Bug#921252: cups-browsed: Please consider "All" as the default for CreateIPPPrinterQueues
Package: cups-browsed
Version: 1.21.6-3
Severity: wishlist
Tags: upstream
It is more than likely that cups-browsed would be found on most
Debian, Ubuntu and Mint distributions because it is recommended
by cups-daemon. This report is made in that context.
In /usr/share/doc/cups-browsed/changelog.gz we see
CHANGES IN V1.14.0
[...]
cups-browsed: Added new setting "LocalOnly" for the
CreateIPPPrinterQueues in cups-browsed.conf. With this new
setting (which is the default from now on) only for local
printers made available as IPP printers (like IPP-over-USB
printers with ippusbxd) queues are auto-created. With this
we can follow the common standard of distributions where USB
printers are automatically set up and network printers not.
I would like to examine what "...automatically set up,,," means. The
dialogs of LibreOffice, Qt and GTK applications enumerate all local
and network printers automatically by default and display them. They
can be printed to, so, to my mind, they have been "set-up". In that
regard, this is the "common standard of distributions".
My suggestion is that the default for CreateIPPPrinterQueues should
be "All". This fits the reality of how the applications (including
lpstat -e) work.
Also, suppose we have
CreateIPPPrinterQueues LocalOnly
as the only uncommented option in cups-browsed.conf; cups-browsed will
not set up a local queue for a network printer. But, in the case of
Qt apps and LibreOffice, a CUPS temporary queue will become available
instead. In other words, the option LocalOnly does not affect network
set up in those applications and its only effect is to transfer the
management of the printers from cups-browsed to elsewhere.
There is also a practical aspect: the Qt and GTK dialogs have unfixed
bugs (#911702, #911844, #916267 and #921113) which affect printing to
a networked IPP printer. With "CreateIPPPrinterQueuesy All", putting
the queue management in the hands of cups-browsed bypasses these
issues.
Another practical aspect: many users with a modern printer do not
realise that printing is, in principle, instantly available when an
IPP printer is put on the network and cups-browsed is being used (or
without it, for that matter). Few read the cups-browsed manual. The
result is often an immediate excursion into how to install drivers
(free or non-free) when all that is required is a change to a conf
file.
Regards,
Brian.
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