Improving error reporting from backends

[Erik de Castro Lopo]

Hi all,

I have a printer that can report conditions like out-of-paper pretty much as soon as they happen and I have an application which needs this information so it can change its behavior when it knows that there is no paper in the printer.

However, even though the printer can report things like out of paper, I can't seem to get this information using the CUPS API (httpConnect, cupsDoRequest and friends). In particluar, at the end of a print job that uses the last piece of paper, I would like to be able to get that information as soon as possible.

Have I missed something of this this not doable in CUPS?

Any suggestions, tips or clues gratefully received.

Cheers,
Erik