AutomaticPrinterConfiguration

Differences between revisions 2 and 3
⇤ ← Revision 2 as of 2005-10-28 20:26:16 →
Size: 2361
Editor: 201_220_103_66-WIFI_HOTSPOTS
Comment: some restructuring
← Revision 3 as of 2005-11-03 01:08:27 → ⇥
Size: 3368
Editor: 209
Comment: BoF notes
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
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 * '''Contributors''': MartinPitt
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We want to improve the hotplug support for printers (more) automatic and at the same time improve driver support. We offer a semiautomatic configuration of unconfigured printers when they are
plugged in. At the same time we improve driver support.
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== Use cases == == Scope ==
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== Scope ==  * This specification only covers the cupsys printing system, which we use by default in Ubuntu.
 * TODO: eggcups vs. gnome-cups-applet.
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 * Fix cupsys to detect new printers while it is running (see [https://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=6224 bug 6244]).
 * Automatically start gnome-cups-add when a yet unconfigured printer is detected (either hotplugged, or at session start).
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 * Add dbus support to cupsys. RedHat already did the cupsys/hal/dbus integration. The SRPMS we need to look at are cups (for patches), hal-cups-utils (for unprivileged configuration changes) and desktop-printing (for eggcups notification, which would replace gnome-cups-manager's nicons). John (J5) Palmieri and Colin Walters are the dudes to talk to about collaborating on this stuff. Easy Software aren't that interested in integrating this with CUPS (yet).
 * Don't require cupsys to be restarted when a new printer is plugged in. (This seems to be solved in 1.2beta).
 * Automatically start gnome-cups-add if the logged in user has lpadmin and the printer is not configured yet. gnome-volume-manager already has support for it, but Breezy's cupsys is not prepared for hal/dbus support.		  * Add dbus support to cupsys. RedHat already did the cupsys/hal/dbus integration. The SRPMS we need to look at are cups (for patches), hal-cups-utils (for unprivileged configuration changes) and desktop-printing (for eggcups notification, which would replace gnome-cups-manager's nicons). John (J5) Palmieri and Colin Walters are the dudes to talk to about collaborating on this stuff. Easy Software aren't that interested in integrating this with CUPS (yet), but the patch is relatively unintrusive, so it does not impose a big maintenance overhead. We will try eggcups early in the development cycle, so that we can roll back if any problems occurr.
 * Don't require cupsys to be restarted when a new printer is plugged in. This is solved in 1.2, which is due in December 2005. We should immediately upgrade to the current beta versions to check what breaks.
 * Automatically start gnome-cups-add if the logged in user has lpadmin and the printer is not configured yet. gnome-volume-manager already has support for it, it's just not activated by default.
 * Search packages providing printer drivers (PPD files) and make them dependencies these into the cupsys package.
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=== Data preservation and migration === == Outstanding issues ==
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== Outstanding issues ==  * hplip and usblp module do not work together
 * Check that gnome-volume-manager executes the printer policy even when the printer is attached before session start.
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 * idea: gnome-cups-add shoud work directly with foomatic printer drivers database (see http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic.html). Other printer configuration utils, like Foomatic-GUI can use foomatic printer drivers database directly. You steal some code from such projects, look at http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/foomatic-gui/ and http://blog.lordsutch.com/?topic=13 . If foomatic support would be added to gnome-cups-manager, then users don't need to generate .ppd files manually or through www.linuxprinting.org web interface and adding new printer will be more user-friendly. Look at http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=171047 for more info about this bug; if we want to do this, this should become a separate spec possibly  * idea: gnome-cups-add shoud work directly with foomatic printer drivers database (see http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic.html). Other printer configuration utils, like Foomatic-GUI can use foomatic printer drivers database directly. You steal some code from such projects, look at http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/foomatic-gui/ and http://blog.lordsutch.com/?topic=13 . If foomatic support would be added to gnome-cups-manager, then users don't need to generate .ppd files manually or through www.linuxprinting.org web interface and adding new printer will be more user-friendly. Look at http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=171047 for more info about this bug; if we want to do this, this should become a separate spec possibly; this would make a good bounty

 * What about ZeroConf support (mdns backend) and ZeroConf advertising? Would require upstream effort.

Summary

We offer a semiautomatic configuration of unconfigured printers when they are plugged in. At the same time we improve driver support.

Rationale

In Breezy, nothing happens if a user plugs in a USB printer. In order to make its setup easier, the user should automatically get an offer to configure it, and get guided through the installation.

Scope

  • This specification only covers the cupsys printing system, which we use by default in Ubuntu.
  • TODO: eggcups vs. gnome-cups-applet.

Design

  • Fix cupsys to detect new printers while it is running (see [https://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=6224 bug 6244]).

  • Automatically start gnome-cups-add when a yet unconfigured printer is detected (either hotplugged, or at session start).

Implementation

  • Add dbus support to cupsys. RedHat already did the cupsys/hal/dbus integration. The SRPMS we need to look at are cups (for patches), hal-cups-utils (for unprivileged configuration changes) and desktop-printing (for eggcups notification, which would replace gnome-cups-manager's nicons). John (J5) Palmieri and Colin Walters are the dudes to talk to about collaborating on this stuff. Easy Software aren't that interested in integrating this with CUPS (yet), but the patch is relatively unintrusive, so it does not impose a big maintenance overhead. We will try eggcups early in the development cycle, so that we can roll back if any problems occurr.

  • Don't require cupsys to be restarted when a new printer is plugged in. This is solved in 1.2, which is due in December 2005. We should immediately upgrade to the current beta versions to check what breaks.
  • Automatically start gnome-cups-add if the logged in user has lpadmin and the printer is not configured yet. gnome-volume-manager already has support for it, it's just not activated by default.
  • Search packages providing printer drivers (PPD files) and make them dependencies these into the cupsys package.

Code

Outstanding issues

  • hplip and usblp module do not work together
  • Check that gnome-volume-manager executes the printer policy even when the printer is attached before session start.

BoF agenda and discussion

AutomaticPrinterConfiguration (last edited 2008-08-06 16:31:09 by localhost)