[Printing-architecture] Deprecation of all modules except for everywhere

[Printing-architecture] Deprecation of all modules except for everywhere

[Christian Wolf]

Hello,

I stumbled upon a formulation in `man 8 lpadmin` related to the -m switch:

> Note: Models other than "everywhere" are deprecated and will not be
> supported in a future version of CUPS.

I am a bit confused/alert. Are you telling me that in the near future there is 
the plan that *only* IPP everywhere capable printers are supported?

I am not using the newest printers at the moment. Honestly I doubt, that these 
are anywhere close to IPP-everywhere-capable. Some are even connected using a 
plain old dumb USB cable (at least not centronics/IEEE 1284).
Removing the support for PPDs will invalidate my complete print environment in 
one step. 

How is this intended to be covered? Are you really considering forcing the 
users to throw away their existing hardware?

Thanks
Christian

Re: [Printing-architecture] Deprecation of all modules except for everywhere

[Zdenek Dohnal]

Hi,

see https://github.com/OpenPrinting/cups/issues/103 .

On 10/25/21 15:25, Christian Wolf wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I stumbled upon a formulation in `man 8 lpadmin` related to the -m switch:
>
>> Note: Models other than "everywhere" are deprecated and will not be
>> supported in a future version of CUPS.
> I am a bit confused/alert. Are you telling me that in the near future there is
> the plan that *only* IPP everywhere capable printers are supported?
>
> I am not using the newest printers at the moment. Honestly I doubt, that these
> are anywhere close to IPP-everywhere-capable. Some are even connected using a
> plain old dumb USB cable (at least not centronics/IEEE 1284).
> Removing the support for PPDs will invalidate my complete print environment in
> one step.
>
> How is this intended to be covered? Are you really considering forcing the
> users to throw away their existing hardware?
>
> Thanks
> Christian
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Printing-architecture mailing list
> Printing-architecture@lists.linux-foundation.org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/printing-architecture
>
-- 
Zdenek Dohnal
Software Engineer
Red Hat Czech - Brno TPB-C

Re: [Printing-architecture] Deprecation of all modules except for everywhere

[Till Kamppeter]

On 25/10/2021 15:25, Christian Wolf wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I stumbled upon a formulation in `man 8 lpadmin` related to the -m switch:
> 
>> Note: Models other than "everywhere" are deprecated and will not be
>> supported in a future version of CUPS.
> 
> I am a bit confused/alert. Are you telling me that in the near future there is
> the plan that *only* IPP everywhere capable printers are supported?
> 
> I am not using the newest printers at the moment. Honestly I doubt, that these
> are anywhere close to IPP-everywhere-capable. Some are even connected using a
> plain old dumb USB cable (at least not centronics/IEEE 1284).
> Removing the support for PPDs will invalidate my complete print environment in
> one step.
> 
> How is this intended to be covered? Are you really considering forcing the
> users to throw away their existing hardware?

Classic CUPS printer drivers are replaced by Printer Applications and 
Printer Applications are emulations of IPP Everywhere printers. With 
trhis all printers will appear as IPP Everywhere (or driverless IPP) 
printers. The modern ones do this already by themselves, for the old 
ones we use Printer Applications.

Most existing free software CUPS drivers are already available as 
Printer Applications. You get them here:

https://snapcraft.io/search?q=OpenPrinting

The PostScript Printer Application (ps-printer-app) supports all 
PostScript printers. If your printer model is not listed/recognized, you 
can simply load a the PPD file from the manufacturer into the Printer 
Application.

The HPLIP Printer Application supports all HP printers, also the ones 
for which HPLIP needs the proprietary plugin, you can lod it into the 
Printer Application.

Epson and Canon inkjets, dye sublimation printers and several others are 
supported by the Gutenprint Printer Application.

For all the other printers use the Ghostscript Printer Application.

More Printer Application will come, for example for Braille embossers, 
or Printer Applications from the manufacturers.

I am also working on a Printer Application which makes classic CUPS 
drivers installed from standard Debian or RPM packages available to any 
CUPS which does not support classic drivers (CUPS 3.x or the CUPS Snap).

    Till

Re: [Printing-architecture] Deprecation of all modules except for everywhere

[Christian Wolf]

Hello,

> Classic CUPS printer drivers are replaced by Printer Applications and
> Printer Applications are emulations of IPP Everywhere printers. With
> trhis all printers will appear as IPP Everywhere (or driverless IPP)
> printers. The modern ones do this already by themselves, for the old
> ones we use Printer Applications.

so, I see there is a fallback plan in place. If I understand this correctly, 
one mainly sourced the usage of PPDs out into standalone applications so the 
CUPS core is free of bloat. Makes sense.

> Most existing free software CUPS drivers are already available as
> Printer Applications. You get them here:
> 
> https://snapcraft.io/search?q=OpenPrinting

I will have a look there soon. Eventually, I will return in case of problems. 
:)

Thanks anyhow for the detailed information (also to Zdenek)

Christian

Re: [Printing-architecture] Deprecation of all modules except for everywhere

[Till Kamppeter]

On 25/10/2021 16:36, Christian Wolf wrote:
> Hello,
> 
>> Classic CUPS printer drivers are replaced by Printer Applications and
>> Printer Applications are emulations of IPP Everywhere printers. With
>> trhis all printers will appear as IPP Everywhere (or driverless IPP)
>> printers. The modern ones do this already by themselves, for the old
>> ones we use Printer Applications.
> 
> so, I see there is a fallback plan in place. If I understand this correctly,
> one mainly sourced the usage of PPDs out into standalone applications so the
> CUPS core is free of bloat. Makes sense.
>

Generally, Printer Applications do not use PPDs. One can use any 
architecture to get an emulation of an IPP printer. LPrint for example 
does not use PPD files internally, same for the sample Printer 
Application in the PAPPL project.

For PostScript printers, where the manufacturer provides a PPD file, and 
also for classic CUPS drivers for old printers where I do not have 
access to for testing, the easiest way to go is to have an architecture 
which wraps the classic CUPS driver with its PPD files into a Printer 
Application. For this I have created the pappl-retrofit 
(https://github.com/OpenPrinting/pappl-retrofit) library with which I 
have maded my 4 Printer Applications to retro-fit practically all free 
software CUPS drivers which are available as *.deb packages in the 
Debian distribution.

    Till