Re: CUPS - how to match autodetected printers to physical ones
On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 06:57:46PM +0200, Teemu Likonen wrote:
> Here is my version which I suggest turning into a shell alias, function
> or script:
>
> avahi-browse -atrp 2>/dev/null | awk -F\; \
> '$1 == "=" { printf "%-23s %-26s %5s %s\n",$7,$8,$9,$5 }'
>
> It should print lines like these:
>
> SEC00159939FFD2.local 192.168.0.11 631 Internet Printer
> mithlond.local 192.168.0.2 631 Internet Printer
wooledg:~$ avahi-browse -atrp 2>/dev/null | awk -F\; '$1 == "=" { printf "%-23s %-26s %5s %s\n",$7,$8,$9,$5 }'
dhcp-10-76-173-174.local 10.76.173.174 631 Internet Printer
wooledg.local fe80::9e7b:efff:fe24:4213 445 Microsoft Windows Network
wooledg.local fe80::9e7b:efff:fe24:4213 0 Device Info
wooledg.local 10.76.172.189 445 Microsoft Windows Network
wooledg.local 10.76.172.189 0 Device Info
wooledg.local 127.0.0.1 445 Microsoft Windows Network
wooledg.local 127.0.0.1 0 Device Info
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 631 Internet Printer
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 515 UNIX Printer
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 631 Internet Printer
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 515 UNIX Printer
A09-LBT2-HPLJ4250-01.local 10.76.172.120 631 Internet Printer
A09-LBT2-HPLJ4250-01.local 10.76.172.120 515 UNIX Printer
dhcp-10-76-173-174.local 10.76.173.174 515 UNIX Printer
dhcp-10-76-173-174.local 10.76.173.174 80 Web Site
dhcp-10-76-173-174.local 10.76.173.174 9100 PDL Printer
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 9100 PDL Printer
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 80 Web Site
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 21 FTP File Transfer
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 23 Telnet Remote Terminal
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 9100 PDL Printer
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 80 Web Site
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 21 FTP File Transfer
NPI0FCDD7.local 10.76.173.60 23 Telnet Remote Terminal
A09-LBT2-HPLJ4250-01.local 10.76.172.120 9100 PDL Printer
A09-LBT2-HPLJ4250-01.local 10.76.172.120 80 Web Site
A09-LBT2-HPLJ4250-01.local 10.76.172.120 21 FTP File Transfer
A09-LBT2-HPLJ4250-01.local 10.76.172.120 23 Telnet Remote Terminal
It does not report the printer at 10.76.172.100. I imagine that it would
have reported it a year ago. I don't know what changed.
> I would try to add manually one of these connection addresses:
>
> http://10.76.172.100:631
> ipp://10.76.172.100:631
I can try that next time I'm physically there, usually once a week.
On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 06:54:18PM +0000, Brian wrote:
> On Thu 16 Feb 2023 at 10:41:33 -0500, Greg Wooledge wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > 3) Also suggested: driverless
> > Here's what I get this year:
> >
> > wooledg:~$ driverless
> > ipp://Canon%20LBP712Cdn%20(db%3Ac0%3Ad3)._ipp._tcp.local/
> >
> > That's all. And no, that's not the right printer. That's the one
> > that has the right model number, but isn't *mine*. I can only imagine
> > it's somewhere else on this floor, and that someone is very confused
> > upon seeing income tax forms coming out of it.
>
> How do you know it it does not point to the right printer?
It's got that "db:c0:d3" suffix. The printer with that suffix in CUPS
is the black hole where whatever I send doesn't get printed by my printer.
I assume it's another Canon LBP712Cdn somewhere else on the 10th floor,
or at least something claiming to be a Canon LBP712Cdn.
I still have no idea what the db:c0:d3 means.
> Your machine has bullseye, we suppose? Give what you gat for
>
> lpstat -l -e
wooledg:~$ cat /etc/debian_version
11.6
wooledg:~$ lpstat -l -e
Canon_LBP712C_UFR_II_ permanent ipp://localhost/printers/Canon_LBP712C_UFR_II_ ipp://Canon%20LBP712Cdn%20(db%3Ac0%3Ad3)._ipp._tcp.local/
Canon_LBP712Cdn_db_c0_d3_ network none ipp://Canon%20LBP712Cdn%20(db%3Ac0%3Ad3)._ipp._tcp.local/
Cups_PDF_oc3261540276 permanent ipp://localhost/printers/Cups_PDF_oc3261540276 file:///dev/null
hp_LaserJet_4250_621E13_ permanent ipp://localhost/printers/hp_LaserJet_4250_621E13_ implicitclass://hp_LaserJet_4250_621E13_/
HP_LaserJet_P3010_Series_0FCDD7_ permanent ipp://localhost/printers/HP_LaserJet_P3010_Series_0FCDD7_ implicitclass://HP_LaserJet_P3010_Series_0FCDD7_/
PostScript_oc3261540276 permanent ipp://localhost/printers/PostScript_oc3261540276 file:///dev/null
> > Is there any way I can tell CUPS "Please set up a queue for a printer
> > whose IP address is 10.76.172.100 even though you can't discover it with
> > your fancy tools"?
>
> Yes, but it should not be needed and involves guessing.(Please
> try to avoid unhelpful, judgemental adjectives).
Every single part of this journey has involved guessing. From start to
finish, the entire experience has boiled down to "Hi, I'm CUPS. Let me
figure things out for you... OK, here's all the printers I can see,
now just pick one from this list. No, I won't tell you what you need
to know to pick the right one. Who has two of the same printer, anyway?
Nobody!"
What makes it worse is everything I learned last year has been invalidated
by whatever changed, so now I get to start all over again, with an even
more perplexing puzzle.
I think I'll take my Windows laptop with me next time I go in, to see how
it interacts with printerspace.
===============================
Here's a theory. There are two printers with the same model number on
the 10th floor. One, mine, is in an area where almost no people work
on a daily basis. Call that "area A". Another is in an area where a
whole bunch of people work on a daily basis. Call that "area B".
People in area B tried to set up their PCs to print to their printer,
but got confused by the duplicate model number, and ended up sending
their jobs to the wrong printer. They called the help desk, and reported
the problem. The help desk dispatched a printer person, who looked at
both printers, and decided that the easiest solution would be to disable
Avahi announcing stuff on the printer in area A.
Now, all the people in area B just see their own printer, not the printer
in area A, and they're no longer confused. Meanwhile, the people in
area A *also* only see the printer in area B, even if they previously had
a queue set up to their printer, and are tremendously confused. But they
don't call the help desk because they're trying to print from Linux,
which is 100% unsupported, and drawing attention to it would just make
matters even worse.
That's pure speculation at the moment, but it's all I can think of.
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