Bug#781253: cups: no duplex printing (two-sided) with lp or lpr
tags 781253 - unreproducible
thanks
On Mon 27 Apr 2015 at 16:36:18 +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> Control: reopen -1
> Control: retitle -1 no duplex printing (two-sided) with lp or lpr of a letter PDF file on A4 paper
>
> Sorry for the late reply. In the mean time, I talked to the sysadmin
> and we did more tests. I'm reopening the bug since I have more
> information that could be useful to get a client-based solution
> (just like what evince does). I also have an option that works,
> but undocumented.
How does babel-bib.pdf print when Page Scaling is set to "none" in
Evince?
> The printer has A3 and A4 paper. With lp and lpr, A4 PDF files are
> printed in duplex mode as expected. The problem actually occurs
> with files having the "letter" page size. For such files (such as
> the one attached as an example), lp and lpr print them on A4 paper
> but one-sided; and xpdf using the lpr command (with no options)
> prints them two-sided, but on A3 paper. For xpdf, I had reported
> the bug:
>
> https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=781251
My understanding is that xpdf does nothing more than send the PDF to a
queue with lp/lpr. Consideration could be given to merging #78125 with
this report.
> but I now wonder whether this is related and whether there may be a
> server problem too. Same problem if I convert the PDF file to PS with
> pdftops, then print the .ps file with lp: A3 paper, two-sided.
Not having your printer makes testing this not easy. However, I did
print directly to my Laserjet 2200. How seriously any conclusions
drawn from my observations should be taken is debatable.
My original tests in printing with the C3003 were done with the PPD
default of "PageSize=Letter". Repeating them with babel-bib.pdf gives me
duplex output, as before.
When a print queue on the Wheezy server is set up with "-o PageSize=A4"
(which your server has as the default) duplexing is attempted with the
first sheet (it is pulled back in) but the printer stops when it emerges
a second time. Another piece of paper is jammed in the printer, looking
like the job was being non-duplexed. The job gets printed in duplex
with:
lp -d lj2200 -o fit-to-page babel-bib.pdf
I've just had a thought! My printer has a foomatic PPD. I used it for a
queue and the previous observations were replicated. This looks like a
problem with a filter on the server and not with cups-client. Possibly
foomatic. But I am not familiar with that software so am loathe to be
specific.
> I've googled a bit, and found a solution given here:
>
> http://www.unix.com/302870967-post7.html
>
> Here, "lp -o fitplot -o pdf-page=A4 babel-bib.pdf" prints on A4 paper,
> two-sided. However:
>
> * These options are undocumented. I don't know what they are
> supposed to do and how they have been found.
>
> * I wonder whether lp could do the right thing automatically.
fitplot has been replaced by fit-to-page but at present it still works,
The second option is unknown to me and is not found in the cups or
cups-filters sources. Searching gives pdf-page as only being found in
your post and the unix.com one.
The filtering system should do the right thing automatically.
> The server is a standard Debian/wheezy machine, with:
> foomatic-db 20120523-1
> foomatic-db-engine 4.0.8-3
> foomatic-filters 4.0.17-1
> cups 1.5.3-5+deb7u5
Thanks. This helped with the testing.
Regards,
Brian.
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