Revision 1 as of 2006-07-03 11:11:38

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Most Gnome applications and Openoffice.org can generate PDF without adding anything. However, if you wish to create PDF files from any application that can print, you need to use cups-pdf and install a Virtual PDF printer.

Instructions for Ubuntu 6.06 LTS

  1. Install the cups-pdf package.

  2. Due to [https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/cups-pdf/+bug/42147 bug 42147] it is necessary to manually change one file in order to add the PDF printer.

    sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf

  3. From the menu, select System -> Administration -> Printing

  4. There is now a "PDF Printer" detected, select it
  5. Select the Generic, Postscript Color Printer (Rev 3b)
  6. Give it a name, like PDF-Printer (the name should not have any spaces)

You can now create PDF files by using the Print option from your programs. To print a test page, try:

  1. Right click on the newly created printer, and select Properties
  2. Click "Print a Test Page"

The printer sends PDF files to your Home folder, under the PDF folder.

Instructions for Ubuntu 5.10

Install the cups-pdf package from universe and restart cups 

sudo apt-get install cups-pdf
sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart

Cups-PDF should be working for Gedit and abiword and a few other apps. If you need more general PDF creation, continue.

Update Cupsd.conf Cups requires changing permissions to get Cups-PDF to work for other applications:

Quote Leszek Tarkowski: 

You have to edit /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
sudo nano /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
change RunAsUser from Yes to No.
sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart

This will cause cups to run as root, rather than as a user. This is necessary for Cups-PDF, but could be a security risk if a hackable bug is found in cups. Use your judgement and stay on top of Ubuntu Security updates.

Create the pdf-printer in your gnome-printer-setup 

System--> Administration--> Printing
Add printer
Select "Local Printer" and use a "detected printer--> PDF printer".
Manufacturer--> Generic,
Model-->PostScript Color Printer,
Driver-->Should come preselected with a green dot (rev3a)
Apply

Test it out 

Open any app and print using the new "postscript-color-printer". 
PDFs are created in your home folder in a PDF subfolder (~/PDF/)

Rename the printer 

If you want a name better than "postscript-color-printer"
sudo nano /etc/cups/printers.conf
Change <Printer postscript-color-printer> to <Printer PDF-Printer>
sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart

Name can be anything that doesn't have spaces, #, or /

Comments

Note: there is [https://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=8805 a bug] in ps2pdf where it doesn't always generate good output (such as from some versions of FireFox). Consequently, cups-pdf may or may not work correctly (since it uses ps2pdf).

Question: The Link you gave produces an error and I can't find out to which bug you are referring to. So, my question is whether it might be connected with the Firefox postscript output problem or not. My Firefox printed PDFs are just empty and just a few bytes in size. For me (using Hoary) even this:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=40929&highlight=firefox+print

didn't solve the problem. cups-pdf works fine, but not from Firefox. Read also my forum thread:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=280024

Franko30

Updated based on HowTo posted in forum: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=140815