[nflug] Print Spooling Problem in ubuntu

Joe josephj at main.nc.us
Wed Nov 15 21:46:55 EST 2006


Cyber Source wrote:
> Joe wrote:
>   
>> Cyber Source wrote:
>>     
>>> Joe wrote:
>>>  
>>>       
>>>> I am setting up my usb printer on my notebook.  I have a new HP
>>>> dv5020us notebook and an HPDeskjet 460c printer.  My notebook is dual
>>>> boot kbuntu Dapper Drake and Windoze XP Pro.
>>>> The printer works fine in XP, so the hardware is fine.
>>>>
>>>> In kubuntu, I enabled the cups web interface and defined the printer
>>>> as Ritas_DJ460.  I can print a test page from cups and I can print
>>>> from applications like kate or Open Office.
>>>>
>>>> The problem is that when I try to print from a shell script using lp
>>>> <file> or lpr <file>, it writes the file to /var/spool/lpr/... , but
>>>> then it complains that my printcap file has an error (see below).  It
>>>> seems that the printer definition is circular instead of pointing to a
>>>> device or queue.  The printcap file is automatically generated by
>>>> cupsd(8) from the /etc/cups/printers.conf file - which was generated
>>>> by the cups web interface..
>>>>
>>>> The problem seems to have two aspects:
>>>> 1) The printcap file (and what generated it) is incorrect and fouls up
>>>> the lp/lpstat system.
>>>> 2) There may be two print queues /var/spool/lpr/Ritas_DJ460 and
>>>> /var/spool/cups/...
>>>>
>>>> It looks like there's something to fix in my cups configuration and
>>>> something else about how lp relates to cups.
>>>>
>>>> I used lp extensively on my Mandrake 9.1 system and it just worked.
>>>> Something is "new and improved" here.
>>>>
>>>> FYI "./print" is just a file, a shell script that prints files a
>>>> particular way.  My system is named "sananda".  I have no lan
>>>> connections wired or wireless.
>>>>
>>>> TIA
>>>>
>>>> Joe
>>>>
>>>> bigbird at sananda:~/bin$ lpstat
>>>> _Printer_: Ritas_DJ460 at sananda 'Ritas Portable Deskjet' (dest
>>>> Ritas_DJ460 at sananda)
>>>> Queue: 5 printable jobs
>>>> Server: pid 4551 active
>>>> Status: job 'bigbird at sananda+680' saved at 10:02:55.710
>>>> Rank   Owner/ID               Pr/Class Job Files                 Size
>>>> Time
>>>> 1      bigbird at sananda+701          A   237 printcap               195
>>>> 10:02:55
>>>> 2      bigbird at sananda+21           A   238 (STDIN)              15694
>>>> 10:02:55
>>>> 3      bigbird at sananda+76           A   176 (STDIN)              14982
>>>> 10:02:55
>>>> 4      bigbird at sananda+76           A   177 (STDIN)              14982
>>>> 10:02:55
>>>> 5      bigbird at sananda+680          A   178 print                 2453
>>>> 10:02:55
>>>> done   bigbird at sananda+701          A   231 printcap               195
>>>> 10:02:55
>>>> Error: loop in printcap- Ritas_DJ460 at sananda -> Ritas_DJ460 at sananda
>>>>
>>>> bigbird at sananda:~/bin$ locate printcap
>>>> /etc/printcap
>>>> /etc/lprng/printcap
>>>> /usr/share/doc/pnm2ppa/examples/lpd/printcap
>>>> /usr/share/doc/lprng/examples/printcap.gz
>>>> /usr/share/man/man5/printcap.5.gz
>>>>
>>>> bigbird at sananda:~/bin$ sudo diff /etc/printcap /etc/lprng/printcap
>>>> Password:
>>>>
>>>> bigbird at sananda:~/bin$ cat /etc/printcap
>>>> # This file was automatically generated by cupsd(8) from the
>>>> # /etc/cups/printers.conf file.  All changes to this file
>>>> # will be lost.
>>>> Ritas_DJ460|Ritas Portable Deskjet:rm=sananda:rp=Ritas_DJ460:
>>>>
>>>> bigbird at sananda:~/bin$ lp ./print
>>>> request id is bigbird at sananda+327
>>>>
>>>> bigbird at sananda:~/bin$ lpstat
>>>> Printer: Ritas_DJ460 at sananda 'Ritas Portable Deskjet' (dest
