Re: xprint - why?
On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 22:17:09 -0800
Bill Wohler <wohler@newt.com> wrote:
> Can someone please explain why we need xprint? Yeah, I'm frustrated
> that a recent update broke my printing, but I'm using Sarge so I
> accept change. In this case, I don't understand it.
>
> Xprint seems to duplicate some of what we already have. Is it supposed
> to be the new, shiny car on the block to replace the old Edsel, much
> as CUPS replaced the Berkeley print systems of yore.
>
> For example, I've got CUPS for spooling, foomatic to create the ppd
> files, hpijs for the HP print drivers, and hpoj to talk to them. How
> does xprint fit in? Does it replace any of this?
>
> I certainly can't answer these questions myself. Here's why.
>
> If I choose the Default printer from the Galeon print dialog (thanks
> arodriguez31), it seems to bypass xprint and go straight to CUPS, so
> xprint seems to be a replacement for CUPS. But bug 280159 talks about
> changing the default resolution but this stuff is in the PPD files so
> now xprint seems like a replacement for foomatic (although it seems to
> me that this is the job of hpijs in any case). Maybe it replaces both
> CUPS and foomatic?
>
> Anyway, if someone could explain or point me to a document or thread
> (which I couldn't find) that explains why we need xprint, how it fits
> in, and what programs it replaces, I'd appreciate it.
>
> I'm probably not alone ;-).
Actually, my understanding is that it was supposed to replace some of
the code in programs like your e-mail client and web-browser, _not_ the
printing system like hpijs, hpoj, cups, etc. The idea was that programs
wouldn't have to know how to print postscript - instead they would talk
in some format to xprt which would then convert it into a form the cups
drivers could understand. It was debated that this improved security -
though I never saw the argument hold much water.
If you google with site:debian.org and some search terms of xprt and
firefox, you should be able to find a long thread that took place
earlier this year. The Postscript/default option in Firefox was
disabled, due to the supposed security reasons - and later re-enabled.
In short though, I pretty much agree with the people that say xprt isn't
needed. I definitely found it to be a lot more trouble than benefit -
especially since my printing setup was working great before xprt came
along.
HTH,
Jacob
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