Debian bug report logs - #902
lpr can't print a PostScript file ?!

Message received at debian-bugs:

From server.et-inf.fho-emden.de!tobias Thu May 25 02:14:19 1995
Return-Path: <tobias@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de>
Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp
	(Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0sEYzj-0005zQC; Thu, 25 May 95 02:14 PDT
Received: from server.et-inf.fho-emden.de by pixar.com with SMTP id AA12309
  (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Thu, 25 May 1995 02:12:50 -0700
Received: by server.et-inf.fho-emden.de (5.65/DEC-Ultrix/4.3)
	id AA17259; Thu, 25 May 1995 11:09:08 +0200
From: tobias@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de (Peter Tobias)
Message-Id: <9505250909.AA17259@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de>
Subject: Re: Bug#902: lpr can't print a PostScript file ?!
To: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk, debian-bugs@pixar.com
Date: Thu, 25 May 1995 11:09:07 +0000 (GMT-1:00)
In-Reply-To: <m0sDEVn-0000XQZ.ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu> from "Ian Jackson" at May 21, 95 06:09:00 pm
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL17]
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Length: 790       

Ian Jackson wrote:
> I've been trying to print a PostScript file, without much success.

lpr -d file.ps

> Just typing `lpr <postscript-file>' prints it as ASCII.  IMO it should
> automatically recognise it.

No, that's not the job of lpr. If you it to recognize such files
automatically you should use a magic filter (like apsfilter for
example).

BTW: If someone is planning to create a package with a magic filter
I would be happy if this person would also take over the lpr package
because I can't test the lpr stuff (no printer :-)).


Peter

-- 
 Peter Tobias                                EMail:
 Fachhochschule Ostfriesland                 tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de
 Fachbereich Elektrotechnik und Informatik   tobias@perseus.fho-emden.de
 Constantiaplatz 4, 26723 Emden, Germany

Message received at debian-bugs:

From simons-rock.edu!jimr Mon May 22 15:11:35 1995
Return-Path: <jimr@simons-rock.edu>
Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp
	(Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0sDfhG-00063bC; Mon, 22 May 95 15:11 PDT
Received: from plato.simons-rock.edu by pixar.com with SMTP id AA27458
  (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Mon, 22 May 1995 15:10:07 -0700
Received: from simons-rock.edu by plato.simons-rock.edu with smtp
	(Smail3.1.29.1 #3) id m0sDfcj-000018C; Mon, 22 May 95 18:06 EDT
Message-Id: <m0sDfcj-000018C@plato.simons-rock.edu>
To: grib@arlut.utexas.edu (William Gribble), debian-bugs@pixar.com
Cc: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Bug#902: lpr can't print a PostScript file ?! 
In-Reply-To: Message from grib@arlut.utexas.edu (William Gribble) 
   of "Mon, 22 May 1995 09:45:55 MDT." <9505221445.AA02272@mamba.arlut.utexas.edu> 
Date: Mon, 22 May 1995 18:06:53 -0400
From: "James A. Robinson" <jimr@simons-rock.edu>

> > Package: lpr
> > Version: 5.9-6
> >
> > I've been trying to print a PostScript file, without much success.
> >
> > Just typing `lpr <postscript-file>' prints it as ASCII.  IMO it should
> > automatically recognise it.

One of you should probably package apsfilter, or put together a better
set of magic filters.  If I have time I will try and put apsfilter
together, but I've only ever used it on a PS printer.


Jim

Message received at debian-bugs:

