[SOLVED] Cups and gimp have stopped working together

[hazel]

I don't know how old the problem is because I haven't tried to print out of the gimp for some time. Now when I try, the job does not go into the printer queue and I get this message in the cups error log:

E [08/Mar/2011:16:58:07 +0000] Returning IPP client-error-document-format-not-supported for Print-Job (ipp://localhost:631/printers/My_printer) from localhost

The only way I can get round this at the moment is to print to a file (pdf) and then print this file using xpdf.

I can print from OOo as well as xpdf; the problem appears to be specific to the gimp.

This is in Crux. I can't check in Debian as I don't have the gimp there (though I suppose I could install it experimentally).

[Rubberman]

Distributions and versions of stuff can make a lot of difference (as you know) Hazel. Example, on CentOS 5.5 running Firefox, I couldn't print to my cups printer - same sort of issue. So, if I wanted to print a web page or gmail message I had to do the same thing - print to pdf and then print from the pdf. It didn't matter which version of firefox I was running, or which kernel, cups driver, etc. Now I am running on RHEL/SL6 and the problem has gone away... Go figure! Haven't tried Gimp. BTW, what kernel is your Crux system running?

[hazel]

BTW, what kernel is your Crux system running?

2.6.35. But I doubt if the kernel has anything to do with it. This isn't really a printer problem, so we're probably in the wrong forum. It has to do with communication between the gimp and cups.

Annoyingly I can't remember whether I printed anything out of the gimp since upgrading to 2.7; I only use it to print music.

I tried again yesterday with cups in debug mode and got this interesting message: Print-Job client-error-document-format-not-supported: Unsupported format 'application/pdf'!

Which is distinctly odd because what I was trying to print wasn't a pdf, it was a png image. I am going to try to print from a real pdf but in the gimp, not in xpdf (I already know that works). We'll see what happens.

[hazel]

OK, tried it with a real pdf in the gimp and still get the same error messages. Yet I can print pdfs from xpdf without cups complaining that it can't understand the format. Grr!

Have you ever tried reading the cups online manual? I've never seen such a load of gobbledegook.

[Rubberman]

Have you tried removing/reinstalling your printer driver (.PDD)?

[hazel]

No, it's definitely a bug in the gimp. I reported it yesterday on the Crux mailing list and got this reply from one of the developers:

"Thanks for the report, I'm able to reproduce the problem here. Seems that printing with gimp via the gtk+ printer API is broken currently. Dunno why, but it might be a problem with new ghostscript 9.x."

They're going to fix it with a new gutenprint port.

Edit: Yes! It works now. There's an additional option on the print menu - print with gutenprint - and that one prints, though the standard print option still doesn't. The gutenprint dialog isn't as nice as the standard one but it's better than nothing.

[Rubberman]

Thanks for the heads-up Hazel. As usual, you are spot on. It's always a pleasure to read your posts.