[cups] Newbie seeks help / FreeBSD 12.0 / Brother MFC-7860DW

[Tim Mooney]

In regard to: Re: [cups] Newbie seeks help / FreeBSD 12.0 / Brother...:

>
> I just wanted to say a couple more things, and get them on the record
> (and in the archives) with respect to these .ppd files that each printer
> model apparently needs.
>
> Firstly, here is the correct/working one for my Brother MFC-7860DW that
> I stole from my Ubuntu system and that I am now using, mostly successfully,
> over on my FreeBSD system:
>
>    https://pastebin.com/raw/Q3V8ZRRx

Great!  Perhaps you should find out which package that's part of on
Ubuntu, and see if there's a corresponding package for FreeBSD?  I'll give
you a hint: it's probably not going to be CUPS (but I could, of course,
be wrong).

> Second, it appears to be the case that Brother, for example, has shipped
> aboyt eight gazillion different models of printers / multifunction machines,
> over time.  I'm assuming that most or all of these unique models need their
> own unique .ppd files in order to be properly used with CUPS.

Maybe, maybe not.  For basic stuff, you can sometimes get away with using
a PPD from a closely-related or similar printer.  If e.g. the only
difference between your printer and the PPD for a close model that you're
using is something like support for post-job collation or the ability to
have a 500 sheet 3rd input tray, then those are the only things that
using the incorrect PPD wouldn't get you.  In other words, "close" is
often good enough.  The trick is finding a PPD that's close to your
actual printer.

>  And yet the
> built-in set of .ppd files in CUPS 2.2.10 (which is the latest official
> CUPS port available for FreeBSD)

On platforms I use frequently, CUPS doesn't include *any* PPD files.
That they seem to be part of the FreeBSD package is different from how
other platforms typically divide up the packaging boundaries.

> only includes about 20-30 .ppd files for
> a small subset of all Brother printer models... NOT including the specific
> .ppd file that I got from my Ubuntu system for my MFC-7860DW.
>
> Simple question:  Why?

Before you throw any more shade on CUPS, perhaps you should read

 	https://www.cups.org/blog/2018-06-06-demystifying-cups-development.html

You might also want to spend some time looking at what packages on your
Ubuntu system actually provide the PPDs.

Tim
-- 
Tim Mooney                                             Tim.Mooney at ndsu.edu
Enterprise Computing & Infrastructure                  701-231-1076 (Voice)
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