Using Fedora 38, unable to download plugins for m225dw and m281

[Charles Fisher]

HPLIP version is: hplip-3.23.5-8.fc38.x86_64

using hplip-setup, it finds the printers on the network, but when it attempts to download the binary plugins, it says that the checksums do not match, so the files must have been corrupted/modified.

running hp-doctor is not present on the system. Running hp-check says that cups is not installed or running - it is:
$ ps aux| grep -F cups
root 1022 0.0 0.0 249812 11520 ? Ss 11:28 0:00 /usr/sbin/cupsd -l

Both polkit and polkit-gnome are present on the system

$ rpm -q polkit polkit-gnome
polkit-122-3.fc38.1.x86_64
polkit-gnome-0.106-0.13.20170423gita0763a2.fc38.x86_64

Summary output from hp-check.

-----------
| SUMMARY |
-----------

Missing Required Dependencies
-----------------------------
error: 'cups' package is missing or 'cups' service is not running.

Missing Optional Dependencies
-----------------------------
error: 'polkit' package is missing/incompatible
error: 'polkit-gnome' package is missing/incompatible

Total Errors: 4
Total Warnings: 0

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Download the plugin from

  https://www.openprinting.org/download/printdriver/auxfiles/HP/plugins/

Install with

  sh hplip-<version>-plugin.run

[zdohnal (zdohnal)]

Or use 'hp-plugin-download'.

[Hynek Mlnarik (hmlnarik-s)]

Similar issue here for LJ Pro m125nw.

Using manually downloaded plugin does not work at this moment due to the following requirements:

INSTALL MISSING REQUIRED DEPENDENCIES
-------------------------------------
note: Installation of dependencies requires an active internet connection.
warning: Missing REQUIRED dependency: libjpeg (libjpeg - JPEG library)
warning: Missing REQUIRED dependency: libtool (libtool - Library building support services)
warning: Missing REQUIRED dependency: cups-devel (CUPS devel- Common Unix Printing System development files)
warning: Missing REQUIRED dependency: cups-image (CUPS image - CUPS image development files)
warning: Missing REQUIRED dependency: libusb (libusb - USB library)
warning: Missing REQUIRED dependency: libnetsnmp-devel (libnetsnmp-devel - SNMP networking library development files)
warning: Missing REQUIRED dependency: python3-pyqt4 (PyQt 4- Qt interface for Python (for Qt version 4.x))
warning: This installer cannot install 'python3-pyqt4' for your distro/OS and/or version.

The issue is there perhaps due to the fact that some packages seem to be renamed since Fedora 37, e.g. python3-pyqt4 was renamed to python3-PyQt4.

Could you please review support for the Fedora 38 distro?

[zdohnal (zdohnal)]

@Hynek Minarik try 'hp-plugin-download' from hplip Fedora package - it downloads and installs the plugin for you. I wrote the script to bypass some issues of hp-plugin and downloading the plugin directly.

[Hynek Mlnarik (hmlnarik-s)]

@zdohnal Thank you. hp-plugin-download correctly installs the hplip plugin.

However, automatic download from the HP Device Manager dialog is broken, likely due to the dependencies mentioned above. While I see the hp-plugin-download as a decent tool, I recognize it as a workaround. Thus I am still voting for fixing this bug properly in the hplip-*-plugin.run script.

[FWIW, the print is in a very bad shape (looks like draft regardless of the settings) while print in Fedora 37 from a different computer looks well. I will open a separate bug about that.]

[zdohnal (zdohnal)]

Several points:

1. The checksum error usually happens when the source is not accessible (the server is down, file is missing etc), so that's not something package maintainer can influence.

2. .run script provided by HP is outside of scope for fixing by package maintainers - usually it is its distro maintainers who are answering here (brian_p from Debian does a great job here), not the hplip authors from HP.

3. Is the Fedora 37 fully updated, with the latest HP plugin? I had to remove several files due being under bad license, so several printers had to start using HP proprietary plugin to have at least some printer support via hplip, but the draft printing is probably side effect of this, and the latest hplip in F37 have this change as well. Unfortunately the proprietary plugin is again out of touch for package maintainers.

You can try leaving comment here https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/2028938 to get HP to focus on this, or, if the printer is capable, use driverless printing - how to find out https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/cups-useful-tricks/#_how_to_find_out_whether_my_printer_is_capable_of_driverless_printing - and don't use hplip for this printer.

Zdenek Dohnal
Fedora hplip package maintainer

[Hynek Mlnarik (hmlnarik-s)]

@zdohnal Thank you for the ipp suggestion, now I have a working solution. Last week I managed to try that and I can confirm that the printer printed correctly - black was black - while hpcups 3.23.5 output seemed like if EconoMode was enabled while double-checked that it was off - black was dotted gray.