root privileges needed to set default printer

[mannheim]

I have two printers configured and working, with dapper. Then:

1. I launch gnome-cups-manager as an ordinary user (a member of the lpadmin group).

2. Right-click on the icon for one printer and select "Make default".

Actual results: nothing appears to happen.

Expected results: a "check" emblem appears, and the selected printer becomes the default.

Additional information: If I call gnome-cups-manager as root, using sudo, then I can change the default printer as expected, no problem.

The permissions on the file /etc/cups/printers.conf are

-rw------- owner=cupsys, group=lp

My version of cupsys is cupsys_1.1.99.rc2-0ubuntu2, but the problem did not start with this version.

[Michael Crider (mecrider)]

I just filed this same bug (41303), but I hadn't checked it as root.

[mannheim (kronheim)]

Further information: as a normal user, I can execute "/usr/sbin/lpadmin -d MyPrinter" in a terminal to set the default printer without problem (and the new default printer is indicated in the gnome-cups-manager window).

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

I just tested this. Indeed the 'check mark' emblem does not appear, but it works nevertheless. 'lpq' shows the status of the default printer, and it's properly changed for me if I use gnome-cups-manager. Can you confirm this?

[mannheim (kronheim)]

Yes, I can confirm that. I did:

1. Open gnome-cups-manger, select PrinterA as default; emblem does not change.

2. lpq now shows status of "PrinterA"; and lpr sends output to "PrinterA".

Is the following diagnosis correct:

(a) There is system-wide default printer, which is indicated in /etc/cups/printers.conf; but there is also a per-user default printer, which is indicated in ~/.cups/lpoptions.

(b) The command lpadmin sets the system-wide default.

(c) The gnome-cups-manager interface sets the per-user default when run as a normal user.

(d) In the gnome-cups-manager interface, the "check" emblem appears on the system-wide default printer, which is a bug. The "check" emblem should appear on the user's default printer.

This is all consistent with what I have seen and what you pointed out above: selecting "Make default" in gnome-cups-manager does indeed set my per-user default printer; but the "check" mark remains on the sytem-wide default printer.

[mannheim (kronheim)]

In light of the above, the summary of this bug is incorrect. Also, it probably should be changed:

   "Affects cupsys --> Affects gnome-cups-manager"

[Michael Crider (mecrider)]

mannheim, I agree with your diagnosis. It makes sense for gnome-cups-manager to set the per-user default printer, and I think this problem arose when g-c-m started running as user (I think I had to give my password to run it in Dapper Alpha - maybe somebody else can confirm that?). Initially I disagreed with Martin's test (before actually performing it), because when I had the cups LogLevel at debug to work on another bug, it filled the error_log with messages about No Default Printer (after I deleted all my printers and reinstalled them to check the affects on default printer). I guess an advanced user (i.e. system administrator, or one that knows enough to change the LogLevel on cups) should realize that g-c-m has to be run as root to make system-wide changes.

[Michael Crider (mecrider)]

Another interesting aspect of this bug is that once the per-user default printer is set to anything other than the system default, it is impossible to change it back to the system default in g-c-m. "Make Default" is grayed out for the system default printer.

[Patrice Vetsel (vetsel-patrice)]

reverting to cupsys

[Patrice Vetsel (vetsel-patrice)]

For informations, here is an extract from cups error log with Loglevel=debug2.
This extract is when i assign a specific printer to be the default printer.

D [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] CUPS-Get-Default
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] get_default(0x80ec7c8[8])
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdFindPolicyOp(p=0x80b9f18, op=4001(CUPS-Get-Default))
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdFindPolicyOp: Found wildcard match...
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdIsAuthorized: con->uri="/", con->best=0x80bb0d8((null))
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdIsAuthorized: level=AUTH_ANON, type=AUTH_NONE, satisfy=AUTH_SATISFY_ALL, num_names=0
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdIsAuthorized: op=0(unknown-0000)
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdIsAuthorized: auth=AUTH_ALLOW...
I [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] CUPS-Get-Default client-error-not-found: No default printer
D [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdProcessIPPRequest: 8 status_code=406 (client-error-not-found)
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdProcessIPPRequest: Adding fd 8 to OutputSet...
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdWriteClient: 8 bytes < 0
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdWriteClient: Removing fd 8 from OutputSet...
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdAcceptClient(lis=0x80bd478) 2 Clients = 3
D [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdAcceptClient: 10 from localhost (Domain)
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdAcceptClient: 10 connected to server on localhost:631
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdAcceptClient: Adding fd 10 to InputSet...
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdReadClient: 8, used=0, file=-1 state=0
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdReadClient: httpGets returned EOF...
D [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdCloseClient: 8
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdCloseClient: Removing fd 8 from InputSet and OutputSet...
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdReadClient: 10, used=0, file=-1 state=0
D [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdReadClient: 10 POST / HTTP/1.1
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdFindBest: uri = "/"...
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdFindBest: Location CUPS_INTERNAL_BROWSE_ACL Limit 0
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdFindBest: Location /admin/conf Limit 7f
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdFindBest: Location /admin Limit 7f
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdFindBest: Location / Limit 7f
d [27/Apr/2006:21:48:00 +0200] cupsdFindBest: best = /

[Patrice Vetsel (vetsel-patrice)]

CUPS-Get-Default.txt
cups error log when trying to assign the default printer

[Patrice Vetsel (vetsel-patrice)]

Changing assignement, because client like xpp work well so it's not a bug in cupsys. I must investigate g-c-m now

[mannheim (kronheim)]

There is a similar (related?) issue with setting printer preference via the "Properties" dialog box in gnome-cups-manager.

When opening the "Properties" dialog box, the preferences which are shown reflect choices recorded in /etc/cups/printers.conf (or so it seems). That is, the system-wide prefs are shown. But when a normal user uses the dialog to change preferences, the per-user preferences are changed, and recorded in ~/.cups/lpoptions.

The result is that user preferences appear not to stick. To reproduce this:

1. Launch gnome-cups-manager as a user.

2. Select a printer, and select "Properties".

3. Change a property and close the dialog.

4. Open the Properties dialog and observe that it does not reflect the change you made in step 3.

5. Do "less ~/.cups/lpotions" to see that the preference you recorded in step 3 is reflected in change to this file.

[Patrice Vetsel (vetsel-patrice)]

I confirm that.
Tests, I made, shown that kdeprint don't use ~/.cups/lpotions.
I don't know yet where kdeprint store the user configuration, but gnome-cups-manager show the enblem of the user default printer assigned by kdeprint, and do not care about ~/.cups/lpotions.

In the same time as it has been discuted, assigning default printer and properties with g-c-m is saved in ~/.cups/lpotions.