An idea how to provide CUPS Browsing for CUPS 1.6

[Bob R]

> Indeed, and with the exception of browsing and some charset issues I think our history of backwards compatibility has been great. But each of these things has known workarounds...

Where do I find the "known" workaround?

As somebody that has had little cups experience in the past and even unfamiliar with some of the vocabulary (to me browsing was something a user does in firefox and safari), I have recently read and read the sections in "Printer Sharing" and don't understand how to get it to work. The documentation needs a re-write. There used to be a section on "Automatic Configuration using CUPS Browsing" and one on "Automatic Configuration using IPP", now in 1.6 the "...Using CUPS..." is gone and the "...using IPP" goes on about single spoolers and I can't follow it. For a new user to be able to skim through, the document needs to have a structure such as 1.0, 1.1, 1.1.2... The alphabetized headings on the right really threw me off for quite some time until I realized it was mostly alphabetized, and only semi-structured. (And my local 1.6 documention does not tell me what is new...)

Anyways, my situation:

System 1: OLPC, running "xo-ubuntu" and CUPS 1.3.9, an HP Laserjet 4MP printer is sometimes connected through USB. The printer accepts PCL or Postscript.

System 2: Acer laptop, running ubuntu linux and CUPS 1.4.3, a Canon MP160 inkjet is connected thru usb. I have no idea what language it takes.

The two above systems have worked with each other for years.

System 3: A mac-mini, running Lion (OSX 10.7) and CUPS 1.5.4, it is a client only.

System 4: A mac book air, running Mountain Lion (OSX 10.8) and CUPS 1.6svn, client only. Why a svn release, ask Apple.

Current situation: I can get both macs to auto discover the laser printer, under kind, it reports "Bonjour Shared". If I do some terminal commands, I can get the mac-mini to see the inkjet. But no matter what I do, I try "cupsctl BrowseLocalProtocols=dnssd" on the acer and all sorts of other things, the mac book air will not see the inkjet printer. I have no idea why the laser printer is seen but not the inkjet, postscript or because CUPS 1.6 is backward compatible with 1.3 but not 1.4? ?  Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there anything I can do so CUPS 1.6 client works with the CUPS 1.5 server?

Now this is where I may not know enough, but it is the reason I am posting here:
Even if cups server broadcasting protocol is "bad" and needs to be discontinued, I do not understand why CUPS 1.6 client couldn't listen like 1.5, keeping some backward compatibility.