[cups.general] Can CUPS pass through the printer status somehow

[Ambrose Li]

On 13/12/06, Michael Sweet <mike at easysw.com> wrote:
> OK, it is possible that the printer has recieved all data and the
> JetDirect card has been told that all pages have been processed by
> the printer (but might not yet be totally printed...)

Maybe this is a "feature" request, but I wonder if CUPS can somehow
pass through the remote printer's status. This must be doable, at least
for some backends, because all lpr-based systems do such a thing.

Because all LPR-based systems I have seen always asks the remote
printer when we do an lpq command, when I switched from LPR to
CUPS, this (not able to see the queue that is on the printer itself) also
came as a  shock to me.

Since CUPS is supposed to be better than LPR, not being able to ask
the network printer for its queue will always feel like a bug (irrespective
of whether it is officially a bug or not).

-- 
cheers,
-ambrose