[cups] CUPS Disaster: printer queues going AOL or becoming disfunctional

[Helge Blischke]

Am 14.07.2014 um 21:04 schrieb Robert Heller:

> At Mon, 30 Jun 2014 11:07:03 +0200 (CEST) "The CUPS user discussion  
> list." <cups at cups.org> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> On Jun 29 19:04 Robert Heller wrote (excerpt):
>>> Printing a test page resulted in a
>>> client-error-document-format-not-supported type of error.
>>> Deleting and re-installing the print queues fixed it.
>>> Why did this happen?
>>> And why does re-installing the print queues fix it?
>>
>> At least for me impossible to find out from your information.
>
> OK, I did a *minor* update, updating these packages:
>
> Updated:
>  gdb.x86_64 0:7.2-64.el6_5.2
>  initscripts.x86_64 0:9.03.40-2.el6.centos.3
>  libsmbclient.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
>  lzo.x86_64 0:2.03-3.1.el6_5.1
>  nfs-utils.x86_64 1:1.2.3-39.el6_5.3
>  samba-client.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
>  samba-common.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
>  samba-winbind.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
>  samba-winbind-clients.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
>
> *none* of these packages have anything to do with cups or any of the  
> filters
> involved.  I just tried to print a test page:
>
> newserver.wendellfreelibrary.org% lp /usr/share/cups/data/testprint
> lp: Unsupported format 'application/vnd.cups-banner'!
>
> What is going on here?
>
> Also:
>
> newserver.wendellfreelibrary.org% lp login.ps
> lp: Unsupported format 'application/postscript'!
>
> (login.ps is the result of 'a2ps .login -o login.ps')
>
> And it is a *PostScript* printer.  The *filter* should be like /bin/ 
> cat,
> right?
>
> This is in the error log:
>
> E [14/Jul/2014:14:34:56 -0400] Unable to remove temporary file "/var/ 
> spool/cups/tmp/.fontconfig" - Is a directory
> E [14/Jul/2014:14:35:02 -0400] Returning IPP client-error-document- 
> format-not-supported for Send-Document (ipp://localhost:631/printers/ 
> BlackandWhiteLaserjet) from localhost
> E [14/Jul/2014:14:35:27 -0400] Unable to backup printers.conf -  
> Permission denied
> E [14/Jul/2014:14:35:27 -0400] Unable to save printers.conf -  
> Permission denied
> E [14/Jul/2014:14:35:27 -0400] Unable to restore printers.conf -  
> Permission denied
> E [14/Jul/2014:14:39:08 -0400] Returning IPP client-error-document- 
> format-not-supported for Send-Document (ipp://localhost:631/printers/ 
> BlackandWhiteLaserjet) from localhost
>
>
>
>>
>>> (Longing for the good old days of LPD! -- CUPS can be a total pain
>>> in the butt at times.)
>>
>> Using a LPD spooler won't help when the filtering fails.
>>
>> Regardless that CUPS reported the error, very likely the root cause
>> is not CUPS itself but elsewhere - in particular because a
>> "document-format-not-supported" error indicates that "something"
>> with the filtering got "somehow" messed up.
>>
>> Usually it is not CUPS itself that converts the original data
>> that your application had submitted as print job to CUPS.
>> Actually CUPS calls various "external" programs that do the data
>> conversion.
>>
>> When different CUPS versions in different Linux distribution versions
>> make a difference regarding the filtering, the usual reason is not
>> CUPS itself but that different Linux distributions use different
>> "external" programs (or different versions of the "external"  
>> programs).
>>
>> For example after printer driver software upgrades, the filtering for
>> an existing print queue may no longer work because print queue's PPD
>> may no longer match the upgraded driver software.
>>
>> I assume the root cause is "something" in the particular Linux  
>> distributions
>> that you use so that you may get better help from the particular  
>> Linux
>> distributions mailing lists whereto you also already reported your  
>> issue.
>>
>>
>> Kind Regards
>> Johannes Meixner
>
> -- 
> Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
> Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
> ()  ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail
> /\  www.asciiribbon.org   -- against proprietary attachments
>
>
>

It seems that the scheduler (cupsd) is not running as root  
("permission denied" in your error_log).
I suspect the whole CUPS installation is broken.

Helge