>>>> Ritas_DJ460 at sananda)
>>>> Queue: 6 printable jobs
>>>> Server: pid 4551 active
>>>> Unspooler: pid 3130 active
>>>> Status: done job 'bigbird at sananda+701' transfer to Ritas_DJ460 at sananda
>>>> at 10:06:24.753
>>>> Rank   Owner/ID               Pr/Class Job Files                 Size
>>>> Time
>>>> active bigbird at sananda+701          A   349 printcap               195
>>>> 10:06:24
>>>> 2      bigbird at sananda+21           A   390 (STDIN)              15694
>>>> 10:06:24
>>>> 3      bigbird at sananda+76           A   350 (STDIN)              14982
>>>> 10:06:24
>>>> 4      bigbird at sananda+76           A   391 (STDIN)              14982
>>>> 10:06:24
>>>> 5      bigbird at sananda+327          A   506 ./print               2453
>>>> 10:06:24
>>>> 6      bigbird at sananda+680          A   840 print                 2453
>>>> 10:06:24
>>>> done   bigbird at sananda+680          A   839 print                 2453
>>>> 10:06:24
>>>> Error: loop in printcap- Ritas_DJ460 at sananda -> Ritas_DJ460 at sananda
>>>> bigbird at sananda:~/bin$
>>>>
>>>> /etc/cups/printers.conf:
>>>>
>>>> <Printer Ritas_DJ460>
>>>> Info HP Deskjet 460 hpijs
>>>> Location localhost
>>>> DeviceURI usb;//HP/Deskjet%20460?serial=MY65N4Z340
>>>> State Idle
>>>> StateTime 1163286820
>>>> Accepting Yes
>>>> Shared Yes
>>>> JobSheets none none
>>>> QuotaPeriod 0
>>>> PageLimit 0
>>>> KLimit 0
>>>> DenyUser None
>>>> OpPolicy default
>>>> ErrorPolicy stop-printer
>>>> </printer>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nflug mailing list
>>>> nflug at nflug.org
>>>> http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug
>>>>
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>> Have you tried sending something via lp other than that file of yours?
>>> In particular, I thought you were doing a dot slash in front of that
>>> file, the file is actually named "./print"? The name of that file might
>>> be pissing of lp (yea i know it may have worked before but you've
>>> changed alot of things, who knows, try another file.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nflug mailing list
>>> nflug at nflug.org
>>> http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug
>>>
>>>   
>>>       
>> No, the ./ isn't part of the name, just the path and I don't have
>> another one named "rm -rf" LOL.  However lpstat with no arguments
>> reports the error and my file does get written to the spool dir, so
>> that's not a problem.  I read some old stuff about printcap and (at
>> least in the old days circa 2000) each entry required a field sd= or
>> something that told it where to write files for printing.  I don't
>> think my printcap does that, but since it gets replaced at every boot,
>> I'm not going to try to change it directly.
>>
>> Joe
>> _______________________________________________
>> nflug mailing list
>> nflug at nflug.org
>> http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug
>>
>>     
> Why do that for the path? ./print would be the same as print, or "lp
> print" would be the same as "lp ./print". I just was curious as to why
> you would put the command like that.
> _______________________________________________
> nflug mailing list
> nflug at nflug.org
> http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug
>
>   
The only reason I did that was to emphasize that "print" was just a 
file, not something weird.   Well ... I tried LOL.

Joe
_______________________________________________
nflug mailing list
nflug at nflug.org
http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug



More information about the nflug mailing list