bug in the CUPS lpr client

[Nathan]

> I suspect this is rather a feature than a bug, as the handling of these items
> is quite different with different LPD implementations.
>
> If you like, you can get a Perl script that may be used with slight modifications
> as a replacement for the lpd backend.
>
> Let me know if this is an option for you.
>
> Helge
>
>
> --
> Helge Blischke
> Softwareentwicklung
> SRZ Berlin | Firmengruppe besscom
> http://www.srz.de

The classic problem, is it a bug or a feature. If you have a perl that can work around this issue that would be better than nothing I guess.

I would still argue that there is other buggy behavior in the flag handling of the CUPS lpr client that may be worth looking into though. Notice the -J flag argument getting reused as the N value for filename. And I'm still hung up on seeing the -C argument getting switched with the -J argument; that can't possibly be normal behavior IMHO.

I've since tested with LPRng, and while they do things that break my flags too (like requiring position one of -C arguments to be an alpha character) they at least pass on both the -J and -C arguments unmodified. This can possibly be worked around at the print server. It's still not an optimal solution, I'd rather just use a default CUPS install across the board that lacks these 'features'.

Thanks for your response.
-Nathan