[cups.general] Problems printing PDF files through cups.

[Kurt Pfeifle]

Gerald Britton wrote:
> OK -- I'll need a bit of help.  I tried:
> 
> $CUPS_SERVERROOT='/etc/cups/' /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops.new my.pdf


Unless the '$' above is coming from your prompt, this is the wrong way
to set the environment variable on the commandline....

And the command itself - you should call it like adviced by this output
(occurs when running the filter without any arguments):

  kurt at lx50:~> /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops
  Usage: pdftops job user title copies options [filename]

This translates to (for example):

  /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops "1" "dummy" "dummy" "1" "dummy" my.pdf
  /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops "1" "" "" "1" "" my.pdf

And with some environment variables set (no '$' please!):

  CUPS_SERVERROOT=/etc/cups/ \
  PPD=/etc/cups/ppd/yourprintername.ppd \
        /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops "911" "gerald" "testing pdf printing" "1" "dummy" /path/to.pdf \
      | /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops  "911" "gerald" "testing pdf printing" "1" "dummy" \
      | tee /tmp/filtered_output-to_be_sent_to-helge.ps

However, since you want to see results for "fitplot" and some specific
media size (I don't remember which), you'll want to set these options
on the commandline in ${5} (and you likely don't need CUPS_SERVERROOT
set in your use case -- but PPD for sure!):

  PPD=/etc/cups/ppd/yourprintername.ppd \
        /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops "1" "gerald" "pdftest" "1" "fitplot=true PageSize=Letter" my.pdf \
      | /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops  "1" "gerald" "pdftest" "1" "fitplot=true PageSize=Letter" \
      | tee /tmp/filtered_output-to_be_sent_to-helge.ps

For a first quick look, you can also pipe it into a PostScript viewer:

  PPD=/etc/cups/ppd/yourprintername.ppd \
        /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops "1" "dummy" "dummy" "1" "fitplot=true PageSize=Letter" my.pdf \
      | /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops  "1" "dummy" "dummy" "1" "fitplot=true PageSize=Letter" \
      | gv -



BTW, here is the list of *all* env params proviced cupsd for all running
filters and backends to see and pick up if they need to:

CUPS_CACHEDIR
CUPS_DATADIR
CUPS_DOCROOT
CUPS_FONTPATH
CUPS_REQUESTROOT
CUPS_SERVERBIN
CUPS_SERVERROOT
CUPS_STATEDIR
LD_LIBRARY_PATH
LD_PRELOAD
PATH
SERVER_ADMIN
SOFTWARE
TMPDIR
USER
CUPS_SERVER
CUPS_ENCRYPTION
IPP_PORT
CHARSET
LANG
PPD
RIP_MAX_CACHE
CONTENT_TYPE
DEVICE_URI
PRINTER
FINAL_CONTENT_TYPE


-- 
Kurt Pfeifle
System & Network Printing Consultant ---- Linux/Unix/Windows/Samba/CUPS
Infotec Deutschland GmbH  .....................  Hedelfinger Strasse 58
A RICOH Company  ...........................  D-70327 Stuttgart/Germany