Installing printer with slash "/" in driver name fails

[Tormod Volden]

I try to configure a printer using the PPD file provided by the printer manufacturer. The PPD file uses a NickName containing a "/" (slash).

Adding the printer silently fails. I can choose the printer driver in the GUI (where I can see the slash in the listed name), but after clicking Apply and thus closing the Add Printer window, the printer does not show up in the Printers window.

If I manually edit the PPD file and replace the slash with a "-" (hyphen), I can add the printer without problems.

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

which printer is this? is this a custom PPD file? If yes, please attach the PPD file.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Here is an example PPD file. The same happens with other PPD files too.

Just for fun, I edited one of the Ubuntu-delivered driver files, /usr/share/cups/model/cups-included/Epson/epson24.ppd, and put in a slash in the nickname. It failed to set up the printer. This is not a problem with any particular model, it's for all PPDs having a slash in the nickname. I guess the PPD "standard" allows slashes in the nickname.

[Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst)]

I confirm this bug using dapper 20060418.
The problem is in gnome-cups-manager and is related to the "Foomatic/" (note the slash!) indication used in *NickName of PPDs. The "Foomatic/" indication is used to group together different drivers for the same printer model. I marked this bug major since it affects a lot of PPDs in the following packages: cupsys-drivers-gutenprint, foomatic-filters-ppds and linuxprinting.org-ppds.

[Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst)]

The following error is found in /var/log/cups/access_log when adding printer with "/" in the name:
localhost - - [18/Apr/2006:20:17:20 +0200] "POST /admin/ HTTP/1.1" 200 304 CUPS-Add-Printer client-error-bad-request

[Toby Haynes (thaynes)]

Also seen installing when adding a new printer using the "PCL 6 / PCL XL Printer" driver.

Here's the last few lines of terminal output from gnome-cups-manager.

Selected ppd file = linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Lexmark/Lexmark-1000-lm1100.ppd
Selected ppd file = linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Lexmark/Lexmark-E210-gdi.ppd
Selected ppd file = linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Pr inter-pxlmono.ppd

** (gnome-cups-add:4351): WARNING **: IPP request failed with status 1024

Here is the output from /var/log/cups/error_log

 I [25/Apr/2006:11:32:41 -0400] CUPS-Add-Modify-Printer client-error-bad-request: The printer-uri
"ipp://localhost/printers/PCL-6/PCL-XL-Printer" contains invalid characters.

Thanks,
Toby Haynes

[Toby Haynes (thaynes)]

As a workaround, I made a copy of the PPD file I wished to use and then editted the new copy - the diff is below.

cp /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer-pxlmono.ppd /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer-pxlmono-tjwh.ppd

diff -Naur /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer-pxlmono.ppd /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer-pxlmono-tjwh.ppd
root@nexus:/var/log/cups # diff -Naur /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer-pxlmono.ppd /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer-pxlmono-tjwh.ppd
--- /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer-pxlmono.ppd2006-04-06 00:54:43.000000000 -0400
+++ /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/Generic/Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer-pxlmono-tjwh.ppd 2006-04-25 11:43:29.000000000 -0400
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 *%pprRIP: foomatic-rip other
 *ModelName: "Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer"
 *ShortNickName: "Generic PCL 6/PCL XL P. pxlmono"
-*NickName: "Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlmono (recommended)"
+*NickName: "Generic PCL 6-PCL XL Printer Foomatic-pxlmono (recommended)"
 *PSVersion: "(3010.000) 550"
 *PSVersion: "(3010.000) 651"
 *PSVersion: "(3010.000) 652"

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

fixed in gnome-cups-manager (0.31-1.1ubuntu6)