Public bug reported:
When a remote CUPS server is defined in /etc/cups/client.conf like this:
ServerName print.mpia-hd.mpg.de
and the server is not accessible (e.g., it is on a company's internal
net and you take your laptop home), then CUPS applications hang for up
to several minutes, and then timeout. The gnome printing dialog, for
example, hangs Firefox and Chromium, and the lpr, lpq, lpoptions,
lpstat, etc. programs also hang and then error out. The localhost:631
interface does NOT hang, and in fact can print test pages on locally
accessible printers.
Note that this problem only affects remote SERVERS, not individual
remote printers that are inaccessible. Those do not cause a problem.
Expected behavior: missing printers of any sort should not hang programs
for any reason. A short delay of a few seconds is ok.
Description: Ubuntu 11.10
Release: 11.10
cups:
Installed: 1.5.0-8ubuntu6
Candidate: 1.5.0-8ubuntu6
Version table:
*** 1.5.0-8ubuntu6 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates/main amd64
Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
1.5.0-8 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main amd64 Packages
The server cited above serves 72 printers, and timeouts ranged from 3
minutes, 9 seconds, to 6 minutes, 19 seconds (I believe but I am not
certain that in the longer case, the default printer was on the missing
server). It does not matter whether the default printer is one of the
missing ones or not, you get a long timeout either way (the duration may
matter, as noted above). If you want to change the default printer with
lpoptions, you can't, because it hangs, times out, and quits. If you
know the printer you want to print to and say lpr -P foo bar.pdf, it
still hangs.
Removing the client.conf file and restarting CUPS fixes the problem
immediately. So, a workaround is to manually create and remove that file
every time you enter/leave the network with the print server. This is
not a viable workaround for most normal users.
SPECULATION:
The timeout may depend on how many printers were served on the missing server,
and most servers don't have that many.
I very much hope this will be fixed! There do appear to be others
experiencing this, but there is little clarity on the web about it (some
scattered complaints but few solutions that are practical).
Possibly related:
Note that there is a related bug #264333. It is old and didn't get much
response. It may or may not be the same problem. Some there reported it fixed
long ago, but others said they still had a problem.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/16726/cant-print-cups-package-corrupted-and-hangs-on-re-install
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-878487-start-0.html
Thanks,
--jh--
** Affects: cups (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1050422
Title:
CUPS hangs when remote CUPS server defined in client.conf is
inaccessible
Status in “cups” package in Ubuntu:
New
Bug description:
When a remote CUPS server is defined in /etc/cups/client.conf like
this:
ServerName print.mpia-hd.mpg.de
and the server is not accessible (e.g., it is on a company's internal
net and you take your laptop home), then CUPS applications hang for up
to several minutes, and then timeout. The gnome printing dialog, for
example, hangs Firefox and Chromium, and the lpr, lpq, lpoptions,
lpstat, etc. programs also hang and then error out. The localhost:631
interface does NOT hang, and in fact can print test pages on locally
accessible printers.
Note that this problem only affects remote SERVERS, not individual
remote printers that are inaccessible. Those do not cause a problem.
Expected behavior: missing printers of any sort should not hang
programs for any reason. A short delay of a few seconds is ok.
Description: Ubuntu 11.10
Release: 11.10
cups:
Installed: 1.5.0-8ubuntu6
Candidate: 1.5.0-8ubuntu6
Version table:
*** 1.5.0-8ubuntu6 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates/main amd64
Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
1.5.0-8 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main amd64 Packages
The server cited above serves 72 printers, and timeouts ranged from 3
minutes, 9 seconds, to 6 minutes, 19 seconds (I believe but I am not
certain that in the longer case, the default printer was on the
missing server). It does not matter whether the default printer is one
of the missing ones or not, you get a long timeout either way (the
duration may matter, as noted above). If you want to change the
default printer with lpoptions, you can't, because it hangs, times
out, and quits. If you know the printer you want to print to and say
lpr -P foo bar.pdf, it still hangs.
Removing the client.conf file and restarting CUPS fixes the problem
immediately. So, a workaround is to manually create and remove that
file every time you enter/leave the network with the print server.
This is not a viable workaround for most normal users.
SPECULATION:
The timeout may depend on how many printers were served on the missing
server, and most servers don't have that many.
I very much hope this will be fixed! There do appear to be others
experiencing this, but there is little clarity on the web about it
(some scattered complaints but few solutions that are practical).
Possibly related:
Note that there is a related bug #264333. It is old and didn't get much
response. It may or may not be the same problem. Some there reported it fixed
long ago, but others said they still had a problem.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/16726/cant-print-cups-package-corrupted-and-hangs-on-re-install
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-878487-start-0.html
Thanks,
--jh--
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