[cups] turning off fit-to-page

[Jörg Thümmler]

Am 07.01.24 um 02:23 schrieb Gary Dale:
> On 2024-01-05 04:59, Jörg Thümmler wrote:
>> Am 04.01.24 um 15:32 schrieb Gary Dale:
>>> I'm running Debian/Bookworm on an AMD64 server. I'm usually trying to 
>>> print to a HP CP1215 colour laser printer.
>>>
>>> CUPS has been a nightmare for the past year, but I get around it a 
>>> little by printing from the command line. My workstation can't seem 
>>> to print to the server's printers anymore so I have been working 
>>> around it by creating a PDF or image file and using lp to print from 
>>> the server.
>>>
>>> However this doesn't work when I have a document that extends into 
>>> the printer margins. Then lp shrinks the document to fit the margins, 
>>> which is not what I want. I want the printer to crop at the margins 
>>> so I get as much of the document as the printer allows without any 
>>> alterations and without having to create a separate document for each 
>>> printer I might use.
>>>
>>> This brought me to the barely documented option "fit-to-page" which 
>>> (apparently) is turned on by default so that iOS users can air print 
>>> their photos. I supposedly should be able to override this by setting 
>>> fit-to-page=off. I supposed to be able to do this using the lpoptions 
>>> command or specifying it on the lp command using "-o fit-to-page=off".
>>>
>>> Neither worked.
>>>
>>> If I use lpoptions as either my regular user or as root, it has no 
>>> impact - using loptions -p <queue name> -o fit-to-page=off or 
>>> omitting the -p <queue name> - all 4 variants fail. However I did 
>>> note some odd behaviour setting the lpoptions. When I list the 
>>> options, fit-to-page never shows. However if I look at the lpoptions 
>>> file, the global one only contains the default queue name while the 
>>> local user one appends "fit-to-page-off=true" to the default line.
>>>
>>> If I put the -o fit-to-page=off in the lp command, the jpeg file ends 
>>> up printing over 4 pages, with about 1/4 of the image centred on each 
>>> page - possibly full size but not what I expected or wanted or can use.
>>>
>>> I will also note that running "lpoptions -l" never shows the 
>>> "fit-to-page" setting but it does confirm that my default paper size 
>>> is "letter". Nor is there a "fit to page" setting through the CUPS 
>>> printer management page (<servername>:631). However, I used to print 
>>> unscaled documents to this printer (just not through Gwenview which 
>>> doesn't have a print full size & crop option, which was why I 
>>> originally started trying to use lp).
>>>
>>> Is there a way I can get this to work?
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> cups mailing list
>>> cups at cups.org
>>> https://lists.cups.org/mailman/listinfo/cups
>>
>> Hi
>>
>> what kind of printer you are printing on? I assume only ps and pdf 
>> printers will understand this (to me until now unknown) option.
>> On the other hand it's possible only special content, as pdf, may be 
>> printed using this option succsessfully.
>> I would install a pdf output printer and test the effect of the option 
>> in the outputted pdf.
>>
> It's an under-documented option but graphical programs have for decades 
> offered the option of fit-to-page (scaling up or down), crop, or even 
> tile across multiple pages.
> 

Hi again,

I'm not sure these graphical programs used any cups page fitting, tiling 
... whatever machanism. I believe, they simply produced postscript pages 
for output and it is not that complicated to make a scaling, tiling, 
cropping on them afterwards. I'm using ps programming myself sometimes 
and even for me as a beginner this is no magic. So they simply sended 
the correct generated pages to the printer and cups just putted out, I 
assume.

> Clearly lp understands its own options. What is bizarre is that it 
> doesn't act on them properly. Again, setting the printer option globally 
> results in no modification to the global lpoptions file while setting 
> the option for a regular use does modify their lpoptions file. This is 
> not how the lpotions command is supposed to work.
> 
> Moreover, the option seems to be ignored except when it is specified on 
> the command line. Again, the lp command should be taking direction from 
> the global file, the local user file and the command line but doesn't 
> seem to be.

I tested then on my good old running opensuse server (11.4, kernel 
4.12.14) with cups 2.2.7:
I had no "/etc/cups/lpoptions" file at all until testing your command. 
But when I tested, it worked as expected:
lpoptions -p lp -o fit-to-page=off
generated a /etc/cups/lpotions file with
"Default lp fit-to-page=off" as the only line (lp is my default 
printer), interesting was, giving the "lpotions" command for any other 
printer ended in 2 lines in the created lpoptins file:
	default lp
	<printer> fit-to-page=off
...
but anyway, it worked: sending an a3 pdf to the a4 printer ("lpr -Plp 
a3.pdf")
ended in printing the a3 image unscaled, so only partially on one a4 sheet.
with "lpoptions -p lp -o fit-to-page=on" the lpoptions file was changed 
to on and next lpr command gave a downscaled page with the full image on 
one sheet.
Deleting the lpoptions file (and restarting cups to be sure this is 
registered by cups) lead the result of "fit-to-page=off" - unscaled and 
not fitting image.

then I tested the same on my new test install (opensuse 15.5, kernel 
5.14.21-150500.55.39-default) cups is 2.2.7 as well but seems to be 
builded last in september 2023 and wow: it's the same as on your debian, 
but vice versa - no fitting into page, not over lpoptions nor with 
option in the lpr command!

Then I added a new printer here ... a HP 401dne driverless over port 
9100. After that I found in the dir /etc/cups/ppd a ppd file called like 
the printer: Test.ppd And now:

lpr -PTest -o fitplot a3.pdf scaled the page, other options, -o mirror 
mirrored the page ... without any options - unscaled and cropped.

So, what I think is - the formatting options need a ppd-file. If you 
copy your printers from last install the maybe don't have, because you 
didn't copy them; maybe the content isn't compatible as well. Newer cups 
generates one (even for "driverless" printers) so every new installed 
printer should have one and this ppd is the base for usage of options in 
lpr or lpotions command. There are defined the default pagesize, the 
other page sizes, resolutions etc.
Maybe it's a good idea to look for this ppd, if not existing, try to add 
a new printer for your device and check the values in the file; they 
shall fit for your printer...
...

  When a
> company makes a durable printer, it shouldn't be made obsolete because 
> someone thinks it will simplify their programming to insist that we use 
> a standard they don't support.
> 
> If lp defaults to fit-to-page to make it easier for AirPrint users, the 
> option to turn that off should also work.
> 
> 

fully agree with this!

regards

-- 
cu

jth