[cups] stopped "Filter failed"

Sat Jul 19 04:10:29 PDT 2014

Am 19.07.2014 um 12:43 schrieb Jerry:

> On Sat, 19 Jul 2014 11:28:27 +0200, Helge Blischke stated:
>
>>
>> Am 19.07.2014 um 00:52 schrieb Jerry:
>>
>>> On Fri, 18 Jul 2014 23:06:30 +0200, Helge Blischke stated:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Am 18.07.2014 um 21:45 schrieb Jerry:
>>>>
>>>>> CUPS 1.7.3 on FreeBSD-10 amd/64
>>>>>
>>>>> I cannot seem to get CUPS running correctly. When trying to print,
>>>>> even using
>>>>> the CUPS web page and trying to print a text page, I get this  
>>>>> error
>>>>> message:
>>>>> "stopped "Filter failed"". I copied this out of the error log:
>>>>>
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] Switching to Poppler's
>>>>> pdftops instead of Ghostscript for Brother, Minolta, and Konica
>>>>> Minolta to work around bugs in the printer's PS interpreters
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] Running command line for
>>>>> pstops: pstops 139 gerard 'Test Page' 1
>>>>> 'job-uuid=urn:uuid:b73d783d-7dc4-3f06-578d-59ea40294931
>>>>> job-originating-host-name=localhost time-at-creation=1405701869
>>>>> time-at-processing=1405701869' D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job
>>>>> 139]
>>>>> Running command line for pdftops: pdftops
>>>>> -level3 /var/spool/cups/tmp/0e48d53cb7a53 - D [18/Jul/ 
>>>>> 2014:12:44:29
>>>>> -0400] [Job 139] Started filter pdftops (PID 58511)
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] Started filter pstops  
>>>>> (PID
>>>>> 58512)
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] Unable to execute pdftops
>>>>> program: No such file or directory
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] The print file is empty.
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] PID 58512 (pstops)  
>>>>> stopped
>>>>> with status 1!
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] PID 58511 (pdftops)  
>>>>> stopped
>>>>> with status 1!
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] PID 58510 (/usr/local/
>>>>> libexec/cups/backend/lpd) exited with no errors.
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] PID 58509 (/usr/local/
>>>>> libexec/cups/filter/pdftops) stopped with status 1.
>>>>> D [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] Discarding unused job-state-changed
>>>>> event...
>>>>> E [18/Jul/2014:12:44:29 -0400] [Job 139] Job stopped due to filter
>>>>> errors; please consult the error_log file for details.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am not sure what the problem is or what to look for. I am hoping
>>>>> someone
>>>>> can assist me. I can obviously supply the entire log if requested.
>>>>>
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> Jerry
>>>>
>>>> Obviously your CUPS has been configured to use the value "hybrid"  
>>>> for
>>>> the pdftops utility which causes the
>>>> switch to the poppler based pdftops utility for Brother, Minolta,  
>>>> and
>>>> Konica Minolta printers. So, to support those
>>>> printers with this CUOS configuration, you *must* install the  
>>>> poppler
>>>> libraries and utilities (the latter contains
>>>> the pdftops uility), or you may install the Xpdf package from    
>>>> Glyph
>>>> & Cog, LLC which also contains a nearly
>>>> completely equivalent utility.
>>>
>>> "pdftops" is installed: "/usr/local/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops" as
>>> well as
>>> the "poppler" package.
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Jerry
>>
>>
>> As I do not know if you compiled your stuff from the sources or used
>> installable packages, please do the following checks:
>> (1)	strings /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops | grep pdftops
>> 	This should give you the absolute path the poppler based pdftops
>> utility is looked for.
>> (2)	which pdftops
>> 	should give you the path for the poppler based pdftops utility.
>>
>> I suspect (1) will tell you "/usr/local/bin/pdftops" and (2) will  
>> tell
>> "/usr/bin/pdftops".
>> If so, create a symbolic link from (2) to (1).
>>
>> Helge
>
> Okay, everything was installed via the FreeBSD ports system. This is  
> the
> output from the first command:
>
> $ strings /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops | grep pdftops
> strings: '/usr/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops': No such file
>
> I modified the command to show where "pdftops" is actually located  
> on my system:
>
> $ strings /usr/local/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops | grep pdftops
> DEBUG: pdftops - copying to temp print file "%s"
> pdftops-renderer
> WARNING: Invalid value for "pdftops-renderer": "%s"
> DEBUG: Switching to Poppler's pdftops instead of Ghostscript for  
> Brother, Minolta, and Konica Minolta to work around bugs in the  
> printer's PS interpreters
> DEBUG: Switching to Poppler's pdftops instead of Ghostscript for old  
> HP LaserJet ("LaserJet <number>", no letters before <number>)  
> printers to work around bugs in the printer's PS interpreters
> pdftops-max-image-resolution
> WARNING: Invalid value for "pdftops-max-image-resolution": "%s"
> /usr/bin/pdftops
> DEBUG: Unable to execute pdftops program
> % ===== Workaround insertion by pdftops CUPS filter =====
> ERROR: pdftops - cannot open print file "%s"
>
> Now, "which pdftops" displays nothing. I chmoded it to 0755, but  
> that did not
> change anything. I also created symbolic links, but the result was  
> still the
> same.
>
> -- 
> Jerry

Well, the CUPS filter (/usr/local/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops) expects  
the pdftops utility as
/usr/bin/pdftops
but that file does not exist.
That "which pdftops" reports nothing may have two possible reasons:
–	the PATH environment variable does not contain the directory where  
the utility resides, or
–	the pdfops utility is not installed.

Check if
/usr/local/bin/pdftops
exists and is an executable file.

Helge