hp-plugin unable to load plugin.conf

[Otto Mäkelä]

Linux hp-plugin fails on Fedora 35 with the error:

error: Plugin download failed with error code = 8
error: file does not match its checksum. File may have been corrupted or altered

When running "hp-plugin -l debug" the reason turns out to be that http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf does not exist:

hp-plugin[540794]: debug: wget returned: 0
hp-plugin[540794]: debug: --2022-09-13 23:23:02-- http://hplip.sf.net/plugin.conf
Resolving hplip.sf.net (hplip.sf.net)... 204.68.111.100
Connecting to hplip.sf.net (hplip.sf.net)|204.68.111.100|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf [following]
--2022-09-13 23:23:02-- http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf
Resolving hplip.sourceforge.net (hplip.sourceforge.net)... 204.68.111.100
Reusing existing connection to hplip.sf.net:80.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
2022-09-13 23:23:02 ERROR 404: Not Found.

[zdohnal (zdohnal)]

This affects every hplip installation (from HP and from distro packages) on every distro and makes devices using a plugin non-functional...

I'll clone this to Ubuntu as well to let them know...

[om (om-redhat-bugs)]

Description of problem:

hp-plugin fails because unable to load plugin.conf

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

3.22.6-1

How reproducible:

Always

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Install hplip
2. Attempt to run hp-plugin to detect and load appropriate driver

Actual results:

Installation fails with (slightly confusing error messages)
error: Plugin download failed with error code = 8
error: file does not match its checksum. File may have been corrupted or altered

When running "hp-plugin -l debug" the reason turns out to be that the file http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf does not exist.

Expected results:

http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf gets loaded and driver installation proceeds normally.

[Otto Mäkelä (extechop)]

This 404 still seems to be situation.

Wayback machine last snapshot of this file is from 2022-04-20:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220420014143/http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf

As far as I can tell, hp-plugin cannot function without this file being available on the web site, so nobody has been able to install HP printers requiring these drivers since some time in spring 2022?

[Rai Biason Toffoletto (raibtoffoletto)]

I can confirm I'm encountering the same problem with hplip 3.21.12 on ubuntu 22.04.1. Tryed even to get the newest version from SF, but the same error. Running hp-plugin -i -g shows me a series of 301s and then a 404 fail on the mentioned config file.

Wouldn't it be better to move this configuration file to openprinting.org instead of trusting SF? apparently the plugins are being downloaded from there, so it makes sense to keep it in the same server!?

Also... any plans in porting the plugin/hplip to python3? or is it be done?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[zdohnal (zdohnal-redhat-bugs)]

*** Bug 2130681 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[zdohnal (zdohnal-redhat-bugs)]

*** Bug 2132085 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[zdohnal (zdohnal-redhat-bugs)]

*** Bug 2132086 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Brian J. Murrell (brian-interlinx)]

What has to happen to get this issue resolved? Are the hplip maintainers even paying attention to the bugs filed here for them?

[Brian J. Murrell (brian-interlinx)]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1991679 is a duplicate of this ticket.

[zdohnal (zdohnal-redhat-bugs)]

Hi all,

thank you for reporting the issue!

Unfortunately the file is missing on the remote server, where we don't have control - the issue is reported upstream several times (the first here - https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1989508 ), but without any solution or response upstream.

In the meantime people can download the respective plugin from https://www.openprinting.org/download/printdriver/auxfiles/HP/plugins/ and install it by:

$ sh <plugin_file>

I'll create a bash script which will be run under 'hp-plugin' command and it will do the same thing.

[brian (brian-redhat-bugs-1)]

Indeed, I don't think anyone thinks you can fix the remote server issue. There are alternative solutions that you, RH, as the packager can apply though. Your proposed solution:

> I'll create a bash script which will be run under 'hp-plugin' command and it will do the same thing.

is one solution. Including the plugin from https://www.openprinting.org/download/printdriver/auxfiles/HP/plugins/ in hplip (or an hp-plugin subpackage) is another. And yet another is to host the http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf on a RH controlled server and update the path during the package build.

In any case, whichever solution you choose I am sure everyone will be grateful for your efforts!

[zdohnal (zdohnal-redhat-bugs)]

(In reply to Brian J. Murrell from comment #5)
> Indeed, I don't think anyone thinks you can fix the remote server issue.
> There are alternative solutions that you, RH, as the packager can apply
> though. Your proposed solution:
>
> > I'll create a bash script which will be run under 'hp-plugin' command and it will do the same thing.
>
> is one solution. Including the plugin from
> https://www.openprinting.org/download/printdriver/auxfiles/HP/plugins/ in
> hplip (or an hp-plugin subpackage) is another.

