> > On Fri, 7 Nov 1997, E.L. Meijer (Eric) wrote: > > > Hello everyone, > > Hi! > > > > > I recently got a problem with a printer filter used by lpr. The filter > > is used for a HP Deskjet 870 cxi, and used to work properly on this > > machine, and still does on other machines: > > > > The princap entry is [OMITTED] > > > > The filter /etc/filters/filter870.ps looks like: > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > #!/bin/sh > > > > /usr/bin/gs -sDEVICE=cdj550 \ > > -q \ > > -r300x300 \ > > -sPAPERSIZE=a4 \ > > -dNOPAUSE \ > > -dSAFER \ > > -sOutputFile=- \ > > - | \ > > lpr -Php870raw > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > hp870raw is a remote printer. The problem might be caused by the > > fact that gs was recently replaced with Alladin-gs, version 4.03-7. If > > I run `lpr -Pcol1 bla.ps', I see with ps -eaxfwww that gs is run with > > the following arguments: > > /usr/bin/gs -sDEVICE=lvga256 -sDEVICE=cdj550 -q -r300x300 -sPAPERSIZE=a4 ... > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > It doesn't stop, and nothing gets printed. > > > > Now who or what put -sDEVICE=lvga256 there? I printed the environment > > from the filter, and did not see a GS_DEVICE variable. I tried to set > > the GS_DEVICE variable in the filter, but it didn't help. > > It is gs that put -sDEVICE=lvga256 there! In fact, /usr/bin/gs is not > the "real" program, it is just a wrapper, which, in particular, > adds the parameter above as an then calls /usr/bin.gs.main, whihc > is the "real" program. The parameter is added when gs thinks that the > program is running outside X11, so that the svga device is used as the > default one (if the fprogram is running under X11, the X device is the > default one). > > In any case, the -sDEVICE=cdj550 overwrites the default device, so this > is not the cause of the problem. > > > Even more > > mysterious, if I run `filter870.ps < bla.ps', it works correctly! > > However, this should not work if you execute the script as root > (In fact i think that the problem occurs since your filter is executed > with root permissions). > > If gs is executed with superuser permissions, it tries to initialize the > svga library and this produces garbage messages on the stdout > something like "Svga libraries version xxx.yyy, using virtual console #7"; > these messages are sent to the printer, which gets confused and does not > print correctly. > > To see if this is the cause of the problem, you can execute > filter870.ps < bla.ps > as root: it should NOT print correctly.
This is true: it dumps core. However, when run from lpr, the filter is run as daemon, not root. > Solutions: [ did not help, since the problem was not superuser permissions ] I finally got the printer working again via lpr by purging the packages lpr ghostview gs-aladdin gsfonts (in that order, with dpkg --purge). Then I reinstalled gsfonts_4.01-5.deb ghostview_1.5-16.deb gs-aladdin_5.03-0.99_i386.deb ghostview_1.5-16.deb lpr_5.9-13.1.deb (yes, the brand new gs-aladdin package from Marco Pistore's home page, thanks!) And presto! It works again after reinstallation of the proper printcap, and the unchanged filter. I haven't got the slightest idea what was wrong, but I'm glad it is fixed again. Thanks for everyone's comments. Eric Meijer -- E.L. Meijer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) | tel. office +31 40 2472189 Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032 Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054 -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
