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As the printing stack is somewhat complex and I'm not really familiar with it, I'd like to know what's the best way to report a printing related bug, as I don't really know which part of the stack is responsible for the issue I'm experiencing. Ideally, I'd like to use ubuntu-bug in order to provide some relevant system information with my bug report, but I don't know which package to specify.

Edit: I've just filed bug #981586 as to ask for an apport option for filing printing related bugs.

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Well, the core of the printing system is 'cups', so that's a good place to put printing bugs unless you have something more specific. Also see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems

However, there are always at least 3 parts to a printing problem;

1) The application that produces the file/stream to be printed 2) The drivers for the particular printer 3) The central print queuing stuff

If you can figure out which one of these is the cause of your problem then it makes debugging easier, and you might also be able to find a more specific package. However they can interact (the famous bug where printing from OpenOffice to brother printers on a tuesday is probably the worst case!).

So try and split the problem down: a) If you get the application to print to a postscript or PDF files (try both if you have the option) and then look at the resulting postscript or PDF file in a viewer is it right? If it is then you're bug is less likely to be printer specific or even cups. b) Does only that app have a problem? c) Does the problem go away if you use some other options on the printer (e.g. don't use n-up printing or double sided)

If you can't print at all then lsusb to see if the printer is seen at all (if USB) is a good bet, as are the CUPS logs.

Dave

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  • Thank you for your answer. As I'm reporting this issue for someone else, and I currently don't have that person's printer available (only the laptop), I'm just filing a bug against cups for now: launchpad.net/bugs/981620 Apr 14, 2012 at 14:29

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