Bug#857870: cups-filters: unused lp modules are still loaded if /etc/default/cups does not exist
Hello Alex. Thank you for your report.
On Thu 16 Mar 2017 at 01:11:11 +0500, Alex Volkov wrote:
> Dear Maintainer,
This is not me.
> postinst script analyzes the presence of lp, parport etc. modules only if the
> legacy /etc/default/cups is in place. If there isn't, provided cups-
> modules.conf is used regardless of the fact whether the modules are needed or
> even available.
I think the postinst manages transferring what is in /etc/default/cups
to /etc/modules-load.d/cups-filters.conf. It honours LOAD_LP_MODULES,
which is surely what we want. Upgrades to cups-filters leave
cups-filters.conf unchanged. Surely this is also reasonable and what we
want to happen?
There is a possible issue with a new install. The entries in
cups-filters.conf apply to any user irrespective of whether the machine
has a parallel port or not. For some of the history please see
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/369850
On unstable with kernel 4.9.0 parport, parport_pc and ppdev are loaded
automatically at boot (the entries in cups-filters.conf being commented
out), The lp module is not auto-loaded for me, with or without the
printer connected and switched on. The printer is not discoverable.
On balance I would rather see printing "just work" than get too bothered
by a small amount of extra memory being used or a few milliseconds added
to the booting time. A user who is concerned by this can always comment
out the entries in cups-filters.conf.
I am not ignoring the fact that most modern printer devices do not have
parallel ports or suggesting LP #369850 should not be revisited, but
simply changing the default cups-filters.conf to not load any modules
would put the clock back regarding printer installation.
Regards,
--
Brian.
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