Subject: Re: Howto submission for setting up CUPS
To: Julio M. Merino Vidal <jmmv@menta.net>
From: Jonathan <j.e.drews@worldnet.att.net>
List: netbsd-docs
Date: 04/20/2004 20:01:02
Hello Julio:


On Tue, 20 Apr 2004, Julio M. Merino Vidal wrote:

> Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 16:44:56 +0200
> From: Julio M. Merino Vidal <jmmv@menta.net>
> To: Jonathan <j.e.drews@worldnet.att.net>
> Cc: netbsd-docs@NetBSD.org
> Subject: Re: Howto submission for setting up CUPS
>
> Some points:
>
> 1) Using rc.local is not the way to go (deprecated stuff) to enable cups.
>    You should:
>
>         cp /usr/pkg/etc/rc.d/cupsd /etc/rc.d
>
>    and then simply add cupsd=YES in /etc/rc.conf.

Done, I will test it soon and make the changes.


> 2) openslp is installed as a dependency, which installs an slpd startup
>    script.  I assume it's needed as part of the startup process too (enable
>    just like the point above).

OK, I will do that. I will copy /usr/pkg/etc/rc.d/slpd to /etc/rc.d .

I read from the CUPS book (by Michael Sweet), on pg. 28:
Enabling Server Location  Protocol Support

The --enable-slp option causes the server location protocol ("SLP") code
to be linked into CUPS. This option enables you to use the SLP directory
service protocol on your network, which makes discovering network printers
and providing network-printing services to non-CUPS systems easier. Type
the following to configure CUPS with SLP support:
  ./configure --enable-slp

 I quote this so that other readers see the purpose of the slpd daemon. I
did not know myself until I looked it up.

> 3) IMHO, the screenshots could be better if they were taken from a graphical
>    browser.
>

 Yes! I will do them in Firefox.

> 4) Section 5) of your document contains an unclosed link...
>

 I will fix that.

> 5) I always have to modify cupsd.conf by hand and add 'Allow From myhostname'
>    in the <Location /> section of it, to let me log in.



> 6) In order to configure a printer connected to the parallel port, you *must*
>    boot up your system with the printer connected and powered on.  Failure to
>    do so means that 'lp' doesn't appear in cups configuration.  Could be good
>    to add this to the document (a bit more explained).

Good advice Julio, I will add verbatim what you have written here.

>    Also, sellecting 'polled' instead of 'interrupt driven' is recommended.

I am not sure about this part because it seems to pertain to print
servers. I wanted to focus on desktop clients and avoid more
complicated setups. Michael Sweet affirms what you say. I quote again
from his CUPS book for the benefit of other readers:

Specifying Multiple Servers for Printing (pg. 112)

 If you have CUPS servers on different subnets then you should configure
CUPS to poll those servers. Polling provides the benefits of automatic
configuration without significant configuration on the clients, and
multiple clients on the same subnet can share the same configuration
information.

Polling is enabled by specifying one or more BrowsePoll directives in the
/etc/cups/cupsd.conf file (In NetBSD /usr/pkg/etc/cups/cupsd.conf )

 I would really like to postpone this or include it in an appendix.

>
> 7) Section 12), removing binaries from the base system, looks wrong...  these
>    changes will be lost whenever you update.  It's better to suggest the user
>    and/or administrator to modify his PATH to contain /usr/pkg/bin in from of
>    it.  (Yeah, not an excellent solution either).

Does altering the path cause a performance problem for other apps that
should encounter /usr/bin first ? I really don't know myself. I suggested
deletion of the /usr/bin printing commands because that is what I have
done in FreeBSD. I would then put a make_lpr=NO in my FreeBSD
/etc/make.conf.


> 8) Is it really needed to install ghostscript-esp by hand (in order to get
>    cups working for basic stuff)?  pkgsrc will do it for you, whenever any
>    package requiring ghostscript is installed.
>

Good question. When I first ran CUPS it just would not print. I then
looked in /var/log/cups/error_log and saw this:

E [18/Apr/2004:14:00:22 -0500] Unable to convert file 0 to printable
format for job 1!
I [18/Apr/2004:14:00:22 -0500] Hint: Do you have ESP Ghostscript
installed?

So I uninstalled the regular ghostscript and installed the EPS one. Then
CUPS worked.


OK, give me a day or two to do make these changes. Of course to ensure
that the instructions truly work. I will delete my current printers and
reinstall them.

One question: Should I mention that Listen 127.0.0.1:631 should be
set instead of Port 631, cupsd.conf? For laptops and stand alone desktops
would this be more secure?


 Thanks for your feedback Julio.



>
> On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 23:36:30 -0500 (CDT)
> Jonathan <j.e.drews@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
> > Hi:
> >
> >  I wrote up this short how-to on configuring CUPS for NetBSD 1.6.2.
> >
> > http://www.silbsd.org/CUPS-NetBSD.html