Redistilling encrypted PDF is not permitted.

[Helge Blischke]

Benn wrote:

> I manage a university-wide CUPS & Samba server and an occasional recurring
> problem is that print jobs will get hung up as:
>> stopped "/usr/lib/cups/filter/pstopdf failed"
> 
> After checking the error_log, I find:
>> This PostScript file was created from an encrypted PDF file.
>> Redistilling encrypted PDF is not permitted.
>> %%[ Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: eexec ]%%
> 
> After checking out the PDFs being printed, I can confirm they have
> password protections in place to prevent certain actions, but I'm confused
> as to why it matters. The client was able to print them to the print
> server, and if the client sends the job straight to the printer, there's
> no problem. So why is it that this error only occurs when the CUPS server
> tries to process it?
> 
> Any idea how I could make it process those jobs normally without throwing
> that error and stopping the job?

The reason is that an encrypted PDF can be printed (preferably in 
PostScript) but not (possilby modified) converted to PDF again. To achieve 
this, Acrobat (and Adobe Reader) insert PostScript snippets into the 
generated print job that lead to the error you mentioned.

There are two ways to get around this issue:

(1) Revert CUPS to using PostScript as the default print job language and 
install the necessary filters.

(2) Edit your xxx.types and xxx.convs files and set up a document format 
like
application/vnd.acrobat-postscript
by specifying the string "Creator: Adobe Acrobat" in the definition of this 
document type, and set up your xxx.convs such that this document type 
bypasses the pstopdf filter and uses only the pstops filter instead.

Helge

PS: bypassing the "redistilling brake" in the PS stream is quite tricky and 
illegal in most countries due to the DRM regulations.