gnome default printer insanity? Re: generic postscript printer is NOT my default

[Ralph Shumaker]

James G. Sack (jim) wrote:
> Ralph Shumaker wrote:
> 
>>..
>>
>>>No, I don't have an authoritative answer, but it seems wrong to fix the
>>>problem by removing those standard files -- which seem to come from the
>>>libgnomeprintNN rpm (NN=22 for me, yours may be different).
>>
>>I don't remember how to check but would be happy to if it will make a
>>difference.  I don't know how I got that entry in my gnumeric printer
>>selection, but I don't want it to be the default.  I NEVER use that
>>selection because I don't like it.  IIRC, it always spits out an extra
>>blank page.  Since I never use it, I don't see the point in having it. I
>>don't know if it has anything to do with the two files listed above.
>>Further, I don't know if these two files are needed.  I suspect that
>>maybe they were installed when I installed fc4.
> 
> 
> Nah, it doesn't really matter _where_ they came from, they're on every
> (gnome) system, I guess. My thought is that if you delete them, the
> programs like gnumeric may simply stop printing. But OTOH, removing the
> one you don't want to be default _may_ force gnumeric to "find" another
> default, so it may be worth a try. My thought is to move the files
> somewhere rather than delete them -- but that's your call.

Well..., I realize I actually said "delete".  But I'm a bit 
obsessive-compulsive about "relocating things without a forwarding 
address" for testing.  But from the system's pespective, they're gone.

> 
>>..
>>The only way I could change the default was to add a printer.  I added
>>one, changed the default, but a fresh login and launch of gnumeric
>>showed the same old default (generic postscript printer).  It showed the
>>new printer entry, but default was no different.  In fact, it shows 4
>>printers, 2 of which don't exist, and 1 of which is basicly just a
>>duplicate of the actual printer.  The four listed are:
>>
>>Create a PDF document
>>Generic Postscript
>>TimeWaste
>>hp1100
>>
>>And no matter what I do, gnome programs ALWAYS come up defaulting to the
>>second one.
> 
> 
> Sounds like cups itself may be confused.
> I have just deterrmined that in the
>   /etc/cups directory
> the files
>   cupsd.conf
>   printers.conf
>   lpoptions
> seem to be the important files controlling cups. The third may not be
> quite as important?
> 
> Cupsd won't run without cupsd.conf, so that's prtobably ok, but I found
> that if printers.conf is absent when cups starts, that gnumeric falls
> back to showing 2 printers: create-pdf and generic-ps.
> 
> Perhaps there's something screwed-up in your printers.conf. Is there a
>   <DefaultPrinter ..>
> stanza? Or, why don't you just post your /etc/cups/printers.conf file?

# cat /etc/cups/printers.conf
#
# "$Id: printers.conf,v 1.15 2005/01/03 19:29:45 mike Exp $"
#
#   Sample printer configuration file for the Common UNIX Printing System
#   (CUPS) scheduler.
#
#   Copyright 1997-2005 by Easy Software Products, all rights reserved.
#
#   These coded instructions, statements, and computer programs are the
#   property of Easy Software Products and are protected by Federal
#   copyright law.  Distribution and use rights are outlined in the file
#   "LICENSE.txt" which should have been included with this file.  If this
#   file is missing or damaged please contact Easy Software Products
#   at:
#
#       Attn: CUPS Licensing Information
#       Easy Software Products
#       44141 Airport View Drive, Suite 204
#       Hollywood, Maryland 20636 USA
#
#       Voice: (301) 373-9600
#       EMail: cups-info at cups.org
#         WWW: http://www.cups.org
#

########################################################################
#                                                                      #
# This is a sample printer configuration file.  This file is included  #
# from the main configuration file (cups.conf) and lists all of the    #
# printers known to the system.                                        #
#                                                                      #
########################################################################

#
# Each printer starts with a <Printer name> definition.  Printer names
# can be up to 128 characters in length and are *not* case sensitive.
#
# One <DefaultPrinter name> entry can appear in this file; if you don't
# define a default destination, the first printer or class becomes the
# default.
#

#<Printer sample>
#
# Info: the description for the printer.
#

#Info Acme LaserPrint 1000

#
# Location: the location of the printer.
#

#Location Room 101 in the activities building

#
# DeviceURI: the device URI for this printer.
#

#DeviceURI parallel:/dev/plp
#DeviceURI serial:/dev/ttyd1?baud=38400+size=8+parity=none+flow=soft
#DeviceURI scsi:/dev/scsi/sc1d6l0
#DeviceURI socket://hostname:port
#DeviceURI tftp://hostname/path
#DeviceURI ftp://hostname/path
#DeviceURI http://hostname[:port]/path
#DeviceURI ipp://hostname/path
#DeviceURI smb://hostname/printer

#
# State: sets the initial state of the printer.  Can be one of the
# following:
#
#     Idle    - Printer is available to print new jobs.
#     Stopped - Printer is disabled but accepting new jobs.
#

#State Idle

#
# StateMessage: sets the printer-state-message attribute for the printer.
#

#StateMessage Printer is idle.

#
# Accepting: is the printer accepting jobs?
#
#Accepting Yes
#Accepting No

#</Printer>

#
# End of "$Id: printers.conf,v 1.15 2005/01/03 19:29:45 mike Exp $".
#
<DefaultPrinter hp1100>
DeviceURI parallel:/dev/lp0
Location HP LJ 1100
Info HP LJ 1100
State Idle
Accepting Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
</Printer>
<Printer TimeWaste>
DeviceURI parallel:/dev/lp0
Location This is an exercise in futility.
Info This is an exercise in futility.
State Idle
Accepting Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
</Printer>
(Creating this prompt on Mon Aug 07 at 01:44:02.)
#

> 
> Other thoughts: you're not running the lpd daemon together with cups,
> are you? What do you get from
>   ps -ef | grep cups\|lpd

(Creating this prompt on Mon Aug 07 at 01:44:02.)
# ps -ef | grep cups\|lpd
root     14079 14037  0 01:46 pts/1    00:00:00 grep cups|lpd
(Creating this prompt on Mon Aug 07 at 01:46:33.)
# ps -ef | grep cups|lpd
-bash: lpd: command not found
(Creating this prompt on Mon Aug 07 at 01:47:20.)
# ps -ef | grep cups
root      2371     1  0 Aug06 ?        00:00:00 cups-config-daemon
root      3927     1  0 Aug06 ?        00:00:00 cupsd
rafael    9391     1  0 Aug06 ?        00:00:01 eggcups --sm-client-id 
default5
root     14087 14037  0 01:47 pts/1    00:00:00 grep cups
(Creating this prompt on Mon Aug 07 at 01:47:28.)
# ps -ef | grep lpd
root     14090 14037  0 01:47 pts/1    00:00:00 grep lpd
(Creating this prompt on Mon Aug 07 at 01:47:34.)
#


> I get:
>   ..cups-config-daemon
>   ..eggcups --sm-client-id default4
>   ..cupsd
> If you have multiple cupsd (or also have lpd), that might confuse
> things. After any messing-around with the files you do have to do
>   service cups restart
> (or perhaps just ..reload instead of ..restart is adequate)

I suppose that "\|" in your suggested command translates to OR .  I use 
bash on fc4.  If it was supposed to do something different than what I 
supposed, tell me and I'll retry.