[cups] 000* temp files in /var/spool/cups

Tim Mooney Tim.Mooney at ndsu.edu
Mon Jan 23 16:50:59 PST 2017


In regard to: Re: [cups] 000* temp files in /var/spool/cups, Michael Sweet...:

> Since these are owned by root, my guess would be temporary files from a
> backend that didn't clean up after itself, perhaps the LPD backend?

Thanks Michael!

We're not using the lpd backend, but we do have the socket backend and
possibly another.

> You might be able to figure out the "owner" by looking at the CUPS
> error_log file for the date/time those files were created.

I had looked through the error_log (we run with "LogLevel debug" at
all times) and didn't see anything that looked promising, but I'll take
another spin.  If that doesn't turn anything up, I may do some selective
'strace' work, to see if I can track it down.

We have plenty of space on /var/spool so the orphaned files aren't causing
any real trouble -- I'm just suspicious that they may be indicative of
other problems.

Tim

>> On Jan 23, 2017, at 5:55 PM, Tim Mooney <Tim.Mooney at ndsu.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>> We have a fairly busy CUPS print server on RHEL 6.x x86_64, which means
>> CUPS 1.4.2 + "vendor sauce", as Michael puts it.  :-)
>>
>> I've noticed that something is leaving behind what appears to be temporary
>> files in /var/spool/cups:
>>
>> [dozens of earlier files skipped]
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp     430269 Jan 18 10:45 0007d2e6
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp       4128 Jan 18 17:53 0007df38
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp    4491554 Jan 19 13:52 0007ec5e
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp 1246802255 Jan 19 16:49 0007efc9
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp    3927097 Jan 20 11:51 0007f9ec
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp      94673 Jan 20 12:24 0007fae7
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp    1971144 Jan 20 23:44 0007ff68
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp   28538871 Jan 21 14:28 0008007c
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp   13023929 Jan 23 07:27 00080505
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp    4590399 Jan 23 11:01 00080caf
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp    1945658 Jan 23 11:41 00080dbb
>> -rw-r----- 1 root lp    1572647 Jan 23 12:44 0008108f
>>
>> The files are all job data files:
>>
>> #file 0007* 0008*
>> 0007d2e6: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 0007df38: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 0007ec5e: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 0007efc9: PostScript document text conforming DSC level 3.0, Level 2
>> 0007f9ec: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 0007fae7: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 0007ff68: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 0008007c: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 00080505: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 00080caf: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 00080dbb: HP Printer Job Language data
>> 0008108f: HP Printer Job Language data
>>
>> I'm reviewing the CUPS CHANGES documents after 1.4.2, to see if this
>> is mentioned anywhere as a bug that has been fixed in a more recent
>> version, and initially thought it might be STR#3795 from CHANGES-1.4.txt:
>>
>>    - The scheduler might leave old job data files in the spool directory
>>      (STR #3795)
>>
>> but it turns out that was for actual d* files, not files with a temporary
>> name.
>>
>> I can't find anything that looks like this issue anywhere in CHANGES.
>>
>> Anyone else seen this particular issue?
>>
>> None of the 000* files are open.  Am I likely to cause problems for cupsd
>> if I remove them while it's running?
>>
>> Tim
>> --
>> Tim Mooney                                             Tim.Mooney at ndsu.edu
>> Enterprise Computing & Infrastructure                  701-231-1076 (Voice)
>> Room 242-J6, Quentin Burdick Building                  701-231-8541 (Fax)
>> North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164
>> _______________________________________________
>> cups mailing list
>> cups at cups.org
>> https://lists.cups.org/mailman/listinfo/cups
>
> _________________________________________________________
> Michael Sweet, Senior Printing System Engineer
>
> _______________________________________________
> cups mailing list
> cups at cups.org
> https://lists.cups.org/mailman/listinfo/cups
>

-- 
Tim Mooney                                             Tim.Mooney at ndsu.edu
Enterprise Computing & Infrastructure                  701-231-1076 (Voice)
Room 242-J6, Quentin Burdick Building                  701-231-8541 (Fax)
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164



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