won't print: solution

[tcklnbrg at inreach.com]

If you have a seemingly unsolveable "just won't print" problem, check the file permissions on the spool directory: make sure that there are read and write permissions for all on it.

I spend 2 days trying to figure out why my new Epson Stylus C86 just wouldn't print anything.  I check *everything* in the OS even at low levels:  yes, the usb driver is installed, yes cups sees the printer, yes it can detect the ink levels, etc. ad nauseum.

Finally, I went back to basics and discovered that the /var/spool/cups directory was set for rwx only for root and read only for all other groups and that there was no tmp dir.  Thus, the cups system could not create and delete the required spooler files.  I added write and execute permissions (rwx) to both the group and other, and created the /var/spool/cups/tmp dir and automagically, my printer worked!

This is CUPS as installed by Fedora Core 4.

Best Wishes,

Ann Tecklenburg