Blank pages when printing Mozilla PostScript file with 2 pages/sheet on postscript printer

[Helge Blischke]

Well, your sample file prints ok here, both normal and with the
number-up=2 option. Moreover, I printed some web pages from mozilla
with this option successfully.
How is your mozilla printing configured? I use "kprinter -stdin"
as printer setup in mozilla, and this works with both CUPS 1.1.18
and 1.1.19 (the versions in use at our site).

Perhaps you could try to intercept the data that go into the
foomatic RIP (e.g. temporarily replace foomatic-rip by a script
that simply dumps the standard input to a file) and post that.

You see, I've no proper idea what the issue might be (yet).

Helge


Hartvig Ekner wrote:
> 
> I have placed the non-printing mozilla postscript file at this URL:
> 
> http://www.ekner.info/mozilla.ps
> 
> Note that it is not a particular output file from Mozilla Mail which prints blank pages
> when 2 pages/page have been selected, it seems to be all of them - at least all the
> ones I tried.
> 
> Hartvig
> 
> Helge Blischke wrote:
> > The number-up processing is done by the pstops filter. Please post
> > an URL to your captured file so somebody (maybe me) can look into it.
> >
> > Helge
> >
> > Hartvig Ekner wrote:
> >
> >>Hi,
> >>
> >>I runnung SuSE 9.1 (2.6.5 kernel) with the CUPS version bundled with SuSE:
> >>
> >>[hje at hje-6 hje]$ rpm -qa | grep cups
> >>cups-drivers-stp-1.1.20-60
> >>cups-drivers-1.1.20-66.1
> >>cups-1.1.20-108.8
> >>cups-client-1.1.20-108.8
> >>cups-libs-1.1.20-108.8
> >>
> >>against two printers, one Canon iR3300, one HP Color LaserJet 4600, both network printers accessed via LPD.
> >>Both are setup as generic Postscript printers. From the ir3300.ppd file in /etc/cpus/ppd:
> >>
> >>*FormatVersion: "4.3"
> >>*FileVersion:   "1.1"
> >>*LanguageVersion: English
> >>*LanguageEncoding: ISOLatin1
> >>*PCFileName:    "POSTSCRI.PPD"
> >>*Manufacturer:  "Generic"
> >>*Product:       "(PostScript Printer)"
> >>*cupsVersion:   1.0
> >>*cupsManualCopies: True
> >>*cupsModelNumber:  2
> >>*cupsFilter:    "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 foomatic-rip"
> >>*%pprRIP:        foomatic-rip other
> >>*ModelName:     "Generic PostScript Printer"
> >>*ShortNickName: "Generic P.S. Printer Postscript"
> >>*NickName:      "Generic PostScript Printer Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)"
> >>*PSVersion:     "(3010.000) 550"
> >>*PSVersion:     "(3010.000) 651"
> >>*PSVersion:     "(3010.000) 652"
> >>*PSVersion:     "(3010.000) 653"
> >>*PSVersion:     "(3010.000) 704"
> >>*PSVersion:     "(3010.000) 705"
> >>*PSVersion:     "(3010.000) 800"
> >>*LanguageLevel: "3"
> >>*ColorDevice:   True
> >>*DefaultColorSpace: RGB
> >>*FileSystem:    False
> >>*Throughput:    "1"
> >>*LandscapeOrientation: Plus90
> >>*TTRasterizer:  Type42
> >>
> >>Everything works fine, except printing Mozilla output with the two-pages per page option.
> >>I have grabbed the Mozilla output (print to file), and I can ghostview it and print it out to
> >>both printers with one page per page without problems. If I print it out with two pages/page, I get
> >>blank output. Postscript output generated from other programs prints fine with two pages/page.
> >>
> >>I have tried to process exactly the same failing Mozilla postscript file with "mpage -2", and then
> >>print it through CUPS with one-page/page setting in CUPS, and then it does print (with 2 pages/page).
> >>This makes me believe that the CUPS filter dealing with multiple pages/page scaling has a problem
> >>with Mozilla postscript input files.
> >>
> >>To attempt to debug this, I have turned on the debug option in cups.conf and performed two
> >>prints - one with 1 page/page (prints fine) and one with 2 pages/page (blank page output). In both
> >>cases it runs the following filters: pswrite, pstops, foomatic-rip and backend/lpr. Which one is
> >>BTW handling the multiple pages/page output? I will spare the group of the entire log files for both
> >>runs, but the place where I can see a difference is here:
> >>
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Option: PreFilter=No --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found: %% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PreFilter=No
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Option: PreFilter=No --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found: %%BeginFeature: *Resolution default
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Option: Resolution=default --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found: %% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: Resolution=default
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Option: Resolution=default --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found: %%BeginFeature: *Duplex Notcapable
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Option: Duplex=Notcapable --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found: %% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: Duplex=Notcapable
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Option: Duplex=Notcapable --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found: %%EndSetup
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] -----------
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] New page:  1 1
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Inserting option code into "PageSetup" section.
