CUPS smb job submission fails with "Backend returned status 1 (failed)"

This document (7018532) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 (SLES 11 SP3)

Situation

CUPS print jobs fail to submit from a SLES 11 SP3 server to a Windows share. No data is sent from SLES 11 SP3 to the Windows computer. The /var/log/cups/error_log shows:

E [DATE] PID 21442 (/usr/lib64/cups/backend/smb) stopped with status 1!
D [DATE] [Job 1669] File 0 is complete.
I [DATE] [Job 1669] Backend returned status 1 (failed)
D [DATE] Discarding unused printer-state-changed event...
D [DATE] Discarding unused printer-stopped event...

Resolution

Copy/paste the following string of commands into a terminal session while logged in as root:

rm /usr/lib64/cups/backend/smb;ln -s /usr/bin/smbspool /usr/lib64/cups/backend/smb

Cause

Test results show that cups-1.4.4-3.3.1 and beyond does not have this problem. cups-1.3.9-8.46.56.1, which is part of SLES 11 SP3 has the problem due to an erroneous symlink.

Incorrect symbolic link:
/usr/lib64/cups/backend/smb -> /usr/bin/get_printing_ticket

Correct symbolic link:
/usr/lib64/cups/backend/smb -> /usr/bin/smbspool

Additional Information

Steps to duplicate:

Create a Windows share.

Example share name: MyShare

Create a CUPS print to submit jobs to that share location.

You can use various tools (CUPS Web Interface, Printing, YaST -> Printer, lpadmin)

Syntax to create the smb share printer using lpadmin:
lpadmin -p [PrinterName] -v smb://[WindowsUser]:[WindowsPassword@[WindowsIP]/[WindowsIP]/[WindowsShare] -E
Example to create the smb share printer using lpadmin:
lpadmin -p myTestPrinter -v smb://joeUser:password123@159.181.212.101/159.181.212.101/MyShare -E

Send a print job.

lp -d myTestPrinter /tmp/myTestPrintJob.txt

Depending on the version of CUPS, the print job will or will not show up in the Windows MyShare directory.

Disclaimer

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