[cups] stopped "Filter failed"

Sat Jul 19 07:39:13 PDT 2014

Am 19.07.2014 um 14:12 schrieb Jerry:

> On Sat, 19 Jul 2014 13:10:29 +0200, Helge Blischke stated:
>
>>
>> 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
>
> I created the link: {/usr/local/bin directory}
>
> lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    38B 2014-07-19 06:36:56 EDT pdftops@ - 
> > /usr/local/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops
>
> I also placed a link in the {/usr/bin directory}
>
> lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel     38B 2014-07-19 06:38:29 EDT pdftops@ - 
> > /usr/local/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops
>
>
> This is the new output:
>
> 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/local/bin/pdftops
> DEBUG: Unable to execute pdftops program
> % ===== Workaround insertion by pdftops CUPS filter =====
> ERROR: pdftops - cannot open print file "%s"
>
> There is no "/usr/libexec/cups/filter" directory on a FreeBSD OS. It  
> is
> "/usr/local/libexec/cups/filter".
>
> The "which" command now produced this output:
>
> which pdftops
> /usr/local/bin/pdftops
>
> Seriously, this is starting to become more trouble than it is worth.  
> I could
> just print from my Windows machine and not have to put up with this  
> bullshit.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> -- 
> Jerry

Oh, the links you created are in fact a self-reference.
Note that the CUPS filter
/usr/local/libexec/cups/filter/pdftops
in essence is more or less a wrapper program that calls an external  
utility
for the real conversion of PDF files to PostScript (in detail: gs  
(Ghostscript),
pdftops (the poppler utility) or acroread (the Adobe reader)).

I have looked into the FreeBSD ports web site and found that there is  
a package
poppler-utils
that implements these utilities (pdftops, pdffonts, pdfinfo etc.).

It may be confusing that the CUPS filter and the poppler utility have  
the same basename,
but you have to stick to it.

Helge