From arlut.utexas.edu!grib Mon May 22 07:45:59 1995
Return-Path: <grib@arlut.utexas.edu>
Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp
	(Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0sDYk3-0005zeC; Mon, 22 May 95 07:45 PDT
Received: from ns1.arlut.utexas.edu by pixar.com with SMTP id AA11024
  (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Mon, 22 May 1995 07:44:34 -0700
Received: from mail-firewall.arlut.utexas.edu (ns1.arlut.utexas.edu [129.116.224.2]) by ns1.arlut.utexas.edu (8.6.11/8.6.9) with ESMTP id JAA11866 for <debian-bugs@Pixar.com>; Mon, 22 May 1995 09:45:56 -0500
Received: from mamba.arlut.utexas.edu (mamba.arlut.utexas.edu [129.116.176.42]) by mail-firewall.arlut.utexas.edu (8.6.11/8.6.9) with SMTP id JAA11859; Mon, 22 May 1995 09:45:54 -0500
Received: by mamba.arlut.utexas.edu (5.x/SMI-SVR4)
	id AA02272; Mon, 22 May 1995 09:45:56 -0500
From: grib@arlut.utexas.edu (William Gribble)
Message-Id: <9505221445.AA02272@mamba.arlut.utexas.edu>
Subject: Re: Bug#902: lpr can't print a PostScript file ?!
To: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk, debian-bugs@Pixar.com
Date: Mon, 22 May 1995 09:45:55 -0600 (CDT)
In-Reply-To: <m0sDEVn-0000XQZ.ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu> from "Ian Jackson" at May 21, 95 06:09:00 pm
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL22]
Content-Type: text

> Package: lpr
> Version: 5.9-6
> 
> I've been trying to print a PostScript file, without much success.
> 
> Just typing `lpr <postscript-file>' prints it as ASCII.  IMO it should
> automatically recognise it.

What's worse, in my opinion, is that there's no way at all to print a
binary file using lpr.  While I would like lpr to automatically handle
postscript, on my non-postscript inkjet I'd be happy if this worked
(as it did in days of yore with SLS, then Slackware):

gs -q -sDEVICE=escp2 -r360x360 -sOutputFile="|lpr -h" - < foo.ps

Under debian, this prints garbage characters until I reset the printer. 
I assume that somewhere along the line lpr thinks it's smarter than it is 
and it's stripping to 7 bits or trying to line wrap or something. 

As it is, I have to do something like 

gs -q -sDEVICE=escp2 -r360x360 -sOutputFile=/tmp/lpr_tmp - < foo.ps
su
cat /tmp/lpr_tmp > /dev/lp1 

Which is, needless to say, suboptimal. 

> Ian.

b.g.

Message received at debian-bugs:

From cus.cam.ac.uk!iwj10 Mon May 22 07:23:05 1995
Return-Path: <iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk>
Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp
	(Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0sDYNt-0005zLC; Mon, 22 May 95 07:23 PDT
Received: from bootes.cus.cam.ac.uk by pixar.com with SMTP id AA10572
  (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Mon, 22 May 1995 07:21:36 -0700
Received: by bootes.cus.cam.ac.uk 
	(Smail-3.1.29.0 #36) id m0sDYNh-000BzaC; Mon, 22 May 95 15:22 BST
Received: by chiark
	id m0sDEVn-0000XQZ
	(Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.31); Sun, 21 May 95 18:09 BST
Message-Id: <m0sDEVn-0000XQZ.ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>
Date: Sun, 21 May 95 18:09 BST
From: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: Debian bugs submission address <debian-bugs@pixar.com>
Subject: lpr can't print a PostScript file ?!

Package: lpr
Version: 5.9-6

I've been trying to print a PostScript file, without much success.

Just typing `lpr <postscript-file>' prints it as ASCII.  IMO it should
automatically recognise it.

I've tried reading lpr(1), lpd(8) and printcap(5), but none of these
manpages seem to provide any way to tell lpr that I'm giving it a
PostScript file.

One of the manpages says
     Refer to the 4.3 BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual for a complete discus-
     sion on how setup the database for a given printer.
but I can't find that document anywhere, and in any case I shouldn't
have to delve so deeply just to print a perfectly ordinary ps file !

Is it just me, or is the type-specification system described in lpr(1)
a mess ?  Surely it should be extensible ?

Some sites I've used have had a scheme where you passed a type string
to lpr (this usually used the -T option, though this claims to set the
`title' with this lpr).  This allows you to have different `types' for
things like "postscript, draft" vs. "postscript, high density" (useful
if you have a dot-matrix printer) or "text printed normal size" vs.
"text printed very compactly".

Ian.