Subject: why are "dfAnnnxxxxx" files being left in /var/spool/lpd/lp?
To: None <netbsd-help@netbsd.org>
From: Henry Nelson <henry@irm.nara.kindai.ac.jp>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 03/14/2001 12:38:01
Finally got printing to work fairly well, but for some reason "df*"
files get created in the spool directory.  Unlike the "cf*" files
they never get erased.  What's more strange is that they are tagged
with the name of a host that is not even on the private lan, and not
the name of the client that issued the print request!  Is this a bug,
or do I have something setup wrong?

Soon after clicking the print button in an application on a Window's
machine "wn98" while printing is still going on:
nbsd# ls -l /var/var/spool/lpd/lp
total 6043
-rw-rw----  1 root    daemon       67 Mar 14 11:20 cfA490wn98	<<==
-rw-rw----  1 root    daemon   179312 Mar 14 11:18 dfA464ews07
-rw-rw----  1 root    daemon   115077 Mar 14 11:20 dfA490ews07	<<==
-rw-rw----  1 root    daemon   145445 Mar 13 19:43 dfA667ews07
-rw-rw----  1 root    daemon  5699752 Mar 13 19:44 dfA725ews07
-rw-rw-r--  1 daemon  daemon        0 Mar 14 11:20 errs21019a
-rw-r--r--  1 root    daemon       17 Mar 14 11:20 lock
-rw-rw-r--  1 root    daemon       25 Mar 14 11:20 status

After the print job has completed:
nbsd# ls -l /var/var/spool/lpd/lp
total 6042
-rw-rw----  1 root  daemon   179312 Mar 14 11:18 dfA464ews07
-rw-rw----  1 root  daemon   115077 Mar 14 11:20 dfA490ews07	<<==
-rw-rw----  1 root  daemon   145445 Mar 13 19:43 dfA667ews07
-rw-rw----  1 root  daemon  5699752 Mar 13 19:44 dfA725ews07
-rw-r--r--  1 root  daemon       17 Mar 14 11:20 lock
-rw-rw-r--  1 root  daemon       25 Mar 14 11:20 status

Notice that at 11:20 when I did this test, two files, cf* and df*,
are created, but only the cf* file gets erased.  The other df* files
remaining also correspond to times when I was testing that printer.
The large 5MB file was a Web page with color photo.

What's also weird (coincidence doesn't seem likely) is that the df*
file is labeled "ews07," which happens to be the name of a host on the
network my firewall is on.  I can't imagine how in the world that would
come into play, or even how the print server came by it.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

henry nelson