Retaining printers.conf when updating CUPS

[John A. Murdie]

> John A. Murdie wrote:
> > ...
> > I still don't know how web 'Set Printer Options' values are
> > preserved. I'd suggest that having the scheduler append to
> > printers.conf is probably the action of least surprise, though one
> > can argue that a daemon should never edit administrator-crafted
> > configuration files (without the administrator authorising this).
>
> All of the PPD-based options (everything not under the Banners and
> Policies sections on the web page) are stored in the PPD file, and
> the banner and policy options are stored in the printers.conf file.

So if more than one printer shares a PPD file, 'Set Printer Option' web interface foo-default value changes made by the administrator for one printer will be overwritten by those for another? (Though since my PPD files are all in the names of the printer types and not the printer, none have been altered. Is this right?) Does this mean that it is only sensible to take a PPD file for a printer type and make a copy of it in the name of each printer of that type, e.g. p1.ppd, p2.ppd?

If so, I think this should be made clear in the administration documentation. In the CUPS book, Figure 3.6 shows a PPD file named after a printer type (not after a particular printer?) being used to configure a printer.

> If you use lpadmin to add foo-default options, they are also stored
> in the printers.conf file.  PPD options are stored in the PPD file.

Do you mean that the sensible thing for me to do is to use lpadmin to make my preferred settings for the foo-default values? Once made, will subsequent changes to the defaults made at the 'Set Printer Options' web interface be made in the printers.conf file also? If I do it this way, can I keep just one PPD file for each type of printer rather than having to make multiple copies in the names of each printer of that type?

This whole matter seems so complicated.
______________________________________________________________________
> Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products           mike at easysw dot com
> Internet Printing and Publishing Software        http://www.easysw.com

John A. Murdie