[Pkg-cups-devel] Bug#524201: cups: workaround

[Tanguy Ortolo]

Package: cups
Version: 1.3.11-1+b1
Severity: normal

This bug still exist in 1.3.11-1+b1. It seems it come from pstopdf, indeed:
- according to the several /etc/cups/mime.convs and /usr/share/cups/mime/pstopdf.convs
  filter definitions, the cheaper way to go from application/postscript to
  application/vnd.cups-postscript is pstopdf (cost 22) and pdftops (cost 66),
  not just pstops (cost 100)¹;
- pstopdf dies in a way cupsd does not expect, and cupsd reacts by killing itself.

So, a workaround is to disable the use of this broken pstopdf, by commenting
out its definitions in /usr/share/cups/mime/pstopdf.convs:
# Buggy filter that makes cupsd suicide...
#application/postscript application/pdf 22 pstopdf

In fact, I think cupsd's suicide on unespected filter errors is not really a
sane behaviour, but at least this may help in the meantime.

Notes:
¹ Actually, I wonder if this is realistic. How can the PS -> PDF -> filtered PS
  seriously be cheaper than PS -> filtered PS?

Regards,

-- 
Tanguy Ortolo

-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.30-1-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages cups depends on:
ii  adduser                3.110             add and remove users and groups
ii  bc                     1.06.94-3.1       The GNU bc arbitrary precision cal
ii  cups-client            1.3.11-1+b1       Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - 
ii  cups-common            1.3.11-1          Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - 
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]  1.5.27            Debian configuration management sy
ii  ghostscript            8.70~dfsg-2       The GPL Ghostscript PostScript/PDF
ii  libavahi-compat-libdns 0.6.25-1          Avahi Apple Bonjour compatibility 
ii  libc6                  2.9-25            GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcups2               1.3.11-1+b1       Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - 
ii  libcupsimage2          1.3.11-1+b1       Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - 
ii  libdbus-1-3            1.2.16-2          simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libgcc1                1:4.4.1-1         GCC support library
ii  libgnutls26            2.8.3-1           the GNU TLS library - runtime libr
ii  libgssapi-krb5-2       1.7dfsg~beta3-1   MIT Kerberos runtime libraries - k
ii  libijs-0.35            0.35-7            IJS raster image transport protoco
ii  libkrb5-3              1.7dfsg~beta3-1   MIT Kerberos runtime libraries
ii  libldap-2.4-2          2.4.17-1          OpenLDAP libraries
ii  libpam0g               1.0.1-10          Pluggable Authentication Modules l
ii  libpaper1              1.1.23+nmu1       library for handling paper charact
ii  libpoppler4            0.10.6-1          PDF rendering library
ii  libslp1                1.2.1-7.6         OpenSLP libraries
ii  libstdc++6             4.4.1-1           The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii  lsb-base               3.2-23            Linux Standard Base 3.2 init scrip
ii  perl-modules           5.10.0-25         Core Perl modules
ii  poppler-utils [xpdf-ut 0.10.6-1          PDF utilitites (based on libpopple
ii  procps                 1:3.2.8-1         /proc file system utilities
ii  ssl-cert               1.0.23            simple debconf wrapper for OpenSSL
ii  ttf-freefont           20080323-3        Freefont Serif, Sans and Mono True
ii  zlib1g                 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-15 compression library - runtime

Versions of packages cups recommends:
ii  avahi-utils               0.6.25-1       Avahi browsing, publishing and dis
ii  cups-driver-gutenprint    5.2.4-1        printer drivers for CUPS
ii  foomatic-filters          4.0-20090509-1 OpenPrinting printer support - fil
ii  ghostscript-cups          8.70~dfsg-2    The GPL Ghostscript PostScript/PDF
ii  smbclient                 2:3.3.4-1      command-line SMB/CIFS clients for 

Versions of packages cups suggests:
ii  cups-bsd                  1.3.11-1+b1    Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - 
pn  cups-pdf                  <none>         (no description available)
ii  foomatic-db               20090616-1     OpenPrinting printer support - dat
ii  foomatic-db-engine        4.0-20090509-1 OpenPrinting printer support - pro
pn  hplip                     <none>         (no description available)
pn  xpdf-korean | xpdf-japane <none>         (no description available)

-- debconf information:
  cupsys/raw-print: true
  cupsys/backend: ipp, lpd, parallel, socket, usb