Status in CUPS for networked printer

Asked by Philipp Schlesinger

For a multifunction printer (HP Photosmart C6280) connected via network, I get no status update in CUPS when the printer is disconnected from the network or simply shut down. CUPS constantly reports the printer to be idle and enabled.
I would very much like it to be able to see whether the device is reachable or not. Even in SANE I would be great to get sensible output if the device is offline.

So my question is: Is this a planned feature? Is there a way to improve the situation.

Best regards,

   Philipp

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Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said :
#1

Please run hp-check -t and post the output.

Thanks!

Aaron

Revision history for this message
Philipp Schlesinger (philipp-sadleder) said :
#2

hp-check -t

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 2.8.10)
Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 14.1

Copyright (c) 2001-8 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

Note: hp-check can be run in three modes:
1. Compile-time check mode (-c or --compile): Use this mode before compiling the HPLIP supplied tarball (.tar.gz or .run) to determine if the proper dependencies are installed to successfully compile HPLIP.
2. Run-time check mode (-r or --run): Use this mode to determine if a distro supplied package (.deb, .rpm, etc) or an already built HPLIP supplied tarball has the proper dependencies installed to successfully run.
3. Both compile- and run-time check mode (-b or --both) (Default): This mode will check both of the above cases (both compile- and run-time dependencies).

Saving output in log file: hp-check.log

Initializing. Please wait...
warning: Invalid ppd_dir value: None

---------------
| SYSTEM INFO |
---------------

Basic system information:
Linux angelina 2.6.26-1-686 #1 SMP Wed Nov 26 19:14:11 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

Distribution:
debian unstable

HPOJ running?
No, HPOJ is not running (OK).

Checking Python version...
OK, version 2.5.2 installed

Checking PyQt 3.x version...
error: NOT FOUND OR FAILED TO LOAD!

Checking PyQt 4.x version...

Checking for CUPS...
Status: scheduler is running
error: Version: (Not available. CUPS may not be installed or not running.)

Checking for dbus/python-dbus...
dbus daemon is running.
python-dbus version: 0.83.0

------------------------------------
| COMPILE AND RUNTIME DEPENDENCIES |
------------------------------------

note: To check for compile-time only dependencies, re-run hp-check with the -c parameter (ie, hp-check -c).
note: To check for run-time only dependencies, re-run hp-check with the -r parameter (ie, hp-check -r).

Checking for dependency: cups - Common Unix Printing System...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: cups-ddk - CUPS driver development kit...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: cups-devel- Common Unix Printing System development files...
error: NOT FOUND! This is a REQUIRED/COMPILE TIME ONLY dependency. Please make sure that this dependency is installed before installing or running HPLIP.

Checking for dependency: dbus - Message bus system...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: gcc - GNU Project C and C++ Compiler...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: GhostScript - PostScript and PDF language interpreter and previewer...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libcrypto - OpenSSL cryptographic library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libjpeg - JPEG library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libnetsnmp-devel - SNMP networking library development files...
error: NOT FOUND! This is a REQUIRED dependency. Please make sure that this dependency is installed before installing or running HPLIP.

Checking for dependency: libpthread - POSIX threads library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libtool - Library building support services...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libusb - USB library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: make - GNU make utility to maintain groups of programs...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan)...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: ppdev - Parallel port support kernel module....
error: NOT FOUND! This is a REQUIRED/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Please make sure that this dependency is installed before installing or running HPLIP.

Checking for dependency: PyQt 3- Qt interface for Python (for Qt version 3.x)...
error: NOT FOUND! This is a REQUIRED/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Please make sure that this dependency is installed before installing or running HPLIP.

Checking for dependency: PyQt 4- Qt interface for Python (for Qt version 4.x)...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

Checking for dependency: python-ctypes - A foreign function library for Python...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: python-dbus - Python bindings for dbus...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: python-devel - Python development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python XML libraries...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python 2.3 or greater - Required for fax functionality...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python 2.2 or greater - Python programming language...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Reportlab - PDF library for Python...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: scanimage - Shell scanning program...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: xsane - Graphical scanner frontend for SANE...
OK, found.

----------------------
| HPLIP INSTALLATION |
----------------------

Currently installed HPLIP version...
HPLIP 2.8.10 currently installed in '/usr/share/hplip'.

Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
# hplip.conf. Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=2.8.10

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/hpijs/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd/hpijs
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-doc/HTML
icon=no
cupsbackend=/usr/lib/cups/backend
cupsfilter=/usr/lib/cups/filter
drv=/usr/share/cups/drv

# Following values are determined at configure time and cannot be changed.
[configure]
network-build=yes
pp-build=yes
gui-build=yes
scanner-build=yes
fax-build=yes
dbus-build=yes
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
foomatic-drv-install=yes
foomatic-ppd-install=no
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
internal-tag=2.8.10.33
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt3

Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
[installation]
date_time = 12/04/08 09:49:35
version = 2.8.10.33

-------------------------------
| DISCOVERED PARALLEL DEVICES |
-------------------------------

No devices found.
error: 'ppdev' kernel module not loaded.

--------------------------
| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
--------------------------

No devices found.

---------------------------------
| INSTALLED CUPS PRINTER QUEUES |
---------------------------------

DeskJet-3320
------------
Type: Printer
Installed in HPLIP?: Yes, using the hp: CUPS backend.
Device URI: hp:/usb/deskjet_3320?serial=HU2AA3R3VN43
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/DeskJet-3320.ppd
PPD Description: HP DeskJet 3320 Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)
Printer Rejecting Jobsr DeskJet-3320 disabled since Mo 01 Dez 2008 11:58:16 CET -

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 2.8.10)
System Tray Status Service ver. 2.0

Copyright (c) 2001-8 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

error: PyQt not installed. GUI not available. Exiting.
warning: Qt/PyQt 3 initialization failed.
error: hp-systray requires Qt3 GUI and DBus support. Exiting.
warning: Unable to connect to dbus. Is hp-systray running?
error: Unable to communicate with device (code=12): hp:/usb/deskjet_3320?serial=HU2AA3R3VN43
error: Device not found

Photosmart_C6200
----------------
Type: Printer
Installed in HPLIP?: Yes, using the hp: CUPS backend.
Device URI: hp:/net/Photosmart_C6200_series?ip=192.168.178.20
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Photosmart_C6200.ppd
PPD Description: HP Photosmart c6200 series Foomatic/hpijs, hpijs 2.8.10
Printer status: printer Photosmart_C6200 is idle. enabled since Do 04 Dez 2008 09:37:15 CET

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 2.8.10)
System Tray Status Service ver. 2.0

Copyright (c) 2001-8 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

error: PyQt not installed. GUI not available. Exiting.
warning: Qt/PyQt 3 initialization failed.
error: hp-systray requires Qt3 GUI and DBus support. Exiting.
warning: Unable to connect to dbus. Is hp-systray running?
Communication status: Good

----------------------
| SANE CONFIGURATION |
----------------------

'hpaio' in '/etc/sane.d/dll.conf'...
error: Not found. SANE backend 'hpaio' NOT properly setup (needs to be added to /etc/sane.d/dll.conf).

Checking output of 'scanimage -L'...
device `hpaio:/net/Photosmart_C6200_series?ip=192.168.178.20' is a Hewlett-Packard Photosmart_C6200_series all-in-one

---------------------
| PYTHON EXTENSIONS |
---------------------

Checking 'cupsext' CUPS extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'pcardext' Photocard extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'hpmudext' I/O extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'scanext' SANE scanning extension...
OK, found.

-----------------
| USB I/O SETUP |
-----------------

Checking for permissions of USB attached printers...

-----------
| SUMMARY |
-----------

error: 10 errors and/or warnings.

Please refer to the installation instructions at:
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/install/index.html

Done.

Revision history for this message
Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said :
#3

Philipp,

Your printer is configured using the HPLIP backend. Even though we interface with CUPS to some degree CUPS doesn't know the active status of the device. You can configure the printer to use the CUPS ipp backend which may provide status but then you wont have any of the HPLIP functionality. Although you can always run hp-toolbox and/or hp-info to get the current status of the printer. This will report to you if the printer is offline or in another error state.

Hope this helps and thanks for your support of HPLIP--we appreciate it.

Aaron

Revision history for this message
Philipp Schlesinger (philipp-sadleder) said :
#4

Aaron,

thank you very much for your answer.
As the device is a multifunction printer, using the CUPS ipp backend is not an option, because scanning won't be available then.
My question was more like a feature request. Could the hp backend be improved in a way that it reports the active status of the device?

Best regards,

   Philipp

Revision history for this message
Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said :
#5

The HP backend does get status. If you run hp-toolbox you can see the current status of the printer. HPLIP can't pass the status to CUPS so getting the status in CUPS isn't supported.

Or you can run hp-info to get the current status of the printer.

Aaron

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