[akonstam: Re: Another CUPS rant. - updated]

akonstam at trinity.edu akonstam at trinity.edu
Sun Sep 4 11:42:15 UTC 2005


On Sat, Sep 03, 2005 at 09:44:02PM -0700, Kam Leo wrote:
> On 9/3/05, akonstam at trinity.edu <akonstam at trinity.edu> wrote:
> > 
> > I guess I periodically need to do a CUPS rant. So here it is.
> > system-config-printer does not really configure CUPS printers. If you
> > don't beleve me try to change the configuration of a printer using
> > system-config-printer by using the CUPS web interface (localhost:631)
> > or by using the actual CUPS configuration commands which are
> > principally lpadmin and lpoptions. It can't be done.
> > 
> > system-config-printer fakes CUPS printing , I suspect, through the
> > secret program running in the background called printconf-backend.
> > And if you insist on using lpd protocol rather than the CUPS ipp
> > protocol you are aided by the cups-lpd daemon.
> > 
> > system-config-printer works most of the time but when you get into shared
> > printers or print servers you quickly get yourself in trouble.
> > Configuring clients for a print-server under real CUPS is trivial. You do
> > nothing except put a line in the client.conf file on the client
> > telling it which print server you want to use.
> > 
> > People seem to be complaining more and more on printing failing on
> > their FC4 machines and if the printers were configured using
> > system-config-printer that may well happen.
> > 
> > CUPS has been the printing system in fedora for a while and in FC4 it
> > works as it should and therefore it should be used.
> > 
> > The best way to start is to configure printers using the CUPS web
> > interface and set the default printer using lpoptions although it
> > probably can also be done in the web interface.
> > 
> > All the documentation is available through the web interface so
> > finding out how it works should not be a problem.
> > 
> > That is my rant and I am sticking by it.
> > 
> Of course you searched the list archives and found where several CUPS 
> posters were directed to the CUPS article "Why am I no longer able to 
> control my printing system?". Article #301 was on the front page of their 
> web site until recently. The aritcle recommends turning off the 
> cups-config-daemon program, "which overwrites changes to the 
> /etc/cups/cpusd.conf file with whatever defaults they have assigned for your 
> security configuration."

That is the trouble with rants you get so involved you skip what is
supposed to be obvious but isn't, Worse than leaving out the
information about cups-config-daemon I never indicated that if you
want to have a machine be a print server you need to configure the
/etc/cups/cupsd.conf file. After all how can you run a service without
configuring the config file. Its obvious is it not. No it isn't and I
thank Alexander Dalloz (I think it was he) that straightened me out on
this. In the /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file you need a line like this:
Listen <print-server name> in addition to the automatic:
Listen 127.0.0.1:631 at the end of the file.
The other possible forms of Listen are indicated in the file with an
explanation.

By the way the article referred to above is at:
http://www.cups.org/articles.php?L301+I10+T+P1+Q

Another insidious thing is that neither printconf-backend nor
cups-config-daemon have man pages. And so it goes.

=======================================================================
I have always noticed that whenever a radical takes to Imperialism,
he catches it in a very acute form.
		-- Winston Churchill, 1903
-------------------------------------------
Aaron Konstam
Computer Science
Trinity University
telephone: (210)-999-7484




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