CUPS

[Jerry Quinn <jlquinn@optonline.net>]

Tom Allison writes:
 > I need some help.
 > 
 > I've been posting all over the internet about a CUPS problem I have and 
 > searching the docs/google for about five days straight.  Well, almost, I 
 > sleep and do other things but I think I've logged about 20 hours so far.
 > 
 > Why is it that when there is a problem with CUPS there is absolutely no one 
 > to support anything and no information on the errors?

(I don't know the answer to your troubles, but...)

I sense your pain. The docs need to be improved on a few fronts.  One
issue with Debian is that printing doesn't seem to have centered on a
preferred solution yet.

 > I had it working at one time and it just simply broke during the summer.  I 
 > didn't change anything in that time unless something in -testing was 
 > upgraded.  But there haven't been any messages.

Have you tried downgrading to an older version to see if that will
restore your printing?

 > I find a couple of posts about the exact same error, "ReadClient() 7 IPP Read 
 > Error!", but absolutely no one has ever responded, that I can find, to assist 
 > in resolving the problem.  Not just to me, but on the cups mailing list, suse 
 > mailing lists and a few other LUGS that I found on google.com.  Is it so 
 > obvious that the only answer is RTFM?  The Troubleshooting section seemed a 
 > bit thin...

Have you tried the development lists?  Alternatively, you may have to
pull out gdb or strace and start tracing.  Not fun if all you wanted
to do is print, but certainly educational.


 > It is imperative that I have a printer working by Tuesday afternoon.

In this case, I would completely purge the printing packages and start
again.  I'd also try the stable version if it doesn't break
dependencies.  If cups is still broken after that I would try LPRng.

Then if you have time and patience and willingness, I would later go
back and try to debug at a lower level what's broken in the cups
installation.

Debian is great for many things, but just working right out of the box
isn't really one of them.

Jerry Quinn