CUPS dependencies
I have been using lpr (later lprng) without any problems, since
1995, using many different kinds of printers (whether connected to
my own Linux box, or shared through a 'home network' with Windows
PC's).
However, more and more Debian packages seem intent to force me to
use CUPS. I don't need CUPS, therefore I don't want CUPS; and when
I see the many messages on this list by people having problems
with CUPS, I always count myself lucky for simply using lprng. But
many Debian packages install CUPS components, because of
dependencies.
These components, though not used by me, are difficult to get rid
of, e.g.:
vega:~# apt-get remove libcupsys2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED abiword gedit gs-esp
libcupsimage2 libcupsys2 libcupsys2-gnutls10 libgnomecups1.0-1
libgnomeprint2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgtksourceview1.0-0
samba yelp
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 12 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 34.0MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
So this proposes to remove gs-esp.. which is necessary for just
about any print function on a Linux system. So samba and abiword
need CUPS.. but they used to work perfectly without it. Surely
they can print just using the lpr command? Why can't "yelp"? Does
anyone have an explanation of this seeming "creeping CUPS
imperialism"?
Regards, Jan
Reply to: