cupspdf.de/documentation.shtml

2/3

12/31/2014

CUPSPDFDocumentation

shouldworkfineonmostsystems.
CopythefileCUPSPDF_opt.ppdto
/usr/share/cups/model/Generic/CUPS
PDF_opt.ppd
[ifyoudonotwishtouseoptionsettingvia
PPDyoucanuseCUPSPDF_noopt.ppd
instead]

Nowyouwillbeabletochoose"CUPSPDF(Virtual
PDFPrinter)"whensettingupanewprinterin
CUPS(aCUPSrestartmaybenecessary).
TosetupaqueueforotherUNIXclientsyoushould
selectPostscriptasvendorandtheColorPrinteras
modelforyournewprinterqueuesthatgettheir
inputfromsambaornetatalk(i.e.Windows,OS/2or
MacOS)canbesetupasrawqueues.Onthe
Windows,OS/2orMacOSsystemchooseacolor
postscriptdriverforthatnetworkprinter(thedrivers
forMinoltaPageWorksorHPDesignJetprintersdo
agoodjob).
Hint:IfyouwanttocreategrayscalePDFsyoujust
havetochooseagrayscaleprinterdriver,i.e.the
postscript.ppdthatcomeswithCUPSontheLinux
sideorab/wlaserprinter(e.g.aHPLaserJet)on
theWindowsside.OntheLinuxsidebeawarethat
thepostscript.ppdwillnotreprocessdatathatis
alreadysuppliedinPostscriptformat,i.e.acolor
Postscriptwillkeepitscolors.
Onceyouprinttothenewdevicetheoutput
directoryselectedincupspdf.conf(defaultsto
/var/spool/cupspdf)willbecreatedandall
convertedPDFfileswillbeplacedinsubdirectories
namedaftertheowneroftheprintjob.Incasethe
ownercannotbeidentified(i.e.doesnotexiston
theserver)theoutputisplacedinthedirectoryfor
anonymousoperation(ifnotdisabledincups
pdf.confdefaultsto/var/spool/cups
pdf/ANONYMOUS/).Furthermoreifloggingis
enabledthelogfilewillbeplacedbydefaultin
/var/log/cups.
Thefiles"CUPSPDF_opt.ppd"and"CUPS
PDF_noopt.ppd"aremodifiedversionsofthe
"Postscript.ppd"thatcomeswithCUPS1.1.15that
isabletohandlecoloroutput.

Lastchange:Sunday,19Oct201418:23:05CEST

http://www.cupspdf.de/documentation.shtml

3/3