[Pkg-cups-devel] Bug#275228: Update for #275228 -- proposed solutions

[Loïc Minier]

        Hi,

 #275228 is an old bug against cupsys where random hangs appeared in
 apps using libcups via libgnomecups.  This was caused by CUPS requests
 on localhost:ipp.

 Back then, we tried discussing with upstream.  My goal was to make sure
 that, by default, installing only the client libraries would make any
 server-dependent API calls fail (WITHOUT probing 127.0.0.1).  Upstream
 said localhost:ipp is IPP only and can always be probed.

 I still think that cupsys has this bug, and one of the workarounds I've
 read on IRC for the bug is to ship the client libraries in Debian with
 a default configuration using a local UNIX socket instead of localhost
 and making the server package create that socket.

 However, I'm sending this update to inform you that I will push for a
 workaround in libgnomecups, and possibly in libgnomeprint, since I
 think that it didn't safeguard against the very same assumption.  I
 think libgnomecups (and possibly libgnomeprint) work best when there's
 a CUPS server on 127.0.0.1, and hence I'll request the addition of a
 "Recommends: cupsys" on this package.  This should pull the cupsys in
 GNOME default installations, and I think this is best for the user
 experience, both in terms of bugs tightened to the assumptions made in
 libcups and libgnomecups, and in terms of use cases, since most people
 expect print jobs to be queued on their desktop prior to be sent to the
 printer.

 To be fair with libgnomecups, I think they rearranged the code in a way
 which queries the server for printers later than cups_init(), and hence
 the bug -- if still present -- might only be trigerred when the user
 tries to print, and not when the application launches.  I did not
 verify this though.

   Bye,

-- 
Loïc Minier <lool at dooz.org>