[lug] Weird spooling issues

[John Hernandez]

The lpr -s flag was used to invoke the symlink behavior that D. Stimits mentions below.  In recent LPRng systems (such as RHL 7.1) the flag is ignored, and jobs are sent directly to the print server.

Do you see any indication that the printer is receiving data (like flashing lights)?  My initial thought was that maybe the Windows driver is generating a file format that your printer dislikes.  What happens if you "Print to file", save it on a samba drive, then lpr it from Linux?

"D. Stimits" wrote:
> 
> John Price wrote:
> >
> > Thanks to John Hernandez for the help on tcp wrappers and xinetd.  I've got another issue that, frankly,is baffling me. I have samba working fine for disk sharing.  I have also successfully had printer sharing established on numerous occassions on previous installations.
> >
> > After loading Redhat 7.1, however, I've had difficulty getting this to work.  Without going into huge amounts of detail, the print jobs are successfully making it to the /var/spool/samba file (which is the default set-up for 7.1) .  A directory listing shows all of the print jobs in that directory.  The windows box claims that there is no print que for the localhost.localdomain.  When I run lpq, however, it shows the jobs printed successfully.  lpq-L shows that all of my test jobs printed.  Yet,the spooled files remain and are not printed.
> >
> > Linux has no problems printing to the same printer.  I've never seen files successfully spooled but not printed.  What obvious thing am I missing?
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> > Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
> 
> I know almost nothing about samba. But I know of at least once finding
> that a setting (I think in /etc/printcap, maybe somewhere else in lp
> setup) that is to save disk space can be turned on. That setting causes
> the spool directory to use sym links to the actual file, rather than
> copying the full file there (imagine a system where print jobs are 100
> MB, copying 100 MB before each job starts). If it is set to work that
> way, and the sym link must point to a remote machine, you're probably in
> trouble with similar weirdness. I wish I could remember exactly where
> the choice of hard copy or sym link to the spool was chosen.
> 
> D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug

-- 

  - John Hernandez - Network Engineer - 303-497-6392 -
 |  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration   |
 |  Mailstop R/OM12. 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305  |
  ----------------------------------------------------