Unfortunately the plugin has a license incompatible with open source licenses which can be in the official repos in Fedora, so I cannot ship it in a subpackage (that was the reason why hp-plugin script existed).

IIRC Rathann (one hplip user from community) somehow packaged the plugin, but I'm not sure whether he shares it via RPMFusion or uses it locally...

> And yet another is to host
> the http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf on a RH controlled server and
> update the path during the package build.

When I look into the previous contents of plugin.conf - https://web.archive.org/web/20220420014143/http://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf - IMHO I cannot guess all the entries there to fully replace this file :(

>
> In any case, whichever solution you choose I am sure everyone will be
> grateful for your efforts!

Either way, it would be great if everyone who hit this issue found out whether they really need a plugin for their printing/scanning operations - the plugin is needed only if your device is quite old (about more than 10 years old in case of network printing, about more than 7 years old in case of USB printing, about more than 5-7 years old in terms of scanning) and does not support a driverless methods or if driverless solutions don't match your criteria or don't work due some bugs.

For example, I have HP LaserJet M1536dnf (purchased in 2011, made in 2010) at home, which is capable of driverless printing via network (wifi and ethernet), prints with classic driver via USB and plugin is needed only for scanning.

More info about this you can find here ( for printing https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/cups-useful-tricks/#_how_to_find_out_whether_my_printer_is_capable_of_driverless_printing , for scanning https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/cups-useful-tricks/#_how_to_find_out_my_multifunction_device_or_standalone_scanner_is_capable_of_driverless_scanning ) and in the following paragraphs. In case you encounter some problems/errors when setting the driverless scanning/printing up (if you find out the device should support it), it would be great if you filed a bugzilla to a respective component (in case you have problems with printing from a specific application - file a bug on it, in case the problem is generic - file a bug on CUPS).

Regarding the fix, I'll be back in the office next week, so I will be working on the official solution since next week. In the meantime, manual download of plugin from the link https://www.openprinting.org/download/printdriver/auxfiles/HP/plugins/ and 'sh <plugin-file>' should work as a workaround.

[Jakub Dorňák (misli)]

As a workaround you might download the plugin from https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing/plugins

[Brian J. Murrell (brian-interlinx)]

I finally did discover the workaround, after a while of (wasted time) searching.

But how many other people are going to continue to have to waste time researching how to "work-around" this issue when the solution is a simple matter of just putting the missing file back on the web-server?

[zdohnal (zdohnal-redhat-bugs)]

Hi all,

there are scratch builds with new hp-plugin scripts:

F37 https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=92952568
F36 https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=92952571
F35 https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=92952573

It would be great if you tried the scratch builds and did tell me how it works for you.

Thank you in advance!

[om (om-redhat-bugs)]

I've now installed the following packages on my f35 machines

hplip-3.22.6-1.fc35.test1.x86_64.rpm
hplip-common-3.22.6-1.fc35.test1.x86_64.rpm
hplip-gui-3.22.6-1.fc35.test1.x86_64.rpm
hplip-libs-3.22.6-1.fc35.test1.x86_64.rpm
libsane-hpaio-3.22.6-1.fc35.test1.x86_64.rpm

and they seem to get the job done, I've installed the driver for my HP scanner and it worked.

[zdohnal (zdohnal-redhat-bugs)]

https://hplip.sourceforge.net/plugin.conf is back online, so the fix is not urgent right now - but I will add the new script as 'hp-plugin-download' in case the original hp-plugin won't work due some reasons.

[updates (updates-redhat-bugs)]

FEDORA-2022-a5cc963233 has been submitted as an update to Fedora 37. https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2022-a5cc963233

[updates (updates-redhat-bugs)]

FEDORA-2022-d54ebef99d has been submitted as an update to Fedora 36. https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2022-d54ebef99d

[updates (updates-redhat-bugs)]

FEDORA-2022-027effed0e has been submitted as an update to Fedora 35. https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2022-027effed0e

[updates (updates-redhat-bugs)]

FEDORA-2022-a5cc963233 has been pushed to the Fedora 37 testing repository.
Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2022-a5cc963233`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2022-a5cc963233

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

[updates (updates-redhat-bugs)]

FEDORA-2022-027effed0e has been pushed to the Fedora 35 testing repository.
Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2022-027effed0e`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2022-027effed0e

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

[updates (updates-redhat-bugs)]

FEDORA-2022-d54ebef99d has been pushed to the Fedora 36 testing repository.
Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2022-d54ebef99d`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2022-d54ebef99d

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

[updates (updates-redhat-bugs)]

FEDORA-2022-d54ebef99d has been pushed to the Fedora 36 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.

[updates (updates-redhat-bugs)]

FEDORA-2022-027effed0e has been pushed to the Fedora 35 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.