Description of problem: /etc/printcap.local is supposed to be included into /etc/printcap, but it isn't. This is true both with the distributed version of /etc/printcap.local (which consists only of comments) and also after I added a printer description to it. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): redhat-config-printer-0.6.79.5-1 cups-1.1.19-13 How reproducible: Every time you start up cups. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Kill cups. 2. Start cups. 3. Actual results: Expected results: Additional info:
The print spooler is no longer driven by /etc/printcap -- it is there for informational purposes, to be used by legacy applications that might read it. CUPS writes /etc/printcap based on its own configuration.
Wouldn't it make sense not to ship the file at all, then?
Oops. Thought it was something you'd created, sorry.
Fixed in system-config-printer-0.6.102-1.
Thanks! Any chance there'll be a fix I can install in Fedora Core 1?
No, it's not a big enough change to warrant that -- you can get the same effect by 'rm /etc/printcap.local'.
I think you're misunderstanding the function of /etc/printcap.local: I have (or at least had, using RedHat 7.3 and many earlier versions) a hand-edited print filter, and I wanted to create a print queue that used that filter instead of the ones offered by cups. I put the following into /etc/printcap.local: magic|magicfilter:\ :ml=0:\ :mx=0:\ :sd=/var/spool/lpd/magicfilter:\ :af=/var/spool/lpd/magicfilter/magicfilter.acct:\ :sh:\ :lp=/dev/lp0:\ :lpd_bounce=true:\ :if=/usr/local/bin/ljet4-filter: (where /usr/local/bin/ljet4-filter was a hand-edited version of the filter produced by the (now allegedly obsolete) magicfilter version 1.2). After I created the appropriate spool directory, I could then use this to print. (In fact, I then had the default print queue forward print jobs on to this queue, so this was effectively the default.) This isn't vital, since I have other (slightly less convenient) ways of accomplishing most of what I want to do, but /etc/printcap.local *does* allow you to do things that I at least haven't figured out how to do using cups directly.
See comment #1 -- this is no longer possible, and hasn't been since the switch to CUPS. You must configure CUPS directly.