Introduction

Here is a working cupsd.conf that we use to get CUPS 1.3.3 to work with Basic Auth.  We have not included any information on actually setting up PAM.  For most U*NIX servers, including Mac OS X, /etc/pam.d folder should contain a usable PAM configuration file named cups … if not then start at https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/pam/ to lean about PAM.

Working cupsd.conf for CUPS 1.3.3 and Basic Auth using PAM

---

# Run as daemon
User daemon

# Log general information in error_log - change "info" to "debug" for
# troubleshooting...
LogLevel debug2

# Name of server
ServerName print.ncsu.edu

# Administrator user group...
SystemGroup sys root

# Allow encryption
#Encryption IfRequested
Encryption Required

# Listen for connections from the local machine.
Listen /local/cups/var/run/cups/cups.sock

# Listen to any address on port 631
Listen *:631

# Show shared printers on the local network.
Browsing Off
BrowseOrder allow,deny
BrowseAllow all

# Default authentication type, when authentication is required...
DefaultAuthType Basic
Krb5Keytab /etc/krb5.keytab

# Restrict access to the server...
<Location />
  Order allow,deny
  Allow from all
</Location>

# Restrict access to the admin pages...
<Location /admin>
  AuthType Basic
  Encryption Required
  Order deny,allow
  Allow localhost
  Require user @SYSTEM
</Location>

# Restrict access to configuration files...
<Location /admin/conf>
  AuthType Basic
  Encryption Required
  Order deny,allow
  Allow localhost
  Require user @SYSTEM
</Location>

# Set the default printer/job policies...
<Policy default>
  # Job-related operations must be done by the owner or an administrator...
  <Limit Send-Document Send-URI Hold-Job Release-Job Restart-Job Purge-Jobs Set-Job-Attributes Create-Job-Subscription Renew-Subscription Cancel-Subscription Get-Notifications Reprocess-Job Cancel-Current-Job Suspend-Current-Job Resume-Job CUPS-Move-Job>
    AuthType Basic
    Encryption Required
    Require user @OWNER @SYSTEM
    Order deny,allow
  </Limit>

  # All administration operations require an administrator to authenticate...
  <Limit CUPS-Add-Modify-Printer CUPS-Delete-Printer CUPS-Add-Modify-Class CUPS-Delete-Class CUPS-Set-Default>
    AuthType Basic
    Encryption Required
    Require user @SYSTEM
    Order deny,allow
  </Limit>

  # All printer operations require a printer operator to authenticate...
  <Limit Pause-Printer Resume-Printer Enable-Printer Disable-Printer Pause-Printer-After-Current-Job Hold-New-Jobs Release-Held-New-Jobs Deactivate-Printer Activate-Printer Restart-Printer Shutdown-Printer Startup-Printer Promote-Job Schedule-Job-After CUPS-Accept-Jobs CUPS-Reject-Jobs>
    AuthType Basic
    Encryption Required
    Require user @SYSTEM
    Order allow,deny
  </Limit>

  # Only the owner or an administrator can cancel or authenticate a job...
  <Limit Cancel-Job CUPS-Authenticate-Job>
    AuthType Basic
    Encryption Required
    Require user @OWNER @SYSTEM
    Order allow,deny
  </Limit>

  <Limit All>
    Order deny,allow
    Allow from all
  </Limit>
</Policy>