[Xprint] GISWxprint-sparc-2004-07-07-release_009_001 Prints too large

[Thomas Dodd]

Aleksander Adamowski wrote:
> I'm not saying that model configs be replaced by PPD's form CUPS, I'm 
> saying that they should work in parallel. Ideally, Xprint would be 
> refactored so that various sources of printer model information are 
> supported and coexist on one Xprint installation, with various 
> priorities when it comes to overriding other ones' settings.
> 
> E.g. a default installation of Xprint would use model configs, and if 
> CUPS is detected, Xprint would read the PPD from the CUPS system using 
> its API, and any CUPS PPD settings would override settings provided 
> earlier by model-configs.

So if I use LPRng and want xprint to use PPDs?
Write another config option so Xprint can get the PPDs from a directory?

>> PPDs ar OK, but Xprint needs to read them directly, not through come 
>> random API that could be gone in a few years.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it seems that the CUPS API has been here for a couple of years and 
> it isn't going away in a few years, especially since it now ships with 
> all major Linux distributions, Apple MacOS, and works well on other 
> *NIX-es.
> In fact, it is steadily replacing older spoolers everywhere.

Slowly. And 3 years ago people said LPD wouldn't be replaced. Something 
will happen and CUPS will no longer be the hot spooler. It could be next 
year, or it could be 5 years. I just don't think that API should be used 
when other, long term methods are available instead.

> That's based on unnecessary assumption, that the information must come 
> in the form of filesystem objects (files), available in the local 
> filesystem tree. This quickly becomes unmaintainable in large 
> environments (e.g. couple thousands of machines, distributed around a 
> country or whole world, since it would require tunnelling NFS over some 
> VPNs, etc...).

That's Unix. Everything is a file. It doesn't have to be local, it could 
be NFS, SMB, or som other networked filesystem easily. It the a simple 
way to get info from CUPS, and LDAP, and NIS, using file commands?

There is no reason for Xprint to know CUPS, LDAP, NIS, NFS, HTTP, ... 
when all could be abstracted to a file which is what Xprint needs. That 
a Windows/Microsoft mentality, all apps speak all protocols. Look at the 
problems caused but not abstraction these already. Every mail tool has 
to have extra, often buggy, support for LDAP and IMAP. If they were 
abstracted to a file model, all mail tools coul use them without (major) 
changes.

>> Xprint would be (is) a central server, not running on every machine if 
>> there is a central CUPS server in use.
> 
> 
> That's fine, but it adds unnecessary additional work for the admins, who 
> have to configure each printer twice: once for CUPS server, once for 
> Xprint server.

If the Xprint server and cups serve are colocated, Xprint can query the 
spooler as it currently does, and load the same PPDs as CUPS did. Only 
"extra" step is installing/starting Xprint.

-Thomas