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

[Ambrose Li]

On 13/12/06, Michael Sweet <mike at easysw.com> wrote:
> Ambrose Li wrote:
> > 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.
>
> No, just Berkeley LPD and LPRng, and that is because they don't do
> local queuing for remote printers.

This doesn't sound right. I have never seen any lpd-based printer
(e.g., HP printers) not having their queues reported by any Unix's lpd
system. Otherwise I would not have been shocked when I switched to
CUPS.

I distinctly remember seeing some lpq command (forgot which Unix)
displaying *both* the local queue and the remote queue at the printer.
So I am absolutely sure what I saw is not because "they don't do local
queuing for remote printers".

> The LPD backend waits for a final status byte from the remote end
> (required but not always implemented), and IPP polls until the
> printer reports the job is completed.

This has nothing to do with the status byte or anything that deals with
the actual printing itself, but what the printing system does when the
user requests "what is in the queue".

-- 
cheers,
-ambrose