Comment 62 for bug 905147

Is this issue about duplex printing or the more fundamental problem of Non-Persistent Print Settings in the KDE+QT print system?

There are many bug reports on the disto, KDE and QT trackers with unique headings that all relate to problems with non-persistent print settings in KDE apps. For example: KDE Bug 205802 and QT BUG-15351 relate to non-persistent margin settings.

Installing the CUPS system-config-printer 1.2.5 (http://cyberelk.net/tim/software/system-config-printer/) will allow Printer related settings, such as Media Size, Print quality, Media Type, Media Source, Manual Feed, Duplex, Toner Save, Screen Lock & BR-Script Level, to be changed persistently. (thanks Red Hat!)

But other source related print settings (such as: margins, page orientation, etc., etc.) are outside scope of this program. These remain non-persistent and a source of frustration for KDE users. Having to change 4 margin settings for each print job is a distraction and a big waste of time. The many 'user' errors (!) that do slip through cause a shameful waste of paper. The problem is reproducible in many KDE apps, including Konqueror, Kwrite, Kate and Kmail.

Entering, eg. margin settings, with the CUPS lpoptions command is not effective in my case (openSUSE 11.4 KDE 4.6). Such 'source related' print settings tend to be a bit more transient than 'printer related' settings so having to change them via CUPS may not be desirable, even if possible.

Perhaps the many bug reports about non-persistent print settings in KDE + QT generally should be collated, analysed and actioned strategically? If so, that needs high level attention from the relevant distributions, KDE and QT, jointly.