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it may not work properly when shared over the network. Usually, when configuring a printer on Linux, the print queue is associated with a printer driver that translates data it receives from applications into codes that make sense to the specific printer in use. However, Windows clients have their own printer drivers, and expect the printer on the remote system to accept raw data files that are intended to be used directly by the printer, without any kind of intermediate processing. The solution is to add an additional print queue for your printer (or create one, if you don't already have the printer configured) that passes data directly to the printer. In the Unix/Linux world this is sometimes called "raw mode."

The first time the printer is accessed from each Windows client, you will need to install the Windows printer driver on that client. The procedure is the same as when setting up a printer attached directly to the client system. When a document is printed on a Windows client, it is processed by the printer driver, and then sent to Samba. Samba simply adds the file to the printer's print queue, and the Linux system's printing system handles the rest. Historically, most Linux distributions have used BSD-style printing systems, and so we have set printing = BSD in the same configuration file to notify Samba that the BSD system is in use. Samba then acts accordingly, issuing the appropriate commands that tell the printing system what to do. More recently, some Linux distributions have used the LPRng printing system or CUPS. If your distribution uses LPRng, set printing = LPRNG. If it uses CUPS, set printing = CUPS, and also set printcap name = CUPS.

We have set the path parameter to /var/spool/samba to tell Samba where to temporarily put the binary files it receives from the network client, before they are added to the print system's queue. You may use another directory if you like. Make sure the directory exists. It must also be world-writable, to allow all clients to access the printer. A security-conscious administrator will object to this because it is a simple matter to hijack someone's print job and turn it into a Trojan horse through which the Linux system may be compromised. The solution to that problem is to set the sticky bit on this directory, thus permitting only the owner to change the file. The sticky bit, together with world read and write permission, can be set on the directory like this:

linux:~ # chmod a+rwxt /var/spool/samba

The [data] stanza in our example shows how to share a directory. You can follow this example to add as many shared directories as you want, by using a different section name and value for path for each share. In the official Samba documentation you will find that the shared directory is referred to as the share-point in the Linux filesystem. The stanza name is used as the name of the share, which will show up on Windows clients as a folder with that name. As in previous sections, we have used read only = no to allow read/write access to the share, and map archive = no to prevent files from having their execute bits set. The path parameter tells Samba what directory on the Linux system is to be shared. You can share any directory, but make sure it exists and has permissions that correspond to its intended use. For our [data] stanza, the directory /export/data has read, write, and execute permissions set for all of user, group, and other, because it is intended as a general-purpose shared directory for everyone to use.

After you are done creating your smb.conf file, run the testparm program, which checks your smb.conf for errors and inconsistencies. If your smb.conf file is correct, testparm should report satisfactory messages, as follows:

linux:~ # testparm

Load smb config files from /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf

Processing section "[homes]"

Processing section "[printers]"

Processing section "[data]"

Loaded services file OK.

Press enter to see a dump of your service definitions

If you have made any major errors in the smb.conf file, you will get error messages mixed