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] No page header or page header not DSC-conforming
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found: %%BeginPageSetup
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found: %%EndPageSetup
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] End of page header
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Stopping search for page header options
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Found:
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] 0003FE000003FE000003FE000003FE000003FE000003FE000003FE000003FE00
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] --> Output goes directly to the renderer now.
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Starting renderer
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] renderer PID kid4=7775
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] JCL: <job data>
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] renderer command: level=0; printf "%%!\n%%%% %%%%\n"; if (( $level > 0 )); then if (( $level < 99 )$D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] 0 %%PageTrailer
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] 0 %%Trailer
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Saw Trailer!
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Saw EOF!
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] Closing renderer
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] tail process done writing data to STDOUT
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] KID4 finished
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:25:20 +0200] [Job 13] KID3 exited with status 0
> >>
> >>The log above was from the successful print (1 page/page). The same location in the failing print log
> >>looks like this:
> >>
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Found: %% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: Resolution=default
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Option: Resolution=default --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Found: %%BeginFeature: *Duplex Notcapable
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Option: Duplex=Notcapable --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Found: %% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: Duplex=Notcapable
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Option: Duplex=Notcapable --> Setting option
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Found: %%EndSetup
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] -----------
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] New page:  1 1
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Inserting option code into "PageSetup" section.
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] No page header or page header not DSC-conforming
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Found: %%BeginPageSetup
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Found: %%EndPageSetup
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] End of page header
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Stopping search for page header options
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Found:
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] $X
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] --> Output goes directly to the renderer now.
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Starting renderer
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] JCL: <job data>
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] renderer PID kid4=7757
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] renderer command: level=0; printf "%%!\n%%%% %%%%\n"; if (( $level > 0 )); then if (( $level < 99 )$D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] 0 %%PageTrailer
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] 0 %%Trailer
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Saw Trailer!
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] pw = 547.0, pl = 770.0
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] PageLeft = 24.0, PageRight = 571.0
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] PageTop = 818.0, PageBottom = 48.0
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] PageWidth = 595.0, PageLength = 842.0
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Saw EOF!
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12]
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] Closing renderer
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] tail process done writing data to STDOUT
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] KID4 finished
> >>D [21/Oct/2004:16:19:13 +0200] [Job 12] KID3 exited with status 0
> >>
> >>Note the "Found: $X" - is this significant? Everything else looks similar in both logs.
> >>
> >>Which filter is doing the scaling (pswrite, pstops or foomatic-rip?)
> >>Can I somehow capture the output after the scaling filter or run the filter manually
> >>to verify the contents with ghostview?
> >>
> >>Any input on how I can debug this further would be appreciated!
> >>
> >>Best regards,
> >>
> >>Hartvig
> >
> >

-- 
Helge Blischke
Softwareentwicklung
SRZ Berlin | Firmengruppe besscom
http://www.srz.de
tel: +49 30 75301-360


H.Blischke at srz-berlin.de
H.Blischke at srz-berlin.com
H.Blischke at